30 replies to this topic

[SchwanzBrewer]

Thats just not true at all. Everybody has an opinion sure, but i have to whole heatedly disagree. But going by your thoughts, you can say that about any cooler to mash in. You say your wanting a dedicated MT, a cooler can be one, but if you want something to last and last, you need to find something in SS. Then i could agree with your statement as a comparative.

That sounds threatening. I challenge you to a duel! MY cubes are pretty crappy. One was tossed around on a plane from Texas with 80 pounds of fish in it, the other has been abused as well. Both the lids are caving in a bit from people sitting on them and I had to put RTV in the drain to keep them from leaking when I use them as a swamp cooler. I would like a new, really good, well insulated cooler, so I don't have to worry about that variable, thats all. Your cube might work just fine and I have no problem with that.I have two 15.5 kegs I am turning into boil pots and the cooler will be the mash tun. If I had a third I would use that. Cheers,Rich

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

That sounds threatening. I challenge you to a duel! MY cubes are pretty crappy. One was tossed around on a plane from Texas with 80 pounds of fish in it, the other has been abused as well. Both the lids are caving in a bit from people sitting on them and I had to put RTV in the drain to keep them from leaking when I use them as a swamp cooler. I would like a new, really good, well insulated cooler, so I don't have to worry about that variable, thats all. Your cube might work just fine and I have no problem with that.I have two 15.5 kegs I am turning into boil pots and the cooler will be the mash tun. If I had a third I would use that. Cheers,Rich

if you abuse the xtreme I would expect similar results honestly. I just use mine for brewing so it's a fairly easy life for that cooler. The one thing I'm noticing is that the inside is bubbling a little bit from the extreme heat. This hasn't caused any cracks or anything yet though and it seems to not be getting any worse.

[Stout_fan]

For keggles I recommend a 70 qt extreme.Whewn doing barleywines grab a 150qt extreme.And step up to 12.5 gal batches while you're at it.

[Howie]

Yeah, I don't want to use the cubes, they are cheap mediocre coolers at best.

Yeah, I have to agree here. I know a LOT of brewers use them as mash tuns, so I guess there is something to them. My 60qt model performed pitifully as a regular cooler (ice melts VERY quickly), so I can't see it being a great mash tun. To each his own, I guess.They DO, however, make excellent fermentation coolers. I actually just stick a carboy in there with a couple of frozen 20oz bottles of water, then wrap a couple of heavy towels on the top (no water in the cooler). Changing the ice bottles twice a day held a ferm temp of 67 degrees fairly easily and turned out an outstanding Rye APA.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

The only time i had a cooler warp on the inside was when i used a 10g Rubbermaid. The Rubbermaid worked fine, but i didn't prefer the grain depth/width ratio. The Cube is superior to that. And the Rubbermaid was harder to dough in because of its shape.

I've heard of this problem with other coolers. The warping took a few batches to start to become noticeable and part of it is that I add in 180-190F water into the cooler to preheat it before I add in grains.

[SchwanzBrewer]

I knew it. You were using your Cubes for various tasks Yea, I can agree that if people sat on the Cubes and they were tossed around with 80#'s of fish on a plane that i could see them getting banged up after awhile. I just use mine for brewing and for nothing else. But im thinking any cooler after awhile would break down when being roughed up a bit....

Yeah, which is why the cooler I get for the Mash Tun will be a dedicated brewing cooler.

For keggles I recommend a 70 qt extreme.Whewn doing barleywines grab a 150qt extreme.And step up to 12.5 gal batches while you're at it.

Sheesh, I haven't even brewed an AG batch or a batch over 5 gallons off the stove top and now I gotta do 12.5 gallons? If I get the cooler and some conversion kits for Christmas then I will probably be able to do AG in a couple months. I'm gonna need a turkey fryer and some more carboys.For those of you that do batches over 5 gallons... What do you ferment in? Do you get a big conical fermentor or do you just split everything up into carboys or buckets?Cheers,Rich

[Stout_fan]

I ferment in a 27 gal Blichman conical.

[MakeMeHoppy]

I have a 5 gallon Gott with the braid hose that I started with and use for a lot of 5 gallon batches. I have a 60 qt cube with a bazooka tee screen that I just for bigger batches or things that won't fit in the gott. I like them both and get similar efficiences batch sparging with either. The cube having more head space seems to lose temps more if I keep opening it. I like to put a couple towels over either cooler as most cooler lids are not very well insulated..I also picked up the more beer bottling bucket with false bottom. I really liked that as well and did a fly sparge with it. The only issue this is the bucket is not insulated. I wrapped the bucket in a big quilt and was able to only lose 2 degrees over 1 hour..The morale of my story is just about anything work!!! Just dive in and enjoy.

[djinkc]

70 qt. Extreme

I have to second that. It's the only cooler I've used. Did have the first one crack in a corner after about 100 batches. The second seems to be holding up better. I think when I started underletting it reduced the thermal shock to the plastic. And it's easy to set up for a braid or manifold. I've made 11.5 gal batches around 1.080 (no sugar added) with plenty of room to spare. The geometry of the cube probably lends itself to better efficiency but I'm getting over 80% most of the time when I'm under 1.060........ Works at my place.