http://www.backyardbrewer.blogspot.com/

What do you Think..?

Lots of people do it I think. Nothing terribly wrong with the system but it's nice to either have 1) an insulated vesel or 2) a heatable vessel. If you are on a budget that's a good system. Finding a cooler at a yard sale and following Denny Conn's screen method is a better one and that's marginally more expensive, insulated and longer lasting.

I did my first partial mash with 2 buckets. One had a spigot, and I jammed a fine mesh screen in the spigot and used that as a mash tun. Came out surprisingly clear.. The other bucket just help more hot water for sparge..

I've got one of these sitting in my basement (bucket with more holes than the deficit has dollars). Roughly the same idea as this set up. It works pretty well, but it is tough to keep the temp. consistent. I wouldn't tell anyone not to try it this way, but I found that my cooler tun works a lot better.

The interesting thing about doing the mash in the bucket is that the efficiency was good, dispite not being insulated. The other part that doesn't get shown is that attached to the inside of the spigot is a s.s. braided hose that I used for a filter. This system seems like a very viable way for someone to try out all grain without investing a lot of money. The buckets were $1.50 ea.
mark
www.backyardbrewer.blogspot.com
www.thebackyardbrewer.com

I have a bottling bucket with false bottom that work great as a mash/lauter tun. I wrap it in an old quilt during the mash and it loses about 2 degrees in an hour.

"The buckets were $1.50 ea."

Free at the Wal-Mart Bakery.

I used a plastic bucket with braided hose as a mash tun yesterday. Wrapped with blankets, lost about 4 degrees in an hour, got 74% efficiency. I think it went pretty well.
PS
I follow www.backyardbrewer.blogspot.com and think is pretty cool what mark is doing in Mexico.

BB my local wallyworld doesn't have a bakery... heck it has not much of anything..... Anyhow I knew Costco doesn't give away buckets nor does any of the other suppliers here including the other wallyworld some 24 miles away. Several managers cited some law about recycling and what not. They don't go back just into the recycle bin, period. WTF break them loose people...

Home Depot had a translucent bucket but have since they stopped carrying them. It's a darn shame too, that reminds me..my sCider bucket needs a re-fill.

i recently got back to brewing after i lost my girl friend that didnt like stiky stuff in the kitchen. lol. gues that includes me. on a budget i went to a local bakery and picked up two five gallon food grade plastic buckets for free. one i drilled a million holes in the bottom [1/8th. inch] and the other i drilled a half inch hole as close to the bottom as possible , and fitted with a spiggot that i bought at lowes. put one in the other and you have a 1 inch gap at the bottom to drain with a valve to control the flow. total cost and it works really well----------$10.50

Kevin,
put an ad on CraigsList:
Wanted - Gal who likes beer and is interested in growing yeast....

I bought the morebeer economy all grain mash tun. It is a bottling bucket with a stainless false bottom and it cost less than $40. I wrap it with an old quilt and I only lose 3-4 degrees in an hour. I use this when I want to fly sparge and my other cooler setup for batch sparging. Works very well.