[Steve Ruch]

An advantage of using a rectangle cooler over a round one is they are cheaper. Even cheaper are the ones without spigots. Would drilling a hole in the side of one of the spigot less ones work?

[a10t2]

That's what I did. Just make sure you pick a spot that's flat enough for a gasket to seal it.

[Steve Ruch]

That's what I did. Just make sure you pick a spot that's flat enough for a gasket to seal it.

Good to know. I've seen some coolers without the spigot that still have an indented spot where the spigot would go if it had one; may try one of those.

[denny]

That's what I did. Just make sure you pick a spot that's flat enough for a gasket to seal it.

Good to know. I've seen some coolers without the spigot that still have an indented spot where the spigot would go if it had one; may try one of those.

Got a BiMart nearby?  I found the 70 qt. Coleman Extreme at one here for about $32.

[Steve Ruch]

Got a BiMart nearby?  I found the 70 qt. Coleman Extreme at one here for about $32.

There's got to be one somewhere around here, although 70 qt. is way bigger than I need. I'm wanting to go from 5 gallon size to 10 so I can brew stronger batches, and the occasional larger batch, without having to use extracts.

[Stevie]

70qt is perfect for 10gallon batches. Can mash about 35lbs.

[denny]

Got a BiMart nearby?  I found the 70 qt. Coleman Extreme at one here for about $32.

There's got to be one somewhere around here, although 70 qt. is way bigger than I need. I'm wanting to go from 5 gallon size to 10 so I can brew stronger batches, and the occasional larger batch, without having to use extracts.

That's exactly why I got the 70 qt.  The 48 qt. is great for 5 gal. batches up to about 1.080 gravity.  The 70 qt. can easily do that and bigger, stronger batches if I want to.

[Steve Ruch]

 
The 48 qt. is great for 5 gal. batches up to about 1.080 gravity.  The 70 qt. can easily do that and bigger, stronger batches if I want to.

I normally do 3 gallon batches with the occasional 4 or 5 gallon batch, so the smaller one would better fit my needs.

[a10t2]

Good to know. I've seen some coolers without the spigot that still have an indented spot where the spigot would go if it had one; may try one of those.

I used a 50 qt Igloo Cube for that reason, but that was almost a decade ago so I don't know what's currently on the market. FWIW, 50 qt lets me mash any 6 gal batch and an 11 gal batch up to ~1.070 OG.

[Steve Ruch]

I just thought of another issue: while a large cooler/mashtun would work great for larger and/or stronger batches that I do once in awhile, most of the recipes I do regularly only use 5-8 pounds of grain which would make for a really shallow grain bed.

[denny]

I just thought of another issue: while a large cooler/mashtun would work great for larger and/or stronger batches that I do once in awhile, most of the recipes I do regularly only use 5-8 pounds of grain which would make for a really shallow grain bed.

If you batch sparge, that shouldn't matter.  Unless the grain bed is so shallow that it's below the braid or whatever lauter system you use.

[Steve Ruch]

If you batch sparge, that shouldn't matter.  Unless the grain bed is so shallow that it's below the braid or whatever lauter system you use.

Good to know.
I did a batch sparge on the maibock I brewed last month with grain milled at my LHBS and got the same O G I would've gotten by fly sparging. I'm going to do my next brew with a batch sparge after milling the grains at home and if the results are similar I'll probably go to batch sparging all the time, which also eliminates the need for a sparge water tank.