Hey all,
Looking to put together a mash tun this week -- my original plan was to grab a Coleman Xtreme 36qt cooler for $45 at Walmart, which is more or less the top of my budget. However, I've just spotted the "lower end" blue Coleman cooler (shown below) for just $25 for the 48qt size. I know that the Xtreme coolers are supposedly better insulated, but has anyone actually used the blue Coleman cooler (shown below) for a mash tun and had good success with it keeping temp? Though I only do 5 gallon batches, I know that 36qt is a bit on the small side even for that, so the 48qt would obviously give me extra capacity. However, I don't want to sacrifice the ability to hold a consistent temp with a smaller 5g batch grain bill with a crappy cooler. Any thoughts?
Looking to put together a mash tun this week -- my original plan was to grab a Coleman Xtreme 36qt cooler for $45 at Walmart, which is more or less the top of my budget. However, I've just spotted the "lower end" blue Coleman cooler (shown below) for just $25 for the 48qt size. I know that the Xtreme coolers are supposedly better insulated, but has anyone actually used the blue Coleman cooler (shown below) for a mash tun and had good success with it keeping temp? Though I only do 5 gallon batches, I know that 36qt is a bit on the small side even for that, so the 48qt would obviously give me extra capacity. However, I don't want to sacrifice the ability to hold a consistent temp with a smaller 5g batch grain bill with a crappy cooler. Any thoughts?