[knafrancis]

Hi Folks - I don't post here often, but do benefit from your advice.

My question here is - what do I do with this thing, given to me by a friend who loves my beer.

It is a brand new, never used, 10gal stainless container for hot liquids.  Should this be used as a mash tun? If so, how do I get a screen through the small opening? A hot liquor tank?  Some other glorious purpose the likes of which has never been known to man? The lid has a hole in it - fermentation vessel?

Advice much appreciated.  I would also consider selling it.

Overall view

Notice threaded outlet at bottom.

Top has a vent hole (covered with plastic knob, removable)

[tschmidlin]

Looks like a fermenter to me.

[dak0415]

+1 on fermenter.  HLT if it's insulated.

[Jeff M]

i believe your "thing" is a giant coffee dispenser used for outdoor events. it should be insulated.

[knafrancis]

Man, I did come to the right place.

Jeff, I think you're in the right of it.  It is definitely insulated, and the pour spout makes me assume its for hot drinks like coffee.  Now, 10 gallons of coffee isn't such a bad thing, especially on a Monday, but there has to be a higher purpose for this!

[Jeff M]

can you get your arm in it? if so you could get a weldless bulkhead in there and use it for a Mash Tun.  Otherwise is has HLT written all over it.  i would try putting some hot water in there and figure out if its holding any old coffee flavors tho

[knafrancis]

I can get my arm in.  Is that bulkhead one you drill out? 

There's no flavours in it, as it was never used.  Still has the wire holding the lid to it for shipping!

The sad thing is my buddy only grabbed one - the other two were taken by a fellow intending to melt them down for scrap...  sigh.

[Jeff M]

a weldless bulkhead is a bunch of SS fittings that allow you to put a spigot on your BK.  if there is already a hole there you would just need to find the proper fittings for that setup so you could put a collar in that to attach a barb or what have you to allow you to grab just the wort and not all the grain that goes with it.  it looks like it would require no changes to be used as a hot liquor tun tho.

I'm assuming drilling out the current hole to fit your equipment needs would cause a lot of issues as its insulated.

[Jo Diesel]

I vote for fermenting vessel. All the pros use stainless.  A Cooler makes a good mash tun

[Jimmy K]

Insulated?!... Fill that puppy with beer and bring it to a party! Just need to work out dispensing.

[Joe Sr.]

Insulated?!... Fill that puppy with beer and bring it to a party! Just need to work out dispensing.

Open the breather in the top, pour from the spigot.  Real cask beer, right?

[joe_feist]

Haven't seen one since I left the Army if it's what I think it is from the pics. We used'em for coffee and yes, they were insulated pretty well. I think you could use it for all the different ideas above. Might be a tough squeeze getting to stir adequately for a mash tun, but I bet it could be done. HLT makes a lot of sense. And yeah, why not ferment in it. Great find. You gotta give your buddy life time access to your beer, now.

[Jimmy K]

Insulated?!... Fill that puppy with beer and bring it to a party! Just need to work out dispensing.

Open the breather in the top, pour from the spigot.  Real cask beer, right?

That's what I was thinking.

[knafrancis]

Cask Ale?  Creative and reasonable thought.  Hadn't even occurred to me, but I love the idea.  At some point, I have GOT to try that.  If I rack cold from a Keg into it, it should be pleasant enough.  The point of cask ale is that it isn't "normally" carbonated, right?

I can't thank you all enough for your insight - I'm really leaning towards the fermentation vessel route.  I only have one fermenter at present - a 6.5 gal carboy - and that extra headspace in this thing would be welcome.  I will probably drill out the plastic breather in the top to accommodate an airlock. 

joe_feist, if he didn't deserve lifetime access to my beer for this, he would certainly get it for loaning me his high-end Stihl chainsaw and helping me through my 6 cord of wood for next winter.  Thanks for the positive ID on this rig from your military days, and thank you for serving.

Keep the great ideas coming.  I will post with results from any use to which I put it.  Leaning towards another IPA batch (got another body who's good for a growler of that every week) soon.

If I ferment in it, can I open the spout, clear out a bunch of the yeast, and consider that racking to secondary? I know that they do something similar in the conicals.

[punatic]

Put a pair of 2kW heating elements in it, a reflux column on top of it, and distill some fine neutral spirits with it.

That has still boiler written all over it.