[QUOTE=Balthisar]
I’ve heard a lot about using coolers in homebrew circles, although I can’t remember exactly why (it didn’t interest me at the time). It definitely including boiling-hot wort, though. The coolers in question were designated for beverages, though. They’re the kind you see on construction sites for cold water in the summer.
[/QUOTE]
I’d just like to point out that I’ve used regular rectangular (not cylindrical) beer/soda coolers for mashing (part of brewing) at 160 or so. No problems there.
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose]
If I observed that you were using a cooler to dip water, whether hot or cold, out of a cooler to serve directly to folks, I would have hygiene issues with you, because, as Scarlett points out, I don’t know you, and I wouldn’t have any way of knowing where your cooler had been, or what it had had in it just before you decided to use it for my tea water.
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Yeah, you both make good points in not knowing me. Quite honestly, I’d probably have the same concerns if I randomly saw some random dude doing the same thing. Mainly I was pointing out that it’s not necessarily unhygienic.
Personally I’m a big user of bleach, except for stainless steel, in which case I use a commercial sanitizer (which unfortunately costs significantly more than bleach).
There could also be issues with the air in the insulating space expanding due to the heat. This combined with plastic that is not made for high temperatures possibly softening could cause a leak.
