Meet the Brewmaster General!

[JakeAndBake]

So today I start getting everything going for a brew day, when I notice the inside of my mashtun is a little stinky (took a few days to clear the grain out last time, because I'm lazy). So I start rinsing it and flushing it with boiling water, when I realize hey...the valve is closed and the water is leaking somewhere other than the valve. Turns out there was an inch-long gash in the side of the cooler, which I hadn't noticed since it was getting pretty warped and starting to bulge pretty bad. I'd brewed with it warped a few times like that, (I'll have to post pictures of what it looks like) but apparently during the last brew, a hole got poked in it somehow. Totally unfortunate, and really bummed me out.

SO me and my brew buddy were about to call it quits when suddenly, I think "You know, I've got an old bottling bucket." So I slap the valve and bulkhead on that, fished out some sub-zero coveralls my old roommate had given me, put the bucket inside, and voila! The Brewmaster General is born!



That's the Brewmaster with his mighty steel wang hanging out (it got awesomer once I attached the hose to run it down to the kettle).



The inside of the General. We stuffed another pair of coveralls around the bucket and pulled the outer pair over them. Lost 1 degree F within an hour, and nailed the mash temp using the cooler heat index in Beersmith (.3).

The only downsides of today? My first drain pour (the worst pale ale I've ever put in my mouth came out of the fermenter, although at least I know WHY it was bad) and I have to buy a new cooler to use as a mash-tun. Time to hit Craigslist, I guess.

[cornhole]

Creative way to save a brew day!

[spiderwrangler]

That is a mighty steel wang.

[Beer_Baron]

Before I set up my 52 qt cooler mashtun, I used a similar setup with a reflectix-wrapped bottling bucket lined with BIAB material and a steamer basket for a false bottom... Worked like a champ for years and cost next to nothing.