Igloo cooler is losing a lot of heat

[badmajon]

I have an igloo cooler that is losing a lot of heat now it seems, when I first got it I probably lost 2 degrees over an hour, but now I think I'm losing 5-6 degrees after 6 batches. It's the igloo cube cooler from target, which only cost me $19 so I'm thinking of replacing it at this point.

Oh yeah and I insulate like crazy with towels around it and styrofoam on the bottom.

 

[beerocd]

What are the chances water got behind your fittings and soaked the insulation?

 

[broadbill]

How about insulating the top? My igloo cube had a hollow lid. Easy fix with spray foam insulation.

 

[Catt22]

Did you insulate the lid? Using a cooler to keep things cold is much different than using it to keep things hot. Heat (or heated air, I suppose) rises and the Ice Cube lids are just hollow plastic with not insulation inside. Most of the heat loss will be through the lid. I mitigated this problem with some Tough Stuff expanding floam insulation. I would recommend the low expansion type if you go this route. I drilled four 1/4" holes through the edge of the lid on each side to inject the foam. This really made a difference.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

How much head space do you have between the top of your mash and the lid?

You might need to add a "float". Cut a piece of 3/4" foam board to fit inside the cooler fairly snugly. Add a cable tie handle. Cover it with suran wrap when you brew.

I do 5 gallon batches in a 10 gallon cooler and lose less than a degree in an hour.

:rockin:

 

[wilceaser]

I use a simple false floating lid of aluminum foil, I set it about 2 inchs above the top level of the mash. Helps keep my temps steady, and almost zero loss of the course of an hour.

 

[Fletch78]

How much head space do you have between the top of your mash and the lid?

You might need to add a "float". Cut a piece of 3/4" foam board to fit inside the cooler fairly snugly. Add a cable tie handle. Cover it with suran wrap when you brew.

I do 5 gallon batches in a 10 gallon cooler and lose less than a degree in an hour.

:rockin:

Excellent idea! I lost 8 degrees on my first AG, and was trying to figure out why. It's a 20 gallon cooler! I've got styrofoam and cable ties ready to go!

 

[weirdboy]

Have you changed your process in any way? Are you preheating the cooler?

I was experiencing 5-6 degree losses in mine until I started preheating.

 

[bendavanza]

+1 preheat

 

[broadbill]

+2 to preheating...and how you do it is important, too (I think!)

My old method: Heat up mash water to 180, add it all to MT, let it preheat until it comes to strike temp then add grains.

I never really got good at hitting my mash temp right on the money.

My new method: Heat up mash water plus extra couple of gallons. When hot enough, add first couple of gallons to MT to heat (10-15 minutes), dump, then start mixing mash water (at strike temp) and grains to start mash.

I start with about 85-90% of my mash water, add grains, mix and let sit for 5 minutes. Check temp and adjust if necessary (cold water or more mash water). Seems to work better.

 

[badmajon]

Hey all, thanks for the replies. I think the only thing I can think of is the insulated top idea. I didn't even think of heat escaping out of the top, oddly enough. I already heat 2 gallons extra to 190 deg, add the preheating water, then let it sit until the rest of water goes down to about 10 over strike temp then I throw out the preheating water, and throw in my grain + strike water.

 

[Catt22]

Yes, a lot of heat escapes through an uninsulated lid. I did not realize how much until I put some hot water in mine and a short time later I could feel the lid getting hot to the touch. Filling the lid with the expanding foam insulation fixed it.