Cooler Mash Tun Advice

[ProfessorBrew]

Hi Folks,

I just ordered a 50 quart rectangular cooler that I'm going to turn into my mash tun. Does anyone have any recommendations on construction? I'm considering just ordering a bazooka screen, but I'm open to other ideas as well.

Thanks!

 

[msa8967]

I have found that a bazooka screen won't filter for my crush so I use a stainles steel hose braid and wrap a piece of voile cloth around it. You could use the cloth and bazooka screen if you already have the screen.

 

[Golddiggie]

I found that a ~.039" gap setting on the mill produces a crush that works really well with the bazooka type screen. My brew buddy uses a cooler fitted with such a screen to mash in for his batches. No issue with a .038-.039" crush setting on the mill.

 

[msa8967]

Do you have your own mill or do you get your grain crushed at the LHBS or online store?

 

[ProfessorBrew]

I get my grain from either the LHBS or online (Northern Brewer, AHS, etc.). I'm not sure what settings they use for their crush.

 

[msa8967]

I have found the crushed grain from HBS is usually fairly course ground so it might not flow past your bazooka screen filter. You could start with the bazooka screen and if grain pieces were to go through it then you could take a pair of boilled pantyhose material and slip it over the screen. I usually boil the hose three times to get all of the dye out (I use nude color) and this can provide a good filter w/o having a stuck sparge.

 

[Kingfish]

If you are batch sparging, you should be just fine. A stainless steel braid from Lowes will work as well. When I started with AG I built a CPVC manifold that worked just fine but have a new cooler now and am going to use a braid.

 

[annoyingrob]

I just bought a braided stainless water hose for a toilet, cut off one end, pushed the braid as far back as I could, cut off as much of the inner hose as possible, stretched it back out, and crimped the cut end shut. Then, just got a brass threaded nipple, ball valve, and threaded barb to attach to it and fit it through the whole where the cooler drain was. Cost me like 20 bucks and works really well.

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I too use the stainless toilet supply line. I cut both ends off then removed the rubber hose from the inside. Crimped one end shut and attached the other end to tubing running through the drain with a plastic valve using these instructions. Super cheap and works great. Cost me just over $10. I use my LHBS mill with the gap set at .028 and no stuck sparges yet and I get clear runnings after a 3-4qt vorlauf.

 

[ProfessorBrew]

Is there an advantage to a stainless braid versus a bazooka screen, other than cost?

 

[msa8967]

I have found that the ss braid is a better filter of tiny grain pieces.

 

[Rhetoric]

I second this. I recently began using a bazooka screen versus a ss braid. The braid tends to float around in the mash while stirring, which is annoying. However, the bazooka screen, atleast the one I started using, has inferior filtering ability. I now use cheese cloth as an additional filter when I mash, which works great. Also, I've heard panty hose is another great filter for bazooka screens.