They are blowing them out for $7
Thanks for the tip! I have some 1 gallon base malt test batches coming up and a couple of these would make life a heck of a lot easier for me.
I use it exclusively as I do small batches. Great cooler.
I have done all grain in a setup like this. When you pick one of these up, go to the baking section and pick up a set of the screens that fit over the pans to reduce spattering. (like from bacon grease)
One of those was the perfect size cut out and place inside the cooler to create a grain bed. The spigot indentaion on the inside creates a nice dead space at the spigot making runoff easy.
Enjoy
Derek, have you done any mods to yours, such as the above screen, or a bazooka/braid to aid in lautering?
edit to add: also, did you find this deal instore? Walmart.com still has them at $10.97
It was in my local store. I added 2 brass hose barbs, ball valve and a 4" piece of hose braid.
It works well. Holds temps admirably and doesn’t lose more than 1-2° F over the course of an hour.
EDIT: I’ve had one for a while but bought a second as this one has a better gasket and smaller 1/2" diameter hole.
Looks like a great tun for batches that size
I saw that price online, too. But I stopped by a local store and they had it on clearance at $7, too. I bought two. I plan on using a fine mesh grain bag as a liner and doing my usual BIAB in a cooler that I do with my larger batches.
I have the same one that I bought from WallyWorld a couple years ago. I just dug it out. Plan is to start brewing at the house again. Northern Brewer just had a free 1 gallon kit with a extract Irish Red with purchase of $100 and I just happened to be ordering some small batch fun stuff so I got the starter kit too. Comes with everything but the MT, wort chiller and heat source. This is going to be fun!
Kieth, I do 1.5 all the way down to 5/8 gal with it. Very nice little cooler for small batches.
Cool, looking forward to having some real homwebrew on tap/bottle again. I might hit you up on your weldless cooler conversion if what I have doesn’t work.
My previous setup didn’t really work all that well. The rubber ring that came with the cooler compressed a bit and sucked into the opening for the valve. It didn’t leak but it was only a matter of time.
I picked up a new cooler on clearance and the newer one had a beveled ring. The inner ring protrudes out of the face a bit and the outer ring fits snugly to the opening. The inner ring also has the advantage of fitting snugly into the opening made by my biggest step bit.
The result was that the inner ring on the washer is pushed slightly against the inner wall of the cooler and flares out a bit when tightened. Perfectly watertight seal.
I used 6 components altogether:
A large 5/8 fender washer on the outside of the cooler for stability
1/2 Brass Male barb on the exterior
1/2 Brass ball valve
1/2 1.5" long brass nipple
1/2 Brass female barb
5/8 thin washer between the female barb and rubber ring.
Leak tight and works like a charm.
Thanks!
I bought a 2 gal for experimental batches and instead tried to max it out and get a 2.5 gallon batch out of the tun. Not easy and takes a triple batch-sparge and conversion is tricky due to a thick mash.
Anyway 10 beers is reasonable out of a tun this size. Fun to play with.
I ordered this piece from Amazon - Amazon.com - and was able to put everything together (no leakes) with a modified bazooka screen and a gear clamp.
Looks good!
I was going to jump on this, but I think it’s too small for my needs. I want a cooler than can do 2.5 gallons with about 1.070 being the maximum og, for this I’d need 3 gallon minimum.
I hear you Steve. I’m typically doing between .625 and 1.5 gallons using this. I can run the gamut of big and small beers with that range.
I bought a 5 gallon water cooler (Igloo) for 2.5G batches (3G into fermenter). I like that the smaller physical size makes it much easier to handle and clean.
Brewing those small batches happen so quick it’s amazing! Heat up a gallon of strike water… takes only a few minutes.