I plan on making a mash tun this weekend using a 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler like the ones sold by our host. I think I basically have 4 options for the grain bed filter at the bottom, 2 store bought & 2 homemade. I can either go bazooka screen, false bottom, SS plumbing braid or solder some sort of copper assembly together & drill/saw holes in it. I am not too concerned about the money for the two store bought options but am mostly interested in what people have found to work the best.
So, what do people have experience with/find works best?
I started with the cooler that our host sells and used it a few times with a false bottom. Although it worked, I didn’t like having to stir that deep of vessel and had a stuck mash once. I ended up going to Denny’s way with the cooler and braided SS line. I personally didn’t get the flow rate I wanted with the SS line, so I bought a bazooka tube and love it. I have 2 coolers now with bazooka tubes. One is a 40qt and the other is like 70 or something for larger brews. I like the fact that its easy to stir with a larger opening and flow rate is great.
I have 3 of the ones here…www.dennybrew.com. A 48 qt., a 70 qt., and a 152 qt. I use SS faucet supply line in all of them. I’ve done 450 batches over 15 years and they’ve performed flawlessly. I far prefer the rectangular coolers to the round ones. You get more volume, they’re less expensive, and they’re easier to stir due to the larger opening.
I went in an entirely different direction originally - mashing in a kettle with false bottom. Will stay with it becasue I don’t want any new gear right now.
If I were to do it all over again, I would likely convert a rectangular cooler as Denny has advocated for. After doing so many batches, I can definately see the practical side of the easy cooler.
(Just saw this thread after creating a very similar thread so figure I’d just delete it and copy/paste over here)
Hello all,
I’ve finally decided to make the jump into all grain, and I plan on building a mashtun over the next few weeks.I know there’s loads of guides (I’ve already read many of them) and video tutorials, but I wanted to get your input on what has/hasn’t worked for you. I plan on getting a standard 48 quart rectangular cooler (do you guys have any suggestions on brands/models?).
I plan on getting a cooler conversion kit from bargain fittings (either the standard http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=47&product_id=240
or the Long kit http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=47&product_id=241
Suggestions?). With these conversion kits, I planned on throwing in a 3 piece valve and just the standard coupling. Is a hose barb necessary? Additionally, I plan on either going the route of using a toilet supply line or buying a stainless steel mash braid from bargain fittings (thoughts?). Next, I know I’ll need some tubing, but I wasn’t sure what lengths are preferential. Thank you all in advance for any input.
[quote=“Denny”]I have 3 of the ones here…www.dennybrew.com. A 48 qt., a 70 qt., and a 152 qt. I use SS faucet supply line in all of them. I’ve done 450 batches over 15 years and they’ve performed flawlessly. I far prefer the rectangular coolers to the round ones. You get more volume, they’re less expensive, and they’re easier to stir due to the larger opening.[/quote]Same here but my three are 48, 60, 120 quart. SS mesh braid in all. 606 batches over 12 years.
I’ll just post mine just cause I didnt see anyone chime in witha diy manifold set up.
I started to make a SS braid but all I had on hand was a very short section…about 6 inches by the time I cut the ends off so I ditched that.
So i went with what else I had on hand which was a bunch of copper pipe left over when I plumbed my basement for workshop air.
Just soldered the end corners and t’s only. The long center sections slip into each end. It is 4 rows wide so it covers a large section of the cooler floor. So far, a whopping 7 batches and it seems to be working great.
