# Help Making A Mash Tun



## HOOLIO (7/3/07)

Hi
I have already attempted a few partial "mashes" but haven't got anything to sparge in.
So I want to make something so that this year i can advance my brewing techniques.
I am keen to make a mash tun maybee a circular cooler style. 
Can anyone advise me about which cooler is good to buy?
Maybe with a false bottom (mesh)?
and about changing over the tap?
An of course there is the price?
I live In Adelaide.
Any of your ideas would be greatly appreciated.
I would love to see pics of your setups.
what is the difference between a mash tun and a lauter tun?
Thanks for any advice
cheers from Toby


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## Keifer (7/3/07)

Take a look in the 'show me your false bottom' thread, lots of pics of mash tuns! Only ever had a rectangular 55L esky so can't help you with the gatorade type.


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## braufrau (7/3/07)

HOOLIO said:


> Hi
> I have already attempted a few partial "mashes" but haven't got anything to sparge in.
> So I want to make something so that this year i can advance my brewing techniques.
> I am keen to make a mash tun maybee a circular cooler style.



I know I am going to be totally pooh poohed for suggesting this but I have
had a brilliant idea!

Oh oh! I hear you say.

Well this is it ... I'm gonna use my fermenter for a mash tun. For partials.
I'm going to make myself a nylon bag and mash in the fermenter wrapped sitting
on a foam mat with an old blanket and doona around it.

The effect will be the same as a cooler with a bag which is described in lots of places
on the web e.g. bewhaus

Once I've got the boil going I'll clean and sanitise the fermenter. I've got a big pot, so no
chance of boil over.

The advantage is a: cheap b: takes up almost zero extra space.

Of course I'll be batch sparging.

There now! Despise me if you will!

-braufrau


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## Fents (7/3/07)

Im no handy man and trust me i've just made what i think is a reasonable and cheap mash tun. Its a standard pail bucket (dont know how many litres) with braided mesh hose and all connections. I can mash 6kg (2.5lts water per 1KG grain) of grain no worries, Dosnt loose temp over an hour and sparges really really well. I've just taken photo's of it for you and how it all gets put together and what not but i cant upload them at home (no cable for my camera), i'll do it first thing at work tommorow.

Whole thing only cost me $42.


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## GMK (7/3/07)

Hoolio

I live in adelaide and have a small round daddy cooler mash tun - holds 15ltrs...ideal for single fly sparge batches.

Happy for u to borrow to help u on your way if you want.
Otherwise, i have made up a few round cylinder ones for some of the guys on here.

U are welcome up at the BrewInn Barossa to check it and my AG setup out if you want to.


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## Punter (7/3/07)

mate, this was my first tun and worked a treat. Cheap and simple.

Its just a 15lt pail with foam insulation around it.







It used a false bottom made from the cut off bottom of another pail with
countless holes drilled.






this served me well for a while.


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## Keifer (7/3/07)

There you go hoolio, can't beat an offer like that!


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## Ducatiboy stu (7/3/07)

GMK said:


> Hoolio
> 
> I live in adelaide and have a small round daddy cooler mash tun - holds 15ltrs...ideal for single fly sparge batches.
> 
> ...




Dont ya just love this site... :wub:


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## PistolPatch (7/3/07)

*Braufrau:* That's sort of a good idea and sort of isn't but I like the way you're thinking  Have a look at this thread from my more innocent days. You'd be better off using a pail with a tap to avoid infection risk. The material to use is Swiss Voille from Spotlight (thanks Ross). This will work fine. A pail never goes astray either.

*Hoolio:* You can line whatever your mash tun is with the Swiss Voille material if you would like to avoid making a manifold. You will still have to install a tap.

As to your question re a mash tun and a lauter tun. An esky actas both. It is the mash tun (let's call it a soaking tun for simplicity) and a lauter tun (rinsing tun). The correct abbreviation for an esky in which you mash and sparge is an MLT (Mash Lauter Tun).

If you are looking at an esky, have a look at this thread Maybe you can find an esky this size on EBay cheaply. Having an esky that you can mash in and then use as a fermenting fridge was a huge bonus to me. Now that I BIAB, I no longer need a mash tun but I can still use the esky as a fermenting fridge (maintains a very stable temperature with very few ice bricks needed) and a Party Cooler...

The esky fits a keg, soda-stream bottle and regulator. I've upgraded and now even have a proper tap on it! (Will post some pics tomorrow before my nephew takes it to his uni function  )

What I'm saying here, is try and think ahead. There's nothing worse than buying something and then later on, as your brewing skills develop, finding the thing you spent money on is 1cm too small etc.

