Esky (Cooler) conversion

Second post of the day! I was busy on the weekend after my parts from bargainfittings.com arrived :)

This was a pain in the ass build I don't mind saying. My esky has a HUGE wall and bulkhead kit was not long enough to make it through with enough threads. So out came the drill! Punching through with enough to absorb that nut shown below but not enough to go over the soldered washer.

Why did I do this? The solder is under the gasket show below and I wanted that outside not inside and it gave a little more room inside.

3x 1/2" NPT Washer 304 stainless

1x Stainless steel mash braid

1x flat silicon gasket

1x silicon o ring

1x 1/2" SS Camlock Dust Cap Style Quick Disconnect

1x 1/2" SS Camlock F style fitting Quick Disconnect

1x 1/2" SS Camlock B Style Quick Disconnect

1x 3 - piece SS ball valve 

1x 1/2" NPT FEMALE x 1/2" hose barb

This might seem excessive, but I want to continue to use my esky for beer and ice! So I added a quick release and cap so I can disconnect my ball valve and barb while not brewing.

Internal is the braid, 2x SS Washers (Needed to chew up some thread) and a flat silicon gasket. The hex nut show in the soldered keg bulkhead at the top is in the esky wall, hence the drilling.

The outside is a silicon o ring with a third washer and the SS Camlock F style fitting Quick Disconnect. I put one on the floor on the left. The threads are on the concretion floor. The SS Camlock Dust Cap Style Quick Disconnect is shown attached to the esky keeping the water in and acting like a normal bung. On brew day I'll remove the dust cap and attach the ball valve show here in the picture with a SS Camlock B Style Quick Disconnect attached to the ball valve.

It will attach as so

Woot :D

When I get my next big kettle I'll be moving away from the esky to an insulated pot and all of this SS gear will transfer perfectly to the new mash tun.

No more (Or less) burned hands from wort transfer now! :)