So I’m looking at building a mash tun out of a 10 gallon cooler. Like one of my previous posts mentions, I’ve been doing 5 gallon batches the BIAB way. I’m looking at building it the “cheap and easy way” but I’m having a hard time finding a 3/8" inline plastic ball valve. I can find all the other parts at NB or at Midwest Supplies, but they don’t carry the valve and neither do the big box stores. I found one at Homebrew Heaven based out of Everett, Washington, but now my cheap and easy mash tun isn’t so cheap and easy because they have a $15 minimum purchase not including the shipping. I might just buy the stainless steel ball valve kit like I was originally going to do, but I was intrigued at the thought of doing it the more economical way. Any suggestions??
I would go ahead and buy the plastic valve, along with a few ingredients you’re going to use eventually anyway. My steel ball valve on my mash tun radiates a lot of heat that would be more useful inside the tun; the plastic valve doesn’t conduct heat nearly as well. Of course, you could wrap the stainless valve to insulate it while you’re mashing, but it’s just one more thing in a busy schedule. Not to mention the cost of stainless…
Having tried both on several mash tuns, I prefer the nylon valve to a SS ball valve. I found I can get much better control.
This
is the one I got from the store as this is my LHBS. It works great, I estimated the shipping to me at $10.15 though so the freight isn’t cheap but they don’t have any order minimums. Hope it helps.
:cheers:
Rad
Thanks guys. I’m going to pull the trigger on the inline valve. I’ll check out the other site. Homebrew Heaven has the $15 minimum and $15.34 shipping. Thought about getting a new fermentation bucket which would put my total with shipping at $33.14. Thanks for the suggestions!
