Good Mash Tun Cooler

[Hop Me]

G'day. As the description states, I'm trying to decide on a cylidrical drink cooler to use as a mash tun. I found the "Keep Cold" 36L cooler at BCF and wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts on it or have have any experiences. Cheers!

 

[BoilerBoy]

Are you going to batch or fly sparge?

I remember years ago before buying my current willow rectangular 55L esky that I used the bucket in bucket method and the stirring in a cylindrical design was a PITA, no such issue with a rectangular cooler too easy.

Cheers,
BB

 

[goomboogo]

Dave, I'm currently using one of these but it's blue. The colour shouldn't make much difference. I have a 9 inch false bottom (batch sparge) and lautering is non-problematic. Thermal loss over a 90 minute mash is negligible although I do put a piece of alfoil on top of the grain bed and a towel around the join where the lid goes on. They do the job but won't last forever. The cooler may experience some warping of the inner liner after prolonged use but you should get a good few years out of one.

 

[Hop Me]

Thanks for that Goomboogo. I'll give it a go

Cheers
Dave

Dave, I'm currently using one of these but it's blue. The colour shouldn't make much difference. I have a 9 inch false bottom (batch sparge) and lautering is non-problematic. Thermal loss over a 90 minute mash is negligible although I do put a piece of alfoil on top of the grain bed and a towel around the join where the lid goes on. They do the job but won't last forever. The cooler may experience some warping of the inner liner after prolonged use but you should get a good few years out of one.

 

[Fourstar]

I've got one or the equivalent and it works well batch sparging and a stainless braid. If I could have my time and money again I would have invested in the current eski brand drink coolers that are about 60 bucks and 50l iirc.

These square guns are shallower And a preprepAred hole ready for a bulkhead.

 

[clarkey7]

G'day. As the description states, I'm trying to decide on a cylidrical drink cooler to use as a mash tun. I found the "Keep Cold" 36L cooler at BCF and wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts on it or have have any experiences. Cheers!

Gday DaveW,

I've got one of those and have done around 50 AG beers so far in it. I upgraded to a much larger mash tun, but still use the "keep cold" one for English Milds and when I do a huge brewday (it's useful to have extra water kept hot or to mash 2 beers at once).

Excellent mash tun!

I've seen them used with a "bag", a braided hose and SS commercial false bottoms.

You'll need to get yourself a new tap though. You'll get a sore finger holding in that plastic button

My experience was that if you pre-heated you only lost a couple of degrees over an hour mash in these babies (that was outside and without blankets..)
I have beersmith set to 75% and usually hit this or better in this tun.

You don't lose too much to dead volume under the tap using the existing tap/hole.

I actually liked the cylindrical tun better and the grain bed was a decent depth in it too.

I found if you wanted to brew with anything more than 8-9kg of grain (double batch or big beer) with batch sparging in this tun, you had to muck around with your volumes a bit, go without a full mash-out and/or have to go with at least 3 "batches" of water.

It's doable though as I struggled along with many times :chug:

Anyway - I reckon it's a great start.

Ask more Q's if you want - that's what I thought of so far.

Cheers,

PB

 

[Hop Me]

Thanks a LOT Pocket and Fourstar. I'll give the little bugger a go. I was thinking I'll use the 9" SS false bottom from CB to save a bit of mucking around. I'll be happy if I can know out some nice ales with this. I'll reward myself later with a bigger setup if I can get those right. Cheers!

 

[winkle]

I use one with a braid manifold, works well - usually only loses a degree over 60 minutes if that. Needs to be preheated with a few litres of hot water. You will get some deformation of the inner surface after the first use but its nothing frightening. Its a good bit of kit, mine's probably done something like 250 batches so far.

 

[Carboy]

I have one of those BCF coolers with a 9" false bottom. It works like a dream and I've done 22 AG brews this year and it still looks like new. In Winter it losers about 1.5C on a 90 mash. Mind you I did fill my lid with expanding foam (from a can) to help to retain the heat.

They are great for single batches, but a lot more work for doubles and Imperials.

Good luck
Cheers
Carboy :icon_cheers:

 

[Brewme]

I've got one or the equivalent and it works well batch sparging and a stainless braid. If I could have my time and money again I would have invested in the current eski brand drink coolers that are about 60 bucks and 50l iirc.

These square guns are shallower And a preprepAred hole ready for a bulkhead.

Save your money. The cheaper eskies are just plastic containers to hold your drinks and ice. The dearer 'Esky' models (Ice King) are fully insulated, including the lid.

The cheapies need to be wrapped in doonas, blankets, sleeping bags, bubblewrap etc. The good ones don't.

I did a side by side comparison with a 27 litre 'Esky' brand cooler and a 30 litre fully insulated 'C' brand ice box. There's the difference....cooler -vs- ice box.

Into each I poured 5 litres of hot tap water. I immediately checked with the trusy thermometer and the temp was around 57C in both. The ambient air temp was hovering at 23C.

1 hour later I checked both. Cheapy was 48C and brand 'C' was 54C. Neither was pre-heated.

I have since converted brand 'C' to use as my mash tun. Just waiting for the grains to arrive so I can start a few real AG's.

We all save heaps by brewing our own. Put some of the savings into quality gear.

Cheers

 

[Fourstar]

the cooler the Op'er is talking about are insulated the same way eski's are. the lids are not. i filled mine with expanda foam.

just calculate your strike water, go 3 deg over that, seal her up and then dough in 5 mins later. atleast thats what i do, i hoit my targets and have no more than 2deg of loss over 1 hour.

 

[SteinMeisterJapan]

I'm currently looking to jump to all grain early next year and I have pretty much decided on the round cooler.

Without any experience, it seems to me that since there is less surface area the round coolers loose less heat. Can anyone back this up?

 

[bear09]

Hi All.

I have a blue one of these as well and although it does the job Im not 100% happy with it. Thermal loss over 1.5 hours is about one degree excellent. However I use a 9 inch FB and have found that because the bottom is not completely flat (like the Rubber maids) I do get a little bit of grain come through to the kettle. Only a tiny bit but still it always gets through. I recirc about 10 liters some times and it still gets through.

Others on these forums have solved this by using some swiss voile (or an equivalent) or a different method (Braid etc). So, I could get around this slight issue of mine.

I got mine for $90 as opposed to $300 for a Rubbermaid so I am still happy but just wanted to keep you informed.

Cheers.

 

[KE VO]

Could someone please tell me the internal dimensions of one of these cooler please. Im wanting to use one to house my 9.5L keg, but cant find one locally and dont want to order one from the net, incase its not the right size. Or does anyone have a better idea for keg to go in? TIA.

 

[blotto]

Could someone please tell me the internal dimensions of one of these cooler please. Im wanting to use one to house my 9.5L keg, but cant find one locally and dont want to order one from the net, incase its not the right size. Or does anyone have a better idea for keg to go in? TIA.

Sorry don't have the dimensions but it should fit a 9L keg as it's what I used mine for before i started using it as a mash tun.

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• blotto
• 29/12/11