DIY Mash Tun Cooler Upgrade

[@michaelblock7709]

Thanks Larry I I'm a new home brewer and you have helped me out from so much with brewing . Keep videos coming and I would like to see a brewing of Long Hammer IPA before I try it lol . Once again thanks for all you do...

[@NAFUSO1]

Well, Larry, after watching your videos, I'm officially taking the plunge into whole grain and I'm copying your mash tun. Building it tomorrow and then next week a buddy and I will be brewing our first 10 gallon whole grain beer. Thank you for the inspiration.

[@EagleDefenseVideo]

Any comments about your results or process? Think I'm but a weekend or two from building this myself.

[@NAFUSO1]

@@EagleDefenseVideo It was ridiculously easy if you follow Larry's instructions. Drilling holes or slits takes a bit of time. But it went extremely well. Gonna brew up a batch this weekend.

[@David_Brenna]

Thanks, Larry! Another great video. As an FYI, you forgot to include the two end caps in the parts list - luckily I caught it before making the trip to the local hardware store!

[@levesque2006]

Thanks for the videos Larry! I currently am using a 8 gallon Bayou Classic Mash tun that was my first mash tun, but haven't been happy about it's insulating capabilities. Winter brewing gives me headaches to maintain temperatures, so I'm going to look at building me one of these instead of dropping $400+ on a better mash tun. Cheers!

[@MEZARATOR]

Great video! I have the same cooler top, and with it I've made 10 gallon batches of some fairly big beers and it's worked out well. Sweet upgrade

[@isaiahbur8337]

Brewing a 5 gallon batch on the 56 quart system would work just fine correct? Really like your videos, thank you for taking the time to put them together.

[@HomeBrewingTV]

Have to say Larry, that mash tun worked like a charm!

[@marknichols5827]

Great design, I'm about to make one and use it for the first time. I am however going to do a wheat vodka, and the flaked wheat and wheat malt apparently can cause a stuck sparge. I already own a large brew bag (not biag) but I plan on putting the manifold inside the bag at the bottom for extra strain action. I wonder if anyone has tried this yet?

[@beeroquoisnation]

Looks Good. I badly would like to get out of my 10 gallon spin top cooler, and move my brew kettle into the mash tun real estate. The insides of the cooler are beginning to warp from the heat. If I get a bigger brew kettle, BAM! more beer. Cheers bud.

[@travisjansen7413]

I'm guessing if you're doing a 5-gallon batch in this new mash tun, that you would be able to put the entire sparge water in one step and not have to do two steps right?

[@danielsalach1234]

I made up a mash ton with a Home depo cooler and after 8 or 10 uses it started to leak the rubber washer that came with the cooler broke so I used cpvp parts to fix it. but now Im thinking of using my cheep cooler with no drain and a auto siphon only for my next batch.

[@danielsalach1234]

Ok did not use the auto siphon but made up a manifold like yours with a line coming up to the top and let it come out from there works like a champ and was less to make that the 10 gal home depo cooler all to gether. @@BEERNBBQBYLARRY

[@TheWinkingPigBarBQ]

Have you tried using this cooler setup on smaller batches such as a 6-gallon run? For me personally, I have found about a 2-case batch of beer is optimal for me both fermenter wise and for how long I want to be drinking a single style of beer. When I used to brew 20 yrs. ago I used to do about 12-13-gallons (post-boil volume) in a 15.5-gallon Sanke keg boil kettle and it was really too large a batch for me. I currently use a 6.5-gallon carboy as my primary fermenter but am considering converting to the Spike Flex+ 7-gallon fermenter.

[@naveensharma5641]

I love your videos on brewing. Can you make a video on malting barley at home? It will be really helpful. Thanks and keep it up...

[@naveensharma5641]

@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Thanks again....

[@kaiser_sose]

Is it me? Or maybe because it's a few years old? I can't see nay of Larry's responses to comments. I see "View 2 replies from BEER-N-BBQ by Larry and others", but when I expand I can't see Larry's response. Sometimes I see others thanking him for his response.

[@jameshallford8656]

DO you hook up a pump to suck the mash out or just gravity? If you use a pump, what kind?

[@thorhale]

do you mean water holes? to let water in? when you fill it with water for the first time...???

[@jasonlahti7211]

Great build! How is the heat retention on a large vessel like this one?

[@gojoe36]

Make one out of stainless and copper. Seems like a need for that in the market.

[@robzazueta5408]

WHICH SPREADSHEET FORMULA DO YOU USE TO DETERMINE THE AMOUNT OF LIQUID NECESSARY FOR END VOLUME RESULT?

[@EagleDefenseVideo]

This is gonna sound silly, but do you only get a bump on the blue one in the link? I'd rather have the tan one (the silly part) as it'll be easier to tell apart from my slew of other blue coolers.

[@gib859]

Looks awesome. But I still think BIAB is way easier with great results.

[@gib859]

Thank you for the reply Larry! I do 5 gal batches and love the simplicity of BIAB. I think anything less than 10 gals is doable with BIAB. 10 or over, stick to the traditional sparge and transfer method! I love your channel! Thank you for all you do.

[@gib859]

joseph kirby In my opinion. You don’t need a false bottom as you are not heating the kettle while you are mashing. Bring the kettle up to temp, kill the gas, then put in the bag and fill up with grains, stir etc. Remove the bag and squeeze before boiling. All good. The thermometer probe has never dug into my bag either. Happy brewing

[@waynemonroe2203]

Can the mash tun be made to function both as a cooler and when needed a mash tun? I have a very high end cooler that I occasionally use and don’t have the space nor wish to buy a second cooler for this function.

[@Kberrysal]

Is there any difference between a vertical mast ton versus a horizontal mash ton

[@tman9338]

Any disadvantage to just hooking up a bazooka tube instead of all that plumbing ?

