Cooler MLT Guys....tell me about your rig

[Hwk-I-St8]

Most of the brew stands I see here are keggle based with a traditional 3 vessel setup.

I run a rectangular coleman cooler MLT, an Igloo 5G HLT (I just use it to store sparge water while I'm collecting first runnings) and a 10G kettle.

My setup has been very haphazard through two brew days...literally stacking coolers to get the MLT up to a level where I can drain into the kettle. I'm thinking about a better way and looking for ideas.

My goals are something easy to store so I don't piss off SWMBO, but also makes the brew process flow more naturally. I don't have a pump yet, but that's next on my procurement list.

I have a couple 1/4" 4x8 plywood sheets laying around the garage, I was thinking about gluing them together and reinforcing with screwed on 2x4's over heavy duty saw horses as a base table that would be strong enough to support the MLT and HLT. I already have that stuff. I also have a workmate at my disposal. In general, using stuff I'm already storing makes it easier and cheaper.

Any great ideas or pictures you'd like to share?

 

[Homercidal]

Pump is very helpful. I used to lift water and lift tuns to do gravity. It works, and I'd do it if I had to, but honestly, my pump has been very nice for avoiding all that lifting.

I pour water from my HLT into the Cooler (48Quart with copper manifold) and mash in. I gravity into my BK and then sparge into HLT while the BK is heating up. I *could* pump from the MLT to save lifting, but it's not that much when you only do about half the volume at a time.

My HLT and BK are an assortment of kettles and keggles. I use whatever fits the heating method (Electric or propane or stovetop) and batch size.

My stand is a converted large format copier stand. They were tossing the blueprint copier out at work and I snagged the stand it was on, shortened it a bit, and added bigger casters.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Pump is very helpful. I used to lift water and lift tuns to do gravity. It works, and I'd do it if I had to, but honestly, my pump has been very nice for avoiding all that lifting.

I pour water from my HLT into the Cooler (48Quart with copper manifold) and mash in. I gravity into my BK and then sparge into HLT while the BK is heating up. I *could* pump from the MLT to save lifting, but it's not that much when you only do about half the volume at a time.

My HLT and BK are an assortment of kettles and keggles. I use whatever fits the heating method (Electric or propane or stovetop) and batch size.

My stand is a converted large format copier stand. They were tossing the blueprint copier out at work and I snagged the stand it was on, shortened it a bit, and added bigger casters.

Yep, a pump is needed, but I prioritized a kettle with a port and a stir plate and flask higher. I can do some lifting, but a using a pump with a brew kettle that has no drain port was a non-starter and I feel going into fermentation with a good yeast count is important. I've been borrowing a stirplate and flask, but my buddy has a new job and it's been hard to connect when I need those things.

 

[Homercidal]

Yep, a pump is needed, but I prioritized a kettle with a port and a stir plate and flask higher. I can do some lifting, but a using a pump with a brew kettle that has no drain port was a non-starter and I feel going into fermentation with a good yeast count is important. I've been borrowing a stirplate and flask, but my buddy has a new job and it's been hard to connect when I need those things.

I brewed for a few years by siphoning from the BK. That's is something I don't recommend to anyone. Good choice getting a nice kettle.

A pump won't affect the quality of your beer as much as a lot of things, if you take care of the basics first. It's a nice convenience upgrade for sure.

One thing I've thought about doing it adding a BIAB bag to my cooler to help keep the manifold flowing. I am not sure it will help my stuck sparges. I think my biggest problem is the fine "Dust" that settles after I add sparge water. I get coarse particles settling first, then last is this very fine gunk that tends to hold the wort up above it. I'd poked shallow holes through that layer and gotten flow going again.

Rice Hulls have really helped that out. I didn't used to get it, but some ingredient or something (maybe mill gap) has started causing an issue. It's a pretty small problem, though.

 

[schatzke]

I use a BIAB in my round cooler with a ball valve, no braid or FB.
I also don't have a pump so I drain my MLT into a bucket then dump into my BK. My MLT is on a stand I built, about 2 feet tall so not tall enough to just gravity drain to the BK. With a 5 gal batch it's very manageable.

 

[jrgtr42]

I use a cooler MLT, I put it on a milk crate before filling. This puts it at a perfect level to drain into my kettle. I do have to move that out to the burner, but I batch sparge, so what I do is move the first runnings out, get them heating while the second runnings are doing their thing in the MLT. I'll then drain that off into a second pot and add that to the main kettle.
The hardest part I have is post boil, emptying the wort into the fermenter - I'll usually brace the bottom on a chair, and pour through a strainer. This gets rid of most trub and also aerates the wort.

 

[bajaedition]

I have always like the tower systems because they are compact, however you need to pump, my last setup had the HLT on the bottom the MT on top, the boil pot int he middle. I did it like that for minimum amount of plumbing and having the boil pot high enough to gravity feed the fermenter.
I used both round igloos and rectangular coolers on my last stand. it was on casters and I rolled it away and covered it when done brewing, leaving a large area open for use.
for a 5 gallon setup the foot print was less than 2 feet by 4 feet.
I have since converted it into a 2 vessel BIAB system. Adding a crane overhead

 

[ericbw]

I have a picnic table, which is enough to get gravity to drain it.