Mash Tun Cooler Question

[p00j2620]

Hey guys, I am relatively new to brewing, but I want to start trying my hand at all grain brews. Last night I was searching around on youtube for some cooler mash tun builds, and I found a few nice setups, but people were saying copper, brass, and PVC could contaminate and potentially poison the beer and myself. The mash tun I have seen on the wiki here used to same materials. Are these guys just blowing the harm way out of porportion? Any info or links to builds would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jetmac]

If that were true we would all be dead

 

[DonMagee]

I just bought a round cooler and a all stainless steel conversion kit. Took about 2 minutes to install and works great. You could save money by buying the parts at a hardware store, but I didn't feel like hunting everything down.

 

[p00j2620]

Thanks for the response guys. Glad to hear no one has died yet lol.

Don, do you remember where you bought your kit from?

 

[pabloj13]

Hey guys, I am relatively new to brewing, but I want to start trying my hand at all grain brews. Last night I was searching around on youtube for some cooler mash tun builds, and I found a few nice setups, but people were saying copper, brass, and PVC could contaminate and potentially poison the beer and myself. The mash tun I have seen on the wiki here used to same materials. Are these guys just blowing the harm way out of porportion? Any info or links to builds would be greatly appreciated.

Copper - safe
Brass - safe, especially if you treat it beforehand. See here.
PVC - not recommended for the high temps of a mash
CPVC - safe

 

[duboman]

I use a 10 gallon round cooler with a DIY copper manifold and steel ball valve and I'm still alive an kicking and the beers have been great! Oh, and my cooler is RED so my efficiency is great LOL!

 

[boscobeans]

I guess I use a combination BIAB and false bottom ?

I put a CPVC bulkhead and valve in a Coleman 50 quart Ultra cooler. On the bottom is a stainless wire roasting rack that fits from side to side and end to end. It sits 1/4 inch off the bottom and it is bent just enough to ride over the drain. A panel of Walmart voille curtain is cut to line the entire cooler (snug fit all around) and the overlap is draped over the edges and secured with double bands of butchers string.

When mashing about a quart of 180 degree water goes in first then the grain (12-13 pounds) then the usual 1.25 quarts per pound of 160 degree water and I stir it to break up any dough balls and add more water if needed to get an oatmeal like mash. The violle liner never gets in the way (the mash keeps it flat to the cooler wals) and I stir twice again during a 40 - 60 minute mash then once again before I drain the cooler. The cooler holds the temperature and I only open for a minute or less to stir.

I then batch sparge the drained grain until I get to the needed boil volume. This works great for me and I am always in the mid 70's or higher depending on the crush.

Once the volume is reached it's left to drain for a while I am always amazed at how easy it is to clean up. I just dump the entire grain mass into a 5 gallon bucket and spray out the cooler with hot water and it's ready to go.

I set the cooler on the counter with the spigot over the sink and collect the wort into a 4 gallon pot then transfer it to the 10 gallon boiler on the stove or the propane burner.

BAD BACK so this way the most I am lifting is a bag of well drained spent grain or 3 gallons of wort.

Works for me and aside from the cooler and the broiler rack which I had the CPVC fittings and the curtain cost about 10 bucks. The left over curtain makes great hops bags as well.

bosco

 

[DonMagee]

Thanks for the response guys. Glad to hear no one has died yet lol.

Don, do you remember where you bought your kit from?

I got mine from bargainfittings.com. I bought the stainless cooler kit and a stainless kettle screen. I should have gotten the braid as the kettle screen was too stiff to easily bend and was too long for the cooler. It took a bit of work with pliers to make it fit. The kit however worked like a charm and had everything I needed and clear instructions.

 

[p00j2620]

Awesome. Thanks a l ot for the info guys I just scored a nice 10 gallon commercial grade igloo (McDonalds) cooler for 10 bucks off of Craigslist. Now, time for my hardware!

 

[tre9er]

Get the kit from bargainfittings.com

Wayne is a great guy to deal with. His stuff is top notch and shipping is cheap and fast.