Igloo ice cube cooler

[gone_fishing]

I got a 60qt Ice Cube given to me tonight, was wondering if anyone uses one of these for a mash tun, and if you do how do you set it up to pick up all the liquid from the bottom? The spigot is very high up.

[mookow]

Originally posted by gone_fishing
I got a 60qt Ice Cube given to me tonight, was wondering if anyone uses one of these for a mash tun, and if you do how do you set it up to pick up all the liquid from the bottom? The spigot is very high up.

Before getting into all grain, I looked all around town for a Ice Cube cooler. Finally, I gave in and visited ChinaMart, where they had the 48qt and 60qt models. I bounced back and forth in my mind, thinking on one hand low gravity beers would be harder to do in the 60qt with it's larger floor area, but on the other hand I love high gravity beers and maybe I'd need the extra capacity provided by the 60qt. Then I opened the 60qt and saw where the spigot is. Frankly, I dont think you can use it without having a lot of deadspace that you wont be able to get the wort out of.

If it is new, I'd see about exchanging it for a 48qt. I have one and bought a WortHog to go with it, and am quite happy with it. I've only done one AG batch, but I mashed for an hour and lost .5°F while outside in a snowstorm.

[Ghost_of_Winter]

actually there are those that use the 60 for a mash tun. Keep in mind that you are basically siphoning the wort from the mash, so you will be left with very little at the end on the bottom. While myself I went the 48 route I have seen on other boards where others have used the 60 and have no problems with them. The biggest reason I didn't use the 60 was the fact taht it had the wheels on it..well that and the huge area of the bottom and worrying about bed depth when I did normal beers. I am planning on just building a bigger one for when I move to 10 gallon batches as well as bigger beers. :)

[eyepah]

Other than an end table, they have little use!:D

OK I will admit that I went to "ChinaMart" and cowboy'd up an Igloo ICE CUBE cooler.

My solution to the high spiggot: Use flexible hose and barb to connect the valve to the manifold. Use zip ties to secure the hose to the barbs and be careful to not weild the mash paddle too ferociously. I was always certain to inform friends to beware.

I think that they are best used for batch sparging.

And perhaps an even better use for the thing is a chest fermentation cooler.

Cut a hole in the lid and set the fermentor in it. Place 2 liter bottles of frozen water all around. I saw this recently on the boards and my ICE CUBE cooler will graduate from an out door table to a cooler this summer.

[Vienna Lager]

I have a 50 qt thermos rectangular cooler that was destin for my son's (8yrs old at the time) sand box. The plastic hinges were worn through so the top and bottom were two separate pieces. I rescued it and made a copper manifold much like Palmer in How To Brew. I face the slots down and siphon up over the side of the cooler as the drain hole in the side wall was all buggered up from something striking it. The cooler would not hold water (or wort for that matter) so I stopped up the hole with that expandafoam which did a great job.

I average 75% efficiency and didn't have the added expense of the bulkhead fittings.

[toneyc]

Ha, "ChinaMart", I gotta remember that.

I use the 48 qt Igloo Ice Cube. I've never maxed it out, but I don't make big beers, either. I think the most I've put in mine was 10.5 lb of grain for a 1.057 OG.

Good luck!
:)
Toney.

[MikShau]

60 qt's seems like a lot ( seeing how a half barrel is 62 qt's).

I have a puny 28 qt and have been able to get 18 #'s of grain in it. It was a PITA to stir but it seemed to work. ( i.e. the beer tasted good and caused a buzz)

If the spigot is too high you can use the Palmer rig or something similar using stoppers to go through the spigot hole, the wort will siphon out.

I use cpvc tubing slotted with a hacksaw and it works great. If you use the 60 qt MLT, you might as well convert a keg and go to 10 or 12 gal. batches.