I looked for some discussion on the forum and could not find one; hopefully this is just a short thread. I see equipment from home brew suppliers for cooler type mash tun/HLT, these are pretty much all set up to use. The are also more expensive. Then there are the coolers from Home Depot and such, which I have seen in many set ups. Does anyone think that there is any real difference in insulating ability/capacity /durability between the coolers offered by home brew supply houses vs those you can get in the big hardware stores. Cost difference is of course one, I realize that. DIY setup is not too hard for store bought coolers. I just wondered if it was worth the difference in price, besides the convenience factor of getting them already set up. Personally I would rather use stainless steel vessels but the plastic is cheaper. I say that mainly because I know the preservative chemicals that are put into plastic to keep it from going bad, and concerned about leaching into the hot mash and such.