Spending money on a mash tun may be unneccessary at this stage. This thread may allow you to side-skip a mash tun altogether and get you within a bee's dick of doing your first AG. Easier than partials!

Keep us posted,
Pat

PS Just saw GMK's offer, DEFINITELY take that up.


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## PostModern (7/3/07)

PistolPatch said:


> Spending money on a mash tun may be unneccessary at this stage. This thread may allow you to side-skip a mash tun altogether and get you within a bee's dick of doing your first AG. Easier than partials!



Geez, PP, you go off at everyone who mentions three vessel brewing in the BIAB thread. What's good for the goose, eh?


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## Ducatiboy stu (7/3/07)

PP...Good to see you getting back into medium length posts... :lol:


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## PistolPatch (7/3/07)

LOL Ducati!

PoMo: Looks like I must have written some stuff badly there. I'm not sure what though? Let me know where I've criticised 3 vessel brewing and I'll re-write the posts. Certainly wasn't my intention and I hate writing things that are not clear. The only intention of BIAB is getting people to brew a great beer ASAP. To date, BIAB is doing this so I think people should certainly consider it before outlaying a lot of money. Maybe I get a bit enthusiastic sometimes but usually I'll correct this when sober B) 

Hope this makes sense,
Pat

EDIT: I was just thinking that seeing as the beers produced by BIAB compared to batch sparging have proven to be identical to nearly all brewers and certainly not inferior to the one brewer who, so far, could pick the difference, it is actually irresponsible not to advise people to consider the method very seriously.

I think I'm the only person also, that started with 3 vessel and moved to BIAB. The fact that I have no intention of moving back should make those contemplating AG think twice about the way they approach it. As the guys at Asher's brew day will tell you, I'm also prepared to do side-by-side brews with exisitng 3 vessel brewers as I did with Brad_G when in QLD. The more results we get here the better. They'll also tell you that my intention in doing this is to try and discover limitations of BIAB.

I'd certainly love to know if there are any. To date we have found none.

I'm Just trying to get the most accurate info available out to new brewers. Maybe I should start writing longer posts  

Whoops! Looks like, with my edit, I have just done that!
Pat


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## braufrau (7/3/07)

PistolPatch said:


> *Braufrau:* That's sort of a good idea and sort of isn't but I like the way you're thinking  Have a look at this thread from my more innocent days. You'd be better off using a pail with a tap to avoid infection risk. The material to use is Swiss Voille from Spotlight (thanks Ross). This will work fine. A pail never goes astray either.



Hey PP. Thanks for the feedback.
Of course I was inspired by BIAB.

The comments in the thread you linked to seem to be split between "it will infect your fermenter" and
"it wont be a problem". Guess you decided to err on the side of caution. 
If the grains are in a bag they wont scratch the plastic I wouldn't think. well a pail will be cheap.


Do you think recirculation is required with a bag? The brewhaus people seem to think the
wort will run clear if the sides of the bag don't fall in. brewhaus
If I don't need to recirculate, I don't need a tap. I could just pull the bag out and pour the
"runnings" into the kettle couldn't I? Then plop it back in and batch sparge?

The swiss voile is from the curtain section of spotlight isn't it? 

-braufrau


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## PistolPatch (8/3/07)

*braufrau:* Sorry, was busy writing a big edit in my last post - lol!

As to your questions...

I reckon PoMo's comments in the first thread I linked above re infection if using a fermenter as a mash tun should be considered seriously for two reasons. Firstly, I'm paranoid about cleanliness and secondly a bucket is cheap, handy and essentially does the same job.

The rest of your question depends on whether you still intend to do partials. I'm going to assume that you don't intend to partial any more. If you do, you'll know what to ignore below.

If you go the way you intend, this is what you're facing and it's going to be a PITA, as you'll see. Hopefully, going through what you intend, nearly step-by-step, will help you to find an easier way...

Firstly, you certainly won't need re-circulation so that's one good thing! Forget that.

If you use a bag in a fermenter, I would throw as much water in as you can in your mash and agitate the mash regularly as per BIAB Guide. (You will, by the way, have to heat this water first in another vessel, ie a kettle or pot. In BIAB, this vessel is also your bucket.) 

The agitation acts as the rinsing you get by sparging. So, if you have a 25 litre ferementer/bucket/pail then throw in say 20 litres (if you're lucky) of water from your 'kettle' for the mash. You should then agitate regularly for the first 20 minutes and then occassionally over the rest of the mash.

