Water Cooler Modification

[Renegade]

Hope this is in the right forum section, if not, mods feel free to move it elsewhere.

Anyone know where I need to look in Sydney for a threaded steel tap that I can attach to a large Rubbermaid/Gatorade style 10 Gallon insulated water bucket ? I dunno what industry uses such things, should I go to a Reese plumbing supplier to see if they have something like this. I want to convert the barrel so it can be used as a third fermenter for primer racking because I am impatient with doing a single brew at a time! Also think this type of bucket can be used in some capacity for mashing if I ever want to start doing full grain down the track, so need to consider future uses.

My questions are, is there a heavy duty tap that has compatible threading, what sort of material should I go for (SS or Brass), and where can I get one? I'm looking for something like this:

http://www.mountainhomebrew.com/browseproducts/Weldless-Cooler-Spigot-Stainless.html

[Trough Lolly]

G'day Renegade,
This conversation thread should probably sit somewhere else, but anyway, to answer your question, the weldless spigot you found will do the trick. My cooler, below, has a similar ballvalve (half inch) setup and a mashmaster thermometer above it. You need a 20mm holesaw or spade bit to make the hole. Make sure that when you cut the hole, you hold the drill at 90 degrees to the cooler as a slightly off vertical hole will create sealing problems afterwards. You can always use a smaller drillbit for a snug fit and use a round hand file to make the fitting slide in tightly. Have a couple of spare silicon washers ready in case you need more to fully seal the unit in the cooler. You should make sure that the fitting is fully watertight as over time, the inner core of foam will degrade and breakdown if you let water leak into the inside section of the cooler, between the inner and outer walls.



Make sure that you have enough threaded section to screw your internal fittings to the outlet. You don't need too much threaded pipe but think ahead and plan for a female fitting from the false bottom...


Here's a pic of the inside setup just before I fitted and clamped on the falsebottom hose to the brass barb inside the mashtun.


I bought all my parts at Grain and Grape in Melbourne and Ross at Craftbrewer supplied the Mashmaster thermometer - both of which are IMO essential items for the cooler mashtun. The stainless false bottom came from Morebeer and the 10 Gal cooler cost a whole US$40 at a Texas shopping mall!!

Cheers,
TL

[Renegade]

Mate, that's awesome information. And great pictures. To be clear, are you talking about drilling into the barrel for the purposes of fitting that funky thermometer ? And not the tap - or does the 'ballvalve tap' need to have some drilling done?

I'm hoping to start off with just the tap (exactly as yours is!) so i can use it as an extra fermenter. I'm not yet into grain brewing but would like to try it sometime. Did your tap have the right sized thread to fit straight in ? I already have the barrel (its a Gatorade branded one, but looks identical).

What does the bottom grille do ? ... I will take a guess and say it's to act as a filter for grains so your tap doesnt block.

[lethaldog]

Mate, that's awesome information. And great pictures. To be clear, are you talking about drilling into the barrel for the purposes of fitting that funky thermometer ? And not the tap - or does the 'ballvalve tap' need to have some drilling done?

I'm hoping to start off with just the tap (exactly as yours is!) so i can use it as an extra fermenter. I'm not yet into grain brewing but would like to try it sometime. Did your tap have the right sized thread to fit straight in ? I already have the barrel (its a Gatorade branded one, but looks identical).

What does the bottom grille do ? ... I will take a guess and say it's to act as a filter for grains so your tap doesnt block.

From memory the gaterade ones are exactly the same, they are what they use at the american footy etc.

[Trough Lolly]

Sorry, yes, you shouldn't have to do any drilling to replace the tap unit. You want a snug, slightly tight fit when you insert the tap thread. Then all you need to do is fit the washers and lock nuts to make her watertight. Don't use gorilla grip when you tighten the locknuts - full hand tight and then a quarter turn with a spanner is plenty - any more and you risk distorting the silicon washers and creating a stress leak.

The "grille" you refer to is a stainless steel false bottom. When I mash the grains, I need to have a space under the grainbed so I can draw off the mash liquor / malt extract that I create when I mash the malted barley and other grains. It's important for me to reduce the amount of grain solids in the kettle to a minimum and this false bottom does a good job at keeping the grain husks out of the brew kettle.

By all means, your cooler will make a good but somewhat expensive fermenter compared to a cheap water container that you can pick up at Bunnings. In time, you may want to move to grain brewing and if you do, you'll have an excellent mash/lauter tun ready to go.

Cheers,
TL

[Renegade]

Thanks mate, helpful info.

As for an expensive extra fermenter, it's not really, I already have the barrel, it was given to me for free - cant complain about that price. Although a $40 tap brings the price up, I am thinking about the future uses already. And I'll bet that even as a primary fermenter this would beat my plastic carboys because once I get the wort at the right temp for pitching, it's going to be a much more stable temperature during those important first couple of days after the yeast has started.

I notice with the steel spigots I see online that there's no pipes running horizontally out of each side of the contraption. Are these outside-threaded pipes that screw into either end ? I'll probably go and speak to someone at Reece Plumbing, they should be more helpful that the staff at Bunnings (who, at my local one, are pretty uninterested in helping customers, or simply lack the knowledge on most subjects or even where to find stuff in the store for that matter)

Entry into full-Grain seems quite achieveble with not much equipment, as long as I can get enough hot water boiled I suppose. Time for a bigger saucepan soon. Probably wait until summer now for that project, but I'll get the tap fitted now, and look at making or buying one of those false bottoms and a thermometer in a little while.