These are both rubbermaid 5 gallon coolers on walmart.com. I cant see a differnece between them accept one is 21 dollars and the other is 56 dollars. Nb offers one for 46. Are these all the same thing or is one better than the other, better insulated, food grade not food grade ettc…?
$56
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rubbermaid-Co ... ifications$21
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rubbermaid-5- ... r/20613574I’m not a fan of round coolers but after looking at them, I’d get the blue one (cheaper). They appear to be the same so maybe in the store you will be able to see what the difference is. I’d recommend one of the Igloo Ice Cube coolers. The 48 or 60 quart work great for 29 and 44 pound grain bills.
I would also recommend a rectangular cooler over the round drink coolers. Larger for less money.
http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/ http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/mashtun.htmlI also agree that an Igloo Cube would be a lot better cooler for the money. I have been very pleased with the 60qt Igloo cube that I converted.
I’ll say that the 5 Gallon cooler won’t go too far in regards to batch size and/or gravity. A 5 gallon cooler will max at 5 Gallons of 1.072 wort @ 85% efficiency. Typically those numbers won’t even net you a full 5 gallons if.you making a hop heavy IPA.
I would at least get the 10 gallon Rubbermaid for $47
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Igloo-Beverage-Jug-Orange-and-White-10-Gallon/14550424?findingMethod=rr
I should have said this is only for partial mash. Ill be following a procedure i read in BYO By chris colby where you use a 2 gallon cooler with 4 pounds of grain. I want to just up the grains a bit to say 6 pounds of grain. Would a ten gallon cooler lose alot of heat becase of all the dead space?
Home depot has them in two colors I have one of each.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog ... SEARCH+ALL[quote=“chuck”]Home depot has them in two colors I have one of each.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog ... SEARCH+ALL[/quote]Which one works better? Im thinking the red ???
I use the red one for my HLT 8)
Ive heard that in general BLUE coolers work better. :mrgreen:
I have a round rubbermaid tun, and if your doing six lbs it would be great. About 12 lbs is what I can max at.
I also have a larger (12?) tun and yes I have noticed some dramatic heat loss when using a smaller amount of grain.
[quote=“eelpout”]I have a round rubbermaid tun, and if your doing six lbs it would be great. About 12 lbs is what I can max at.
I also have a larger (12?) tun and yes I have noticed some dramatic heat loss when using a smaller amount of grain.[/quote]
With 6 pounds of grain, in the 5 gallon one what kind of heat loss do you think i should expect?
~5* or less over a 60 minute rest.
Remember to pre-heat the cooler. I like to add ~175* water to my cooler. Allow it to cool to 160*. Then add the room temp grain. Stir and it should come close to 150*.
You know you are going to move to AG, just get the bigger (rectangular) cooler. 
go orange or go home. 
[quote=“Nighthawk”]
You know you are going to move to AG, just get the bigger (rectangular) cooler. [/quote]
+1
I do small batches (6# or so) in my Coleman Xtreme and I don’t get that much heat loss in an hour mash.
