24 ltr coolbox in Tesco for €11

bennyineire

Just bought one today, gonna convert into a cheap mashtun

Bogwoppit

That's cheap alright but 24l is a very small mash tun, you'll be limited to 5 gallon batches of average strength beer at a push and I'd be surprised if you didn't have to add more insulation to get it to hold temp.

neoanto

Yea hes right.
I made a mash tun out of an existing 24ltr cooler i had.
In the end i had to open it up and insulate it further.
Also the size would definitely limit you from making high strength beers.

Hingo

2 words.

Sour mashing.

Might need to store in the hot press but if you're going to breed some lactobacticilussbretimonaycesssachh..... (something unpronounceable) mayaswell try it in a cheap 24litre - do a 10/15 litre batch. you can make a syphon manifold too. saves spoiling you're regular mash tun

n97 mini

Cheap cooler boxes tend not to have great insulation, so just beware.

Hingo wrote: »

2 words.

Sour mashing.

Might need to store in the hot press but if you're going to breed some lactobacticilussbretimonaycesssachh..... (something unpronounceable) mayaswell try it in a cheap 24litre - do a 10/15 litre batch. you can make a syphon manifold too. saves spoiling you're regular mash tun

Grain is covered in bugs anyway, so you're not doing anything new by sour mashing. But it doesn't matter as everything is boiled. It's fermenters you need to be careful about.

Hingo

n97 mini wrote: »

Cheap cooler boxes tend not to have great insulation, so just beware.



Grain is covered in bugs anyway, so you're not doing anything new by sour mashing. But it doesn't matter as everything is boiled. It's fermenters you need to be careful about.

A lot of the lads from the club are always saying to keep a separate mashtun for sours etc - I think it might have something to do with using the mash tun again without cleaning it to mash again (saying having to harvest the wild stuff or make a sour starter) but don't quote me on that...

But I see your point. Although some bacteria etc.. cant be killed off in a conventional homebrew boil. One of the lads had some awful trouble with gushers/ infected brews for ages.. he checked the equipment from end to end and it was clean - replaced whatever needed to be replaced and still had issues. cut a long story short - the grain was a bit out of date and had some mould on the inside of the grains. apparently whatever it was would not be killed unless boiled at 120'c. Different cause, probably heading off topic but worth mentioning that sometimes the boil might not kill everything.