Igloo Mash Tun and HLT

Hello fellow brewers, new to the forum today. I currently brew extract kits, and am looking to advance into all grain. Does anyone have experience using igloo coolers for mash tun and HLT? I haven been doing a lot of research and seems like a cheaper way to go about switching to all grain. Any tips are appreciated. Cheers!

Get a cooler, any color, with a drain. You can get a braid and ball valve from Home Depot. Another option is to get a round cooler with a drain and line that with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag as a filter. Many different ways to go depending if you want to spend money or not it will all make wort.

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You should do the dual research on BIAB. I’m very happy with the results and efficiency. I don’t have the room for a mash tun

I BIAB now also but I used a cooler mash tun when I learned. It’s a good process to know how to do. If after the apocalypse and you can’t source a bag you will still find a cooler floating around

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Here is a great resource from our friend @denny on how to build a cooler set up. Lots of ways to do it but this is a great starting point. http://www.dennybrew.com/

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I started with a round 10 gallon cooler… it was orange… my mash efficiency suffered… If I had a different colored one… maybe it would have been better…
Just clowning around there… I think its a great process to understand… I mashed for a long time in that water cooler… Read about BIAB… switched my process and this is where I’m staying… One kettle… start to finish… Electric heating element… in doors… I’m hovering around 80% efficiency… Sneezles61

21 years and 539 batches…I have 5 different brewing systems, including some hi tech stuff, but that same cooler is what I use most often.

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dennybrew.com has been inspirational in my jump to all-grain brewing. I have an orange round cooler (10 gal) that I got for half price at Home Depot otherwise I’d have a blue one. My efficiency varies from 75-80% depending where I crush my grain and my temp will only drop 1-2 degrees over the 60 minute mash period.

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Orange coolers hold temps better.

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Oh boy, here we go :smile: Red coolers hold temps better because they appear to be on fire. Blue are like ice so not as good.

@brewmanchu Nice job. You will be brewing lots of fine beer with that.

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:scream: Now you tell me!! :cry:

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Now I suppose we have to have a green one for just St Pats day? :joy: Sneezles61

I found green to result in a thin bodied beer. Must be the MT geometry of the green round coolers.

With a blue cooler you get 135% efficiency. That means every 3 brews a sack of grain magically appears!

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Oh Denny, way too funny!
Well then Loopie, good thing it only gets used once a year for massive drinking without a buzz! :joy: Flabby mash-tun… flabby brew! Sneezles61