OK, here's my vote -

I have a 5 gallon ORANGE Igloo cooler with a More Beer false bottom. I bought the false bottom as a part of their extra cheap "John Pliese" designed bucket mash tun. I had an extra bucket spigot so I bought the cooler at Wal-Mart and reamed out the spigot opening so the valve from More Beer would fit the cooler opening, then made the bucket into a bottling bucket.

Now, if I want to brew a higher gravity beer, I calculate my water aditions to do a decoction mash as so not to overflow my mash tun. A two step Hockhutz decoction has worked wonderfully for me (if you do not know what I'm talking about then check out Kai's website or buy Brewing Better Beer by Gordon Strong). True, it doubles the time of my brewday, but my beers have become exponetialy better!

And, everyone knows the ORANGE coolers are better!
...blood...

Alan

I just retired my 10gal cooler mash tun in favor of a keg. In retrospect probably should have just went to the keg and skipped the cooler. The price difference is negligible between keg and cooler also. ( cooler was 40 grime homedepot fittings were <10 also from home depot but in 3/8 and false bottom was 40 from morebeer) the entire keg build cost $90 with upgraded valve (1/2" 3piece in ss brim bargainfittings) and a got a new flat false bottom from my lhbs for $15. The hardest part was actualy taping the fiberglass water heater blanket together.

I haven't tried it out yet, actualy brewing my first 10gal batch with it next weekend, though there shouldn't be any problems.

I just picked up a 10 gallon rubbermaid round cooler at Home Depot for $42.97. You can use the same fittings that you did with your 5 gallon set up and bam, you have upgraded capacity. I think I can do something like 30-40 lbs of grain which is way more than I'll ever use.

I have the 10 gal NB "orange" tun. Yes it was a bit more expensive,but all the holes were drilled and hardware/hoses were included. As far as performance goes I have had steady mash temps even in freezing cold temps and the domed false bottom works great. I would recommend it

my $0.02

I have a $400 mash tun setup - tall and narrow - 15" diameter. Had many problems with stuck sparges as I use a RIMS system as well, so constant flow to maintain mash temps and for repeatability.

Turns out, my first rectangular cooler setup with stainless cross tee, bulkhead fitting, and 3 zymizo screens always works flawlessly, even with RIMS system (Brewers Hardware triclamp system).

It still amazes me that the $40 solution works with less headaches and babysitting than the $400 solution. As you know, can not run those heating elements dry or meltdown occurs.

I would very much enjoy reading an explanation about why the shorter braid serves to reduce stuck sparges.

I tried I really did, but I can't quite wrap my head around that.
This because I'm thinking that a larger surface area would provide a great chance that not all of the braid would become involved in getting stuck.

Blichmann Boilermaker 20 gallon with false bottom here. The only thing that makes it high maintenance is when its really cold I need to recirc and direct-fire it. If its just cool, I wrap it in insulation and it holds pretty solid temp. I really like the integrated site glass, stepped sides and false bottom.

Timmyr, do you recirculate much in the Boilermaker? I run a RIMS system, and my biggest struggle to date is the threat of stuck sparges. How does the Boilermaker work with constant high flow recirculation, if you do do that?

Thanks!