FOOLCiRCLE

 Another project long in the wings saw some progression last weekend. I have been slowly working on converting two coolers into a new mash tun and hot liquor tank (HLT). Part of the reason the process has been taking so long is that I wanted to do this once and not have to worry about volume and shape and other variables too much. There is still work to be done to both the mash tun and HLT, but I suppose they are usable at this point since I have officially brewed a batch of beer with them.

I finally made the decision to go with a 60 quart Igloo Ice Cube cooler. The main reasons for this being that (1) theoretically the tall square type shape would help the grain bed have sufficient depth vs. a rectangular cooler in which the grain bed would cover a larger surface area thus having a shallower grain bed and possibly not enough overall mass to mash and sparge properly. (2) With one mash tun I will be able to brew any style of beer that calls for water infusions to control the mash temperature (vs. decoction, HERMS or RIMS). (3) And, when I upgrade my kettle to most likely a converted Sanke keg (another project in the wings)  I should be able to brew most styles of beer in a 10 gallon format (twice as much as now) with the same mash tun and HLT.

 Originally I was aiming to find/buy the non-wheeled 60 quart Igloo Ice Cube coolers. The advantage of them are that they have the spigot  come into the cooler parallel to the bottom. The main disadvantage is they are almost impossible to find in the 60 quart size without ordering them, and then they cost twice as much as the wheeled versions plus shipping. So, I bought the wheeled version of the coolers. The potential advantages are that with the wheels moving the cooler either empty of full should be easier, plus they are much more easily accessible at the stores and fit the budget perfectly. The biggest disadvantage is (which we’ll see how bad it really is) that the spigot comes into the cooler at a 45 degree angle to the bottom. I suppose Igloo chose to do this because of the wheel configuration, but it seems odd considering that the spigot is on a totally different side on the non-wheeled coolers.

Anyway, because of the angle of the spigot I had to rig-up some extra tubing to be able to reach the middle bottom of the cooler to extract the sweet liquor. Originally I was planning on building a full copper manifold, which is basically a series of parallel copper pipes with slots or holes cut into the bottom to strain the liquid from the solid bits in the mash tun. But instead I opted on trying a Bazooka-T mash tun screen. This is basically a copper T fitting with stainless steel mesh arms that filter out the bits and a copper tube which come from the middle and leads to the spigot on the mash tun. After I have brewed a few batches with this set-up and if I am happy with the results, I will stick with the Bazooka-T, if not I’ll try to build a manifold for it.

 

So far both the mash tun and the HLT have had the old spigots replaced with 1/2 inch stainless steel ball valves. I also have a 6 inch probe stainless steel thermometer to mount in the mash tun which isn’t mounted yet. Plus, so far, the copper parts for the mash tun have only be dry fitted, they still need to be soldered together. Oh yeah, and the pick-up tube in the HLT needs a little tweaking too. Like I said, I have been dragging my feet with these things for quite some time now, but now that things are in motion I think I’ll want to see them come to completion. So for now I am satisfied with the direction the project is going in.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 12th, 2007 at 11:51 pm and is filed under Homebrew. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.