[markcrum]

I was given the basic home brew kit as a present for Xmas and have been brewing kits. Feel its time to step up to the all-grain side of the art of brewing. Been looking at mash tuns online and they seem very expensive. Seems I could build one a lot more economically, however, I'm not the most mechanically inclined person. Looking for thoughts on building vs. buying and best coolers to use (ie: round vs. square)

[thebigbaker]

I was given the basic home brew kit as a present for Xmas and have been brewing kits. Feel its time to step up to the all-grain side of the art of brewing. Been looking at mash tuns online and they seem very expensive. Seems I could build one a lot more economically, however, I'm not the most mechanically inclined person. Looking for thoughts on building vs. buying and best coolers to use (ie: round vs. square)

Building one is very easy and you can find several sources online to show you how to build one.  I found a 48qt rectangular cooler on Craigslist for $10.  I made mine with a stainless braid and ball valve and found everything I needed at the local hardware store for about $20 and I'm sure you could probably do it cheaper.

[sparkleberry]

http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

[markcrum]

Thanks for the link, appears cost-effective and simple -- everything I was looking for!

[sparkleberry]

that's the Denny way.

[denny]

Thanks for the link, appears cost-effective and simple -- everything I was looking for!

I've used it for 425 batches and it still works great!

[garc_mall]

My only recommendation is to look at the cooler you are getting, and make sure that the drain port is very low on the side of the cooler. The cooler I am using currently (it was a cooler I wasn't using) has a rather high drain port, and the dead space is currently reducing my efficiency.

[weithman5]

i have both blue rectangular cooler and igloo. i switched to the igloo when switched to smaller batches. i have yet to move over the braid. i have just been using a grain sack to hold the grain during the mash and works pretty well.

[kramerog]

http://hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/

The above is a good design for batch sparging.  The manifold for fly sparging is a more complicated.  The pros and cons of batch vs fly is the subject of many threads here.

As you are just beginning to get into all-grain, it is probably easier for you to start with batch sparging.  I have a three tier system indoors that I fly sparge with.  When I brew outside, I do batch sparge. 

[kgs]

It's a tiny bit more, but I'm very happy with the hardware sold by bargainfittings.com. I am rebuilding* my mash tun and just put a valve in my kettle, and I like the three-part stainless steel ball valves I can break down and clean as needed. Plus they sell the plumbing supply lines converted for use. But I started with the bare minimum (when we were a one-job household) and it still made beer!

* Going from 5 gallon to 9 gallon, cylindrical to rectangular

[theDarkSide]

I built this one 4 years ago and it works great:

http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/mashtun.html

The only modification I've made is adding a Bazooka screen instead of the SS mesh from a supply line for the manifold.  Holds temperature very well ( 1-2 F drop over an hour )

[Upstate Dan]

Just to give you a confidence boost - I am mechanically inept and was able to build a mash tun like the ones in the links with ease!