Distaster brewery 40 litre plastic build.

[AdrianTrace]

I didn't see lids... Maybe Darren can confirm (see http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=9663)

Yes, they are the ones, but they are less than £5 each in store at the moment.

 

[darrenwest1]

no lids but they are exactly 5.00
and about 55litres with 1 1/2 inch space on top

 

[Mephistopholes]

Struggling to find anywhere including a tescos nearby that sells anything like what i want, so, i'mgonna spend somemoney and get this.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Igloo-Ice-Cube-48 ... ltDomain_3

and do a conversion.

 

[mr_spin]

Struggling to find anywhere including a tescos nearby that sells anything like what i want, so, i'mgonna spend somemoney and get this.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Igloo-Ice-Cube-48 ... ltDomain_3

and do a conversion.

great stuff. please let us know how you get on. They look great. are the insides suitable for a false bottom?

 

[Mephistopholes]

I hope so. i did actally find a square pp plate while searching through asdas large array of plastic stuff that might suit

Looking forward to the delivery now. .

 

[mr_spin]

will you have to drill a hole for the tap?

 

[Mephistopholes]

Yes im pretty sure im gonna have to drill. this is my one area of real concern though im sure it should be fine.

 

[Mephistopholes]

So my cool box arrived today. I managed to drill a hole in the side and fit a valve. There was a slight recess at the bottom and a thin wall next to it intended for this purpose, so i put the tap here.

The valve is a good fit and has no leaks which is obviously nice. I intend either to fit an elbow joint at the end of the copper pipe on the inside facing down to "suck" as much wort up as possible and build a false bottom over this. or,,, I might make the old copper matrix with holes cut into the bottom and attach this instead to the inner copper pipe. or,,,, possibly i might just use a grain sack as a filter.

Anyone got any thoughts as to which way would be best to proceed?

 

[Sean_Mc]

I've been looking at the round US 10gallaon igloo coolers, am sure though one of those would suit my needs and looks a good price as well, good find M :thumb:

 

[Mephistopholes]

Ah, i forgot to mention the only problem with making a false bottom is the shape of the walls of the mash tun, as you can see in the larger picture there are panels sticking out on every wall extending right to the bottom of the tun. this would obviously mean quite an awkward shaped false bottom

 

[Mephistopholes]

I really wanted one of those 10 gallon igloo coolers, the big orange ones. I just couldn't find a supplier at a reasonable price.

 

[gurtpint]

Hello Mephistopholes! I'm in the process of building a mash tun out of and Igloo cooler as well, so I thought I'd ask you something about this... This turned up today:

http://www.igloocoolers.com/36-Quart-Marine

It doesn't have a plug, so I'd have to drill a hole for a tap. The label boasts of something called "Ultratherm insulation". Is there something I should take into consideration as regards to it? Or anything else? Will something jump up from the inside of the wall and threaten violence? Or should I just drill away? What blades did you use? Questions questions... Thanks!

 

[Mephistopholes]

It's a pretty one. :clap:

drilling the hole was pretty straight forward i used a drillbit like one of these.-

They're called flatwood boring bits if you wanna google them.

There is something called a hole saw that i think may do a neater job ive seen a few cheap sets on amazon that would just fit to a regular powerdrill. to be honest it wasnt particularly difficult doing it the way i did. i simply drilled the hole out one size too small, neatened it up and scratched away slightly at the hole with a stanley knife then managed to slowly push and srew this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Home-Brew-Tap...230508701207?pt=Home_Brew&hash=item35ab63a617 through the hole.

As regards the material, the box i got was also described as being made from ultratherm insulation, you are entirely right in thinking this is a highly aggressive and violently motivated individual. My advice would be to talk to it gently, possibly calm it down with biscuits and tea (by no means offer it any of your homebrew this will only exacerbate the problem). Once you have tamed this monster, charming it to your purpose, then drilling through the walls should be a breeze.

:whistle:

 

[Mephistopholes]

OK so i've decided on the copper pipes elbows and t's route for this. i plan to make a hop strainer at the same time and kill two birds.

Ive never really put too much copper together before though and was wondering the best place to source the materials from and how to join them together.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/15mm-Elbow-Copper ... 45f4df7dee

are these the right kind of thing i need? it says something about having solder already on the fittings. does this mean i will need a soldering iron?

 

[BigYin]

Are you anywhere near a ScrewFix branch?

25 x 15mm Elbows - £4.38

The ones you are looking at have solder in place, but from what I gather so far, it is better not to solder up these filters so they can easily be pulled apart for cleaning. No point therefore paying for these solder pieces.

If you do want to solder the joints, you need a blowtorch - a soldering iron simply won't work.

Here's an instruction vid - soldering on you tube - ignore the fact that all these vids seem to be American and they can't pronounce 'solder' - they call it 'sodder' :lol:

 

[Mephistopholes]

so i can just "push" it all together basically and it will stay together while i boil/mash in?

 

[BigYin]

that's what I'm hoping!! See muddydisco's How to make an AG Brewery cheapish guide.

This is simply made of 15mm copper piping and solder connections (But not soldered just crimped slighty to allow for disassembly for cleaning).

Not really sure why you should pay the premium for solder joints if you aren't going to solder them though...

10 x 15mm solder elbows - £4.99 - they cost more for less than half the quantity....

 

[BigYin]

I should point out that I'm in the process of making my first AG setup, so I'm relying on info and advice from those that have done this before me!!

 

[gurtpint]

Brilliant Mephistopholes! I don't even own a drill, but there are mates I can hassle... Should be alright then.

So I will take caution when I approach those ultratherm types. It seems like they can be quite vicious buggers at their worst. There will be tea and biscuits for sure, probably scones and jam too and if things are starting to look really grim I'll make sure there's a 3-course Chinese takeaway at hand and some soothing lounge music on the stereo to keep those homicidal tendencies at bay. If I must, I think I'm also able to recite poetry.

Me also makes a manifold, me do! I was also wondering about the soldering but the discussion between you + BigYin sorted that out. Hmm, you know if the more flexible sort of copper tubing that's used for immersion chillers would be alright or should the tube be of the more rigid sort?

 

[Mephistopholes]

i would think as long as the pipe is rigid enough to take the weight of the grains and liquor, then it doesnt matter how flexible it is. hopefully going shopping this afternoon then building tomorrow. Btw copper is bloody expensive atm it seems.