David Baker
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- Nov 26, 2019
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Maybe I have come to this very late but I would like to share a warning to any other home-brewer who seeks to convert a 10-gallon plastic cooler into a mash-tun. I’ve been an extract brewer for more than 15 years but a wonderful gift just recently has helped me to start the conversion to all-grain. So I needed a mash-tun and I found the Popular Mechanics article on their website written by William Herkewitz and Andrew Han back in Jul 29, 2014 under the heading “HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN HOME-BREWING MASH TUN.”
Unfortunately there is a basic error in that article, hence this attempt to warn others.
There are variations of the red/orange 10-gallon cooler - Rubbermaid/Home Depot/etc.
The one shown so prominently in the article is the one sold by Home Depot. The spigot in that model is mounted in a ½ inch hole so the ¾ inch fittings also shown in the article and listed in the shopping list, will NOT fit. Anyone trying to make that conversion with that particular model of cooler will need ½ inch fittings.
I assume, without practical knowledge of this, that the other variations of this cooler will need the ¾ inch fittings shown. It might be that the spigot hole in the cooler was changed in later models, although I bought mine just a few months ago so I believe it is current.
Hope this helps!
Unfortunately there is a basic error in that article, hence this attempt to warn others.
There are variations of the red/orange 10-gallon cooler - Rubbermaid/Home Depot/etc.
The one shown so prominently in the article is the one sold by Home Depot. The spigot in that model is mounted in a ½ inch hole so the ¾ inch fittings also shown in the article and listed in the shopping list, will NOT fit. Anyone trying to make that conversion with that particular model of cooler will need ½ inch fittings.
I assume, without practical knowledge of this, that the other variations of this cooler will need the ¾ inch fittings shown. It might be that the spigot hole in the cooler was changed in later models, although I bought mine just a few months ago so I believe it is current.
Hope this helps!