Advice on mash and hot liquor tank cooler conversion

[stevehardt]

I've been thinking of making the leap frpom extract to all grain. I've done some research on this forum on homemade conversion kits for converting coolers to mash tuns and hot liquor tanks. There are a number of good "how to" pages on this forum for the do it yourselfer.

I also searched some vendor's sites for pre made conversion kits. If I were to purchase

http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Conversion_Picnic_Cooler_5_Gallon.html

with 2 of the fitting kits on the bottom, what else would I need?

Also, what size hoses would I need, and what would you recommend for a sparge arm?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

[stevehardt]

Also, is a 5 gallon cooler git enough for making 5 gallon batches?

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

Also, is a 5 gallon cooler git enough for making 5 gallon batches?

Thanks!

Sometimes!

You can do a 5 gallon batch of under about 1.062 or so with a 5 gallon cooler. I actually gave my 5 gallon MLT away, because it's not really that useful to me. I'd highly recommend a 10 gallon cooler.

 

[Schumed]

I wouldn't recommend a sparge arm....batch sparging is the way to go....unless you like adding more time to your brew day

 

[Schumed]

You don't really need anything else with the pre made kits...go with 10 gallons so you don't have to expand later....

For what is worth I bought a cheap cooler off Craigslist and some simple parts from my local hardware store with my first mash tun

 

[Dan]

I also searched some vendor's sites for pre made conversion kits. If I were to purchase

http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Conversion_Picnic_Cooler_5_Gallon.html

with 2 of the fitting kits on the bottom, what else would I need?

Also, what size hoses would I need, and what would you recommend for a sparge arm?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

The price of that false bottom and the SS ballvalve are both steep. You can find them for less. Not sure of your question "with 2 of the fitting kits on the bottom" But for a mash tun and I'd go with a 10 g one like Yooper suggested
you need the ball valve, and a false bottom of some sort. Either one of the round ones like you linked or you can even use a stainless steel water supply line with the rubber removed. Tubing size is 1/2 ID.

 

[stevehardt]

Thanks everyone for the good advice!

 

[feinbera]

Lowe's and Home Depot carry round coolers with plastic spigots in 5- and 10-gallon sizes. The plastic spigot easily screws off, leaving you a perfect sized hole for the 1/2-inch fittings of your choice, no fuss, no muss.

I'd also recommend the 10-gallon; especially when you're just starting out, and your efficiency and technique aren't quite where you want 'em to be, that extra space will come in handy.

 

[Schumed]

Lowe's and Home Depot carry round coolers with plastic spigots in 5- and 10-gallon sizes. The plastic spigot easily screws off, leaving you a perfect sized hole for the 1/2-inch fittings of your choice, no fuss, no muss.

I'd also recommend the 10-gallon; especially when you're just starting out, and your efficiency and technique aren't quite where you want 'em to be, that extra space will come in handy.

Last time I looked Walmart online had the cheapest price for 10 gallon coolers....offering free shipping to the closest store...I think it was like $38

 

[MarcusKillion]

I might add in that if you use the stainless steel braided line fora filter it is still a good idea to cover that up with something to stop grain from clogging it up or smashing it . I made my false bottom but one of the steel ones 12" would be a lot easier . I had my braided line get squashed and it caused me a bunch of trouble . you can how ever take a piece of about 12 or 10 gauge solid home wire and strip out a long piece of the copper wire and wrap that around a pipe , stick what ever to make a coil and then slip that coil inside the braided line to support it like a spring inside a radiator hose on a car.

 

[brewkinger]

FWIW: brewhardware.com has VERY affordable weldless setups for keggles, kettles and coolers.
As far as the stainless braid goes, the fix that Marcus mentioned is a great idea... THANKS
because I had about given up on that type of setup as my recent statistics proved to me that it failed 13% of the time (which does not seem like a lot, but 1 failed/stuck sparge is more than enough... EVER!
Brew day goes from enjoyable to stressful and almost not fun with a stuck sparge.

 

[Daver77]

I wouldn't recommend a sparge arm....batch sparging is the way to go....unless you like adding more time to your brew day

Totally agree especially when starting out. You get less efficiency but so what just add more grains to compensate. Use a brewing software like Beer Tools and you can set the same efficiency in every brew. Mine happens to be 72%.

 

[MarcusKillion]

FWIW: brewhardware.com has VERY affordable weldless setups for keggles, kettles and coolers.
As far as the stainless braid goes, the fix that Marcus mentioned is a great idea... THANKS
because I had about given up on that type of setup as my recent statistics proved to me that it failed 13% of the time (which does not seem like a lot, but 1 failed/stuck sparge is more than enough... EVER!
Brew day goes from enjoyable to stressful and almost not fun with a stuck sparge.

The stuck sparge caused me to build this -
I made a false bottom out of a 5 gallon bucket lid , pvc pipe ( to support the lid so not smash braided line ) and a vegetable strainer .
See the pics here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f85/my-new-mash-tun-filter-376005/

I did not use the wire for a spring in this since I used the pvc pipe for support . This worked great! With only a quart of dead space.