Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Does anyone here find it necessary to replace the cooler used for a M/LT after a few years? I have a 4-leg manifold in the base of mine, and I haven't had any problems, but I've noticed that the walls bulge a bit (they "bubble" inward) when I preheat the vessel from the HLT. Since it's all hot-side, I'm not really worried about viable bacteria, but there is a certain "ick" factor when your equipment gets scuzzy. Related to this, what are popular options for other M/LT designs used by folks in this group?

Trub Lou wrote:Does anyone here find it necessary to replace the cooler used for a M/LT after a few years? I have a 4-leg manifold in the base of mine, and I haven't had any problems, but I've noticed that the walls bulge a bit (they "bubble" inward) when I preheat the vessel from the HLT. Since it's all hot-side, I'm not really worried about viable bacteria, but there is a certain "ick" factor when your equipment gets scuzzy. Related to this, what are popular options for other M/LT designs used by folks in this group?

Lou, I use a round 10-gallon cooler, and have the same "warping" issue:

http://www.avalon.net/~pdiltz/T_E/MLT.html

but it doesn't affect the performance at all, and as long as I clean it after each use, it never gets "fuzzy"...it does, however, smell strongly of grain!

Welcome to the site!

Pete

http://pictures.bump.us/index/2005/Beer ... ge+001.jpg There's a picture of the cooler I use for my MLT. I have a bulkhead ball valve that replaces the drain valve that came with the cooler and a bit of stainless hose braid for the manifold.

This is my third summer brewing with that cooler and it is starting to warp and bit and has a definate stain from brewing dark beers. It also bows outward a bit when I make a big batch (20lb grist is about the max for this cooler), but so far I haven't had any problems with it.