mashtun advice...

[Fierce Beard]

Oh, and thanks Mr H, that's a good link, too...

[HoozierDaddy]

+1 to the batch sparging in a rectangular cooler. I built mine exactly like this one: http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/mashtun.html and have used that for 1 dozen or so batches. Love it and highly reccommend it.

[thatguy314]

Coolers always peak in price during the summer. When the season's over they'll seriously drop in price. That said, I've seen some really good deals for 62 quart coolers at costco (35 dollars in NYC is a bargain for a cooler that size).

[captain carrot]

Could PVC be used for a manifold? It seems like an economical solution.

[Henning1966]

Could PVC be used for a manifold? It seems like an economical solution.

It needs to needs to be cpvc to withstand the temperatures in the mash.

[foomench]

One of my local big box stores (don't remember if it was the orange one, or blue, or ...) had Igloo Ice Cubes on sale for around $25 in the last week or so. That's what I use.

[JakeAndBake]

I also have a rectangular mash-tun with a braid. I only do partial, but it has worked pretty well, is easy to clean, and I'm pretty sure I could go all the way to ten gallon batches with it if I wanted to, since the cooler itself is about 12 gallons total. With partial mash for sure, I could get ten gallons.

Total cost to me? Maybe 50 bucks for parts, but I got one of those fancy bazooka screens...

[Fierce Beard]

I found an Igloo-style 10 gallon water cooler at Home Depot for $30. I'm assembling the mashtun this weekend, and should be brewing my first all-grain batch next Saturday or Sunday! Thanks everybody for all the advice, I'm constantly amazed at how quickly people come to my aid when I post a topic.