New MLT build

I've gone ahead and built my new mash/lauter tun.  The first one that I ever built was made from a 48-quart cooler with the flag of the Republic of Texas on the side. For some reason, potentially government subsidies, the cooler with the flag was cheaper in the Plano Walmart than the plain cooler.  It was a good size for a 5-gallon batch, but it didn't hold temperatures that well. When I sized up to a 10-gallon setup, I went with a 70-Quart Coleman Xtreme. This did a great job of holding temperatures, but it was a great, unwieldy beast. Both found homes in the Richmond homebrew scene when I moved back to the Eastern Shore a couple of years ago.

With ingredients for a 5-gallon APA.
NASCAR-style stickers courtesy of Chop & Brew.

Happily, I found a 52-quart Coleman Xtreme on Amazon.  You can see it with a sack of grain for a 5-gallon batch of APA for scale. The cooler is pretty bulky because of all the insulation in the walls, but it's nicely sized. I used to dread the need to move the 70-quart model, especially to empty the spent grain from a 10-gallon batch of high gravity beer.  I expect this version to be easier on my back.

As for details of the build, it's essentially the same MLT build you can find all over the internet, I believe originally popularized by Denny Conn during the great batch-sparge revolution of the early Oughts, and which I originally found on Don Osborne's page.  If you want a detailed build plan with a parts list and step-by-step instructions, check out this Brulosophy post.

Fiddly Bits

I went with brass fittings that I picked up from Lowe's, along with some random plumbing parts I've had laying about from brewing and general home-ownership (why are there always extra parts?). One thing I liked about the Brulosphy build was putting a weight at the end of the stainless steel braid.  I'm not sure it if matters for sparging, but that thing does get in the way when it floats about.  I clamped part of an old brass compression fitting I had laying around to the end of mine.

Action End

The other thing I really like about the Brulosophy build is the use of washers to take up space between the fittings and the side walls.  My first build had the fittings directly up against the cooler with only an o-ring in between.  turning the valve on and off caused significant flex in the cooler as the valve structure would push against the plastic. The big washers spread the torque out over a wider area, and it feels less like turning a valve will pull the entire structure out from the wall.  Using a thick-walled cooler also helps here.

Perhaps unwisely, I plan to have the first run of this cooler using grain I had double milled for the BIAB setup.  I'm a bit worried that the finer crush will end up in a stuck sparge, but if worse comes to worse, the grist is small enough that I'll be able to pour the entire thing into the brew bag. Yet another benefit of the smaller brew length.