[@BEERNBBQBYLARRY]

Good question. Primarily a lower chance of a stuck runoff, but if flying sparging, it enables higher, and more consistent, mash efficiencies due to distributing wort collection throughout the grain bed by mitigating channeling.

[@tman9338]

@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY ahhhh Thanks! I didn’t consider channeling

[@NeoIsTaken]

Four 1/2" CPVC 90 deg Elbows not two

[@tman9338]

What is max grain bill for this cooler ? My 10 gal batches use 32 lbs.

[@BEERNBBQBYLARRY]

It depends on your chosen grist ratio and whether you sparge. The max fill is around 65 quarts. With dry grain occupying around .3125 qt/lb, you can do the math for you recipe(s) to determine the max grain bill or use a brewing calculator like my spreadsheet: beernbbqbylarry.com/downloads/#brewingtools

[@michaelteague7487]

Hey boss does the grain set a bed on the pipes and allow you to flow through I am interested in this set up but want to do a RIMS setup to recirculate.

[@michaelteague7487]

BEER-N-BBQ by Larry did you add a sparge arm to this system or do you add full volume to your Cooler and just drain once.

[@michaelteague7487]

BEER-N-BBQ by Larry sounds good thanks yeah I prefer batch sparging also and with my brewing systems I use rims and I am able to hit those efficiency numbers all day. That’s why I asked abt the the Rims set up I may be able to accomplish it with a relatively easy adaption to my grain father.

[@michaelteague7487]

BEER-N-BBQ by Larry diy done. The drain was a pita. I wasn’t able to find a 2” Nipple so got 2 1/2 and it proved a hassle with spacing. But I just need to drill holes or slots. What size did you use for those? I was trying to share picture but won’t work for some reason.

[@poisonpotato1]

Slightly unrelated but this video gave me an idea. If you could regulate the pressure, would it be possible to carbonate the beer as it’s fermenting? Would it affect it at all?

[@poisonpotato1]

BEER-N-BBQ by Larry must have missed those videos, I’ll check it out!

[@steveskouson9620]

Ashton, yes you can. When I was working at a micro, that was our method. (Ali'i Brewing, Honolulu Hi.) (I wish they were still around, I'd KILL for the grain bill for Macadamia Nut Brown Ale!) In fact, out fermentation tanks had pressure blow-off devices. Too much pressure, they'd release Co2. steve

[@travisjansen7413]

Larry, can you post your measurements for the manifold? If I missed it in the video, my bad. I want to make an exact copy of this...

[@travisjansen7413]

Alright, got it all built for $85! Thanks Larry, worked perfect. Can't wait to mash in it.

[@travisjansen7413]

Haha, yeah. I had my mind set to do it. Now I need to make an HLT, I think. I've been doing BIAB and decided I wanted to try a batch sparge brew so I can eventually do larger 10g batches.

[@travisjansen7413]

Yep I watched that video. I had a question on how big of a HLT you're using these days for 10-gallon brewing. I'll probably make that one as well. You're too much of a GD inspiration 😃

[@bjlandry8187]

Where did you get your calculating software?

[@BEERNBBQBYLARRY]

I have my own brewing spreadsheet: beernbbqbylarry.com/downloads/#brewingtools

[@Golfphenatic]

What kind of PVC glue did you use for it? I am worried about it dissolving in the mash! Have you had any issues like this? Love the set up!

[@Golfphenatic]

Clever! Thank you for the speedy response! Love the channel.

[@EagleDefenseVideo]

Came here to ask this question. Glad I dont have to now!

[@joshuetortega3572]

Larry, im starting to get into brewing, what do you think of a 5 gallon mash tun to start? is it big enough, or good enough to get high gravities. Wondering for you're opinion.

[@joshuetortega3572]

thank you very much, definitely keeping that in mind. @@BEERNBBQBYLARRY

[@jayrod2193]

I’m having trouble getting it to seal around the nipple at the valve, what did you use to seal it?

[@jayrod2193]

Ok that’s what I thought. My cooler didn’t come with the rubber insert, it is a different style but same cooler. Thanks!

[@rg.6818]

sup larry, care to share the spreadsheet you got there? Thanks in advance.

[@rg.6818]

@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY will look for it!

[@stirlingarcher2141]

Excellent job :-)

[@packattack2893]

Larry, ive tasted a lot of homebrew from different homebrewers. A lot of them share that homebrew aftertaste; dont know how to explain it. There has been a few homebrews that i have tried that have a crisp, clean, commercial type feel and taste to them. Any experience with why that is? Thanks for your channel.

[@packattack2893]

BEER-N-BBQ by Larry 👍🏼

[@packattack2893]

Larry, me again. Sorry to bother you again. Im trying to figure out how to convert your zombie dust clone recipe to brew with my grainfather. Im just not that experienced with converting recipes, sort of speak. Also, i cannot see the bottom of your recipe in your video. Any help will be appreciated. My favorite beer, but hard to get in Texas.

[@kentaltobelli1840]

Possibly oxidation, some people describe it as cardboard or a sherry aftertaste. Definitely gives homebrew a distinct funk if the brewers aren't careful about splashing/bubbles after fermentation

[@packattack2893]

@@kentaltobelli1840 hmm i think it's called homebrew twang.

[@cervejandonoap5250]

muito bom!

[@NeoIsTaken]

add 13/16" ID x 1/8 Dia O-Ring

[@martystamplecoskie4804]

good video

[@OldNorsebrewery]

cool. Cheers

[@beeroquoisnation]

That thing has more T's than than Citgo Lemont.

[@beeroquoisnation]

@@BEERNBBQBYLARRY Oil refinery east of Bolingbrook. Your manifold is quite a construct.