The Bar Towel

does anyone use a 10 gallon water cooler for mashing.

where did you get it? i've been trying to find one a a decent price but have had no success.

I've seen the odd one over the years, but they're typically pricie.

I started out with a 5 Ga Igloo & usually topped up with extract (I only did one pale & a vienna lager that I didn't top up).

I finally went to a 52 qt rectangular cooler & couldn't be happier. I made a copper manifold... but some people do even better batch sparging with a simple stainless steel braid.

ya im looking for something to do a batch sparge in, im hoping to only use a ss braid.

does it still work fine in a rectangular cooler? wouldn't it create more dead space?

I use a 10 gallon rectangular cooler with good results. My efficiency is typically ~70% which isn't the greatest but tossing in another pound or two of grain doesn't greatly increase the cost of brewing. I got my cooler at Dick's Sporting Goods. I think it was $20.

When purchasing a braid to use as a filter DO NOT purchase it at Home Depot. The ones they sell there look like they are stainless but they are plastic. A local hardware store should have a stainless one.

-rudy

+1 on the rectangular cooler mash tun. Get the largest size that you can. I would imagine that the round cooler would be advantageous relative to the rectangular if you are fly sparging. But if you are batch sparging or 'no' sparging, the rectangular will afford greater flexibility. I'm very happy with mine. I've been getting better than 70% efficiency consistently (the barley crusher has definitely helped with that too).

There are tons of REAL stainless steel braids at Home Depot in Regina. Yes, some are plastic, just look at the prices and read closely.

I get above 80% efficiency using a braid and 52qt rectangular cooler for a standard gravity (1.050), 5.5 gallon batch.

What the hell's a "braid"?

It's a flexible braided stainless steel tube used in a cooler mash tun to screen wort as it is let out. The usual source is a stainless steel flex connector used for plumbing (eg. toilet water supply line).

For a rectangular MLT you want one around 20" or so. Saw the ends off, carefully remove the inner rubber tube (pull the braid off the tube, not the other way around). One end gets an end plug fixed with a stainless steel clamp, the other end is clamped to a barb adaptor at the bulkhead.

Two comments. One. I've neither heard nor read of such a thing. Two. That's friggin' ingenious.