1 How to Build Your Own Home-Brewing Mash Tun

To get started brewing that crisp summer beer or black-as-night porter, you'll first need a specialized brewing container called a mash tun. A mash tun is where a brewer steeps grain with hot water to produce a sugary liquid that will eventually become beer. Sure, you can buy a mash tun online for about $100. But with just a few parts and tools (and no more mechanical know-how than a 6-year-old), you can easily convert a plastic beverage cooler into a mash tun for less than half that price.

For this build, you'll need two wrenches, a pair of pliers, a large wire cutter (or handsaw), a screwdriver, and the following parts:

5-gallon Rubbermaid cooler



3/4-inch ball valve



2-inch-long 3/4-inch pipe nipple



3/4-inch coupling



3/4-inch hose barb (x2)



Stainless-steel hose clamp



Teflon tape



Large diameter 1-inch fender washer (for spacing)



Small diameter 1-inch washer (for sealing)



1-inch nut



3/4-inch or 1-inch diameter braided stainless-steel supply hose

All your hardware should be either food-safe stainless steel and/or copper.