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Question regarding mash lauter tun cooler
I am currently working on purchasing the additional equipment to start all grain brewing and have seen conflicting reports that I was hoping someone could help me out with.
I purchased a 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler from Lowes yesterday. The inside diameter of the cooler is roughly 12 7/8". While doing research for the stainless steel false bottoms the closest fit that I can find would be a 12" diameter. Will the roughly 3/8 diameter gap between the false bottom and the cooler side cause me issues?
I have seen where the false bottom should be the exact diameter and others where this little bit of a difference shouldn't be of a concern.
I have also read posts where folks used tubbing cut down the center and wrapped around the diameter of the false bottom to make up for the difference in size and create a better fit.
A little bit of guidance here would be appreciated!
thanks.
As long as the false bottom is domed then you are fine. My old set up was the same way and worked great.
Yes, the ones that I have been looking at are domed.
Thanks for the help!
Just a little tip I thought I'd add to the discussion:
Make yourself a gasket if your cooler MLT has a gap between the false bottom and cooler wall and is leaking. Find a piece of tubing that's as long as the circumference of your false bottom. Make one incision down the length of the tubing and now wrap that around the edge of the false bottom. Voila - cheap and reliable gasket.
Instead of a false bottom, you might consider a braided hose. This is assuming you batch sparge. Never fly sparged, so I don't know about that.
I just went from a 5 gal. to a 10 gal. round cooler and used a 36" braid from a water supply hose I purchased at the local Ace Hardware store for under $10. I used an 18" braid in my 5 gal. cooler for a year with great results.
My dead space with the 5 gal. was just over a pint and with the 10 gal. is about 1 1/2 qts.
Bob
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