I picked up my old Thermos Cool Box from the parents house a bit back…
Bought it back when ESSO petrol was just stopping giving petrol tokens, so it was a freebie from petrol, I guess it must be the best part of 15 years old.
It clips apart and there is about 30-35mm of polystyrene insulation in it, which I guess is enough for my Mash Tun, I’ll probably fill any voids and the lid with expanding foam at some point.
I’ll be still doing some Extract brews for now as I feel there is plenty for me to learn while I’ve limited space for a full AG setup that has a permanent place to live, but at least I’m progressing with the kit; big old stock pot with S/steel ball valve and hop strainer and now a Coolbox for a mash tun… Just need the HLT and an Immersion cooler.

This things holds about 30 Litres:


The makings of my Mash Tun manifold to hold back the grain so the wort can run off:

The Ball Valve tap with compression fitting:

The Strategically soldered manifold, I had to bend the copper pipe a bit to get the manifold to sit nice and flat against the base of the coolbox:

The Saw cuts in the lower third of the pipe:

How I decided it would come apart, I have some stainless Steel Jubilee clips to secure certain bits:

I did a leak and heat retention test:
It didn’t leak, and it only lost 2.4 Deg C over an hour using Hot Tap water starting at 56.2 C, and the manifold drained the Mash tun down to less than 200ml