mash Tun project

[2nd Street Brewery]

Heres my question. I was out scoping out coolers as I think I may be getting ready to make the jump to all grain. Which coolers does everyone like best. I can choose between the blue 5 gal Rubbermaid and the 5 gal orange Igloo coolers. Any preferences? The difference in price is about $4 to $5 more fore the Igloo.

 

[MrSaLTy]

Well, I would suggest going to a 10 gal cooler if you can. With a 5 gallon cooler your max grain bill will be around 12-13 pounds which will limit your gravity to some extent. If that doesn't matter to you then don't worry about it. FWIW, I use the 48 qt igloo ice cube and it was like 19 bux with a small playmate cooler thrown in. I think you can find them cheaper now. There are some pics in my gallery.

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

Couldn't find any of the 10 gal ones at Wally world or K Farts. That was really what I was looking for. Lots of the ones like you have but not sure if I wanted to go throught the work of making the manifold for the bottom. I have done a fair amount of soldering in my day but figured that getting a false bottom was easier. May change my mind though depending on the replies I get.

 

[sudsmonkey]

This sounds crazy. I made a PVC manifold for my lauter tun. It's made of 3/4'' pvc with lots of holes drilled in it. I had to make it square, but I use it in a 5 gal. round cooler. It was cheap( $10, or less) and the design would lend itself handily to the square "Ice Cube" type coolers. To make it easier to clean, I didn't glue any joints, and I only drilled holes in one side of each elbow. Makes it easier to take apart. FWIW.

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

Didn't think of that. Would probably be easier than cutting the slits in the copper. What size copper did you use Salty? 1/2 in or 3/4?

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Couldn't find any of the 10 gal ones at Wally world or K Farts. That was really what I was looking for. Lots of the ones like you have but not sure if I wanted to go throught the work of making the manifold for the bottom. I have done a fair amount of soldering in my day but figured that getting a false bottom was easier. May change my mind though depending on the replies I get.

The ten gallon ones are easier to find in summer. This time onf year Ebay is probably your best bet for a ten gallon cooler, and probably your best price too. I highly recommend that you look around and find a ten gallon one. If you don't you're going to be kicking yourself in your not too distant brewing future............

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

I've been looking on e-bay. Are the yellow Igloos better or worse than the Orange. They seem to be more for water.

 

[ajf]

I use the 5g Rubbermaid coolers. One for the mash tun, and one for the HLT.
No problems except the HLT is always too small, and I have to top it up during the sparge, and the mash tun is too small for very heavy beers which I like to brew very occasionally. I got over that problem by brewing 3g batchesinstead of the normal 5g.

I'm also very happy with the Phil's plastic false bottom, but some people have problems with them floating. I add foundation water, and bleed a bit out of the spigot to purge all air from the system before adding any grains to get over that problem. You can also get SS false bottoms for a bit more money, and I should think that they would work just as well.

-a.

 

[EdWort]

I picked up my 10 Gallon round Igloo at Home Depot for $39. I pulled the Kewler manifold out of my 5 gallon and it went right in, no problemo.

I put the valve from the 10 back into the 5 gallon so I can donate to my son's Boy Scout Troop.

The 10 gallon is the way to go. The igloo has a seat lid, so there are no threads and no spinning it on. Fits tight as a drum.

Color me Orange & white happy!

 

[Teedocious]

I have a rectangular 7gal igloo (red). I had it sitting in my garage forever not getting used much, so rather than buy anything I just used it. Sometimes I can't fit all the grain I want into 28qt, so you should definately go 40qt.

I personally like the rectangular coolers - manifolds are easy to make (especially with PVC) and to me it seems that the surface area : grain depth is better in rectangular setups.

To answer your question - almost any cooler will be good enough for heat retention for a mash. The difference between coolers comes in when you put a bag of ice in them for a week and check which one holds it longest. 90 minute mash? No worries.

Your main concerns should be surface area : grain depth ratio & size of cooler. I say 10gal is the only option.

