Piety and scholarship under Lupulos.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Mash tun take one

I built a mash tun today. I originally decided to use the directions here. However, those directions are pretty hard to follow since they seem to be written for mechanically inclined people. It also requires non-standard washers which were not available in any hardware store in my area (the author says to just expand a smaller one, but I have yet to talk to someone who knows how to do that).

I instead used the directions here, which were both easier and required fewer parts. I have:

  1. 5 gallon round Rubbermaid cooler ($22)
  2. 1/2' of 1/2" copper tubing ($1)
  3. a small rubber stopper ($1)
  4. a stainless steel mesh taken from a supply line ($5)
  5. a square head plug (Watts part A-737)
  6. 1/2" hose clamps
Most of this is straightforward. However, the supply line needs the ends to be sawed off. You then pull the hose from the center. I asked the guy at Fetch Lumber to help me saw off the ends of the supply line and he did with relative ease. I used needlenose pliers to pull the hose out and it took about 5 minutes.

Next, I would wash the mesh in some alcohol to get the oil off.

  1. I unscrewed the plastic spigot from the cooler.
  2. I jammed the stopper in from inside out. Make sure to go this direction so it can withstand the pressure. This took me 5 minutes of strenuous work. If it isn't hard to do, you may have a stopper which is too small, and will not get a good seal.
  3. I pushed the copper through the hole in the stopper. This was by far the most difficult task and took me about 10 minutes of pushing. I was drenched in sweat by the end
  4. I attached the head plug to the mesh using a hose clamp
  5. I attached the mesh to the copper using a hose clamp.
  6. I attached the vinyl tubing to the copper on the outside of the cooler
Here's a picture:


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