I have a 10 gallon igloo cooler that I've turned into a Mash Tun, but am feeling too cheap to spend $50 on a proper false bottom. I'm wondering if I drill a bunch of holes into the bottom of a 7.5 gallon bucket and place that inside if that would work instead. Anyone tried this before? Would I still get the same insulation of the cooler and have enough space for a 5 gallon batch? Any other ideas for cheap false bottom for fly sparging?
Charlie Papazian recommended doing this for lautering a long time ago. It would work. I'd personally take a brad and punch some holes in the bottom of a pie pan first. Edit, I personally use a steel washer hose and a rectangular cooler. I don't fly sparge.
there are dozens and dozens of designs out there for making a false bottom in an Igloo. I used about $20 in copper and a drill, but others have used pvc or braided steel washing machine hose. just three examples. the method you describe has been around since the mid 70's and is called a Zapap, though the Zapap did not use any cooler, just two buckets. homebrewers in general love love love to be frugal. you would be better off spending a few dollars in this instance. Cheers.
I built a copper manifold for one of my mash tuns once. It was pretty easy and not terribly expensive. These days I use a SS braid I took off a washing machine water supply line I had sitting around. Works well for batch sparging, should work for fly sparging as well.