 

[Beer Snob]

I had used the rubermaid with a lot of success. Though I never thought I would need more then 12 pounds..... falling in love with IPA now and it calls for 20ish. I went to Walmart and got a 60 quart Igloo Ice cube on wheels ($21). The stainless steel false bottom fits nicely in it. Can't decide to make a manifold for it, but right now I'm going to do a batch with the false bottom.

 

[MrSaLTy]

Didn't think of that. Would probably be easier than cutting the slits in the copper. What size copper did you use Salty? 1/2 in or 3/4?

I used 1/2 inch copper.

If you use PVC, use CPVC as regular PVC is not so heat tolerant.

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Think I'm going to pickup a regular cooler tommorrow. Not sure on the copper or PVC, I think I have enough copper around. Man I feel a project coming on.

 

[Truble]

FWIW, I picked up a 48 QT Igloo at Target last weekend for my MLT for 14.99.

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

MrSalty, I've been looking at your pics and can't tell how you have it connected to the ball valve. Is that a threaded connection? All the ones I've seen with false bottoms use tubing but it doesn't look like that in yours.

 

[Beer Snob]

Looks like a Kewler Kit....

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

I guess I'm not saying this right. I know how the ball valve connects to the cooler. What I can't see is how he is connecting his manifold to that. I mdon't see a hose barb fitting comming off it to a second one on the piece coming through the wall of the cooler?? I wish we could draw diagrams in here maybe I could express myself better. His looks like a solid connection instead of using hose.

 

[MrSaLTy]

I have a 1/2" threaded copper fitting at the junction of the manifold to the stainless coupler. I got it at home depot and it was cheap. One end is threaded and the other is solder to the copper, but I don't solder it so I can remove the manifold. I cut the solder end through so that I can put a stainless hose clamp on it and tighten it up to prevent leaks when I'm using it. Let me know if you need a pic and I'll try to gat one for you.

 

[MrSaLTy]

Skrew it I did some pics.....

this is the connection...

and here it is connected...

here it is in pieces... I only soldered the sides....

and here it is installed....

 

[Beer Snob]

Real nice. Looks just like the Kewler Kit bulkhead unit! Nice job

Did you make the sparger or is that Phil's?

 

[MrSaLTy]

The bulkhead connection is a kewler kit... I just have the copper fitting screwed into it. Ya its a phil's sparge arm. It works fine and I'm happy with it but once you see one up close you will wonder why you didn't make one yourself.

 

[disaffected]

Your manifold is really nice, MrSaLTy. I made mine out of PEX tubing with brass corners and "T"'s and a vinyl line to connect to a barb fitting on the inside of the Kewler Kit. It's covered in stainless washing machine hose braid. I didn't have a PEX-style crimper, so I used stainless hose clamps. It's ugly, but it works. I actually think it would have cost me less to make one like yours out of copper, and probably about the same amount of time.

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

Thanks for the pix MrSalty. That's what I was looking for. If I do CPVC I am assuming I could rig up something similar.

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

Well I did it. Got 2 48 quart Rubbermaids from KFart for about $32. Now to decide if I am going to go copper or CPVC for the manifold. Then it's off to the darkside. This could be an interesting winter.

 

[the_bird]

For what it's worth, the stainless steel braid I used in my 5 gallon rubbermaid worked like an absolute charm yesterday. Not sure if that's an option for a bigger cooler, if it is I would explore that.

 

[Brewing Clamper]

Skrew it I did some pics.....

this is the connection...

and here it is connected...

here it is in pieces... I only soldered the sides....

and here it is installed....

would there be a problem making this manifold from PVC instead of copper? I haven't been able to find any literature that says PVC could be a health risk.. even at hotter temps.... What do ya'll think?

 

[MrSaLTy]

I have heard that PVC can leech plastic taste at higher temps although some here may use it and disagree. I think that CPVC is rated at a higher temp and is ok and should be available in the same section of home improvement stores. Its the yellow looking stuff instead of the white stuff. (I know technical terms)