Stuck Sprarges Begone: Improved Homemade Mash Tun

I previously posted about the construction of my homemade mash tun.  However, I got stuck sparges with my first two uses (one and two).  The culprit, seemingly, was the the piece of PEX I was using to filter the wort from the grain.  It just wasn't porous enough to keep things running smoothly. Rather than drilling a bunch more tiny holes, I decided to take the route praised by many and I used a stainless steel braid from a sink hook-up.  All that needs to be done is the removal of the end fittings (angle grinder) and then the removal of the inner hose.  I found the hose removal to be difficult and finally got it to work while using a vice clamp to hold the hose and a milking technique to remove the braid.  I used plastic T and stainless hose clamps to finish the loop. I joined the loop to a nub of PEX (via brute force), as the PEX fits perfectly in bulk head.  I have used it twice now with great success.  Woo hoo.

Homemade Mash Tun from Igloo Cube Cooler

I picked up this cooler for about $20.00 at Target. It had no drain hole, which turned about to be a good thing. I used the following parts:

- Cooler
- 1/2" Threaded Copper Ball Valve
- 1/2" Close - Threaded Brass Pipe Nipple
- 3/8" ID Barb to 1/2" MIP
- 1/2" Gasket (x2)
- 1/2" Brass Locking Nut
- 3/4" Stainless Washer (x2)
- ~Foot Length of 1/2" Pex
- Food Grade Silicon

I drilled a 3/4" hole in the cooler and then I 'screwed' the 1/2" nipple into the cooler. It was a tight fight and I was happy about this. I then put a small dab of the silicone around the nipple and then slipped on the o-ring and a washer. I then tightened the ball valve on the nipple. On the inside I again used the silicone, o-ring, and washer and tightened it down with a brass lock nut. For the grain filter I drilled a bunch of tiny holes into the pex, plugged the end and then entered the pex into the nipple. Pex is slightly smaller than whats its labeled as and it fit great in the nipple.

I used it with the sweet stout and it held heat really well, I think I lost two degrees over the hour of the mash.



I used these two websites for guidance:
http://brewtech.blogspot.com/2007/01/igloo-cube-cooler-mash-tun.html
http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/mashtun.html