Unless you have a tap, you will actually have to take the bag out of the vessel and you'll then need a pail/bucket to hang it over - agh!!!!

Doing this twice and waiting for the bag to drain would be a nightmare! You _will_ have to do it twice as you'll need to add another 16 litres to the vessel and then agitate, remove bag again etc. Also, where did you heat that 16 lts by the way?  That's right - from the kettle!

Hopefully, you are starting to see why I linked the BIAB thread  

So, I reckon that an easier way, would be to just get a cheap 60-80 litre stainless steel pot (check out my last post in the BIAB thread - a thin-bottomed kettle will cost you less than fifty) and just full-volume mash. 

See where I'm coming from?

Still very much like the way you've been thinking and hopefully the above will save you some wasted time and then free up your brain for some other exciting ideas - cool! 

Let me know what you come up with,
Pat

1. By the way, bag brewing or mashing gives a very clear wort but this should not be your goal. There is nothing wrong with a cloudy wort. There is some evidence to say it is actually advantageous.

2. Finally, the Swiss Voille is in the curtain section


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## Fents (8/3/07)

Heres my simple Pail Mash tun :

The whole thing





The guts of it





Closer look





Now i pulled it apart for you - This one is the T Piece brass collar





Now i brought three of these - There from the irragation section in mitre ten, basically just a thread at one end that screws into each side of the T Piece and then one on the front for the tap





So this is how it goes...T Piece with two plastic things screwed on each side. Then buy the mesh steel braided hose stuff and cut it at each end, then pull the rubber out of the middle of it..Slip the mesh over the barbs on the plastic things and tighten with hose clamps.

Drill a hole in the bucket and fit the t piece snug up on the inside just holding it, then on the outside goes a rubber washer, then a metal washer, then screw the tap into the thread of the t piece. Then one last Plastic irragation thingy screws into the tap on the outside so you can slip hose over it to drain it..

Whala!





Insulate it with camping mat stuff from clark rubber..

$42 all up and holds 6KG of grain and dosnt drop any temp over an hour.

Sorry about the quality of the shitty camera phone picks.


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## drsmurto (8/3/07)

Been watching the thread develop and thought it time i joined in as i am super keen to move up to AG and skip the partials. I currently do 'enhanced K&K'  and extracts. I have 3 x 30L fermenters + my bulk priming 'pail' which is just a pail type fermenter whose lid cracked.

Am i right in thinking that PP _et al_ are advocating using a fermenter for the BIAB mash vessel, maybe wrapped in a camping mat a la Fents? Would i need the 'fancy' tap etc or would the normal fermenter tap work? Then i would need a 40+ L stock pot (kettle) and a bag made out of Swiss Voille?

So where is the flaw in my plan? I feel like i have completely over simplified things..... :unsure: 

Cheers
DrSmurto - future AGer


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## tangent (8/3/07)

the simplest option is 2 mayo buckets, a drill and a cheap plastic tap as stated above.
Samantha, you can just borrow mine if you want.... if it saves you making bags and trying to pull a full bag of wet grain through the hole in the top of a fermenter


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## braufrau (8/3/07)

tangent said:


> the simplest option is 2 mayo buckets, a drill and a cheap plastic tap as stated above.
> Samantha, you can just borrow mine if you want.... if it saves you making bags and trying to pull a full bag of wet grain through the hole in the top of a fermenter




Thanks tangent that's very kind.
I can make a suit so making a bag will take me 2 minutes.  Much easier than
making holes in a bucket which would require the big pointy whirly thingo .. that's secret
men's business. 

We're still talking batch sparging with the bucket in bucket idea aren't we?

If I went eithe bag in bucket or bucket in bucket, where would I get the bucket with
the tap? Bunnings?

As well as cost, size and simplicity to make, doesn't the bag idea have the advantage of zero
empty space at the bottom.??

braufrau


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## tangent (8/3/07)

> I can make a suit


 it's a deal then. A new pinstripe suit in exchange for my bucket in a bucket with tap already fitted and holes already drilled. (Fitting a tap requires that spinny thing.)

Why do you need zero empty space at the bottom?
The bottom of the top bucket is full of grist. The bottom of the lower bucket is full of draining wort.


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## Wortgames (8/3/07)

braufrau said:


> the big pointy whirly thingo .. that's secret men's business.


And don't you forget it 



braufrau said:


> As well as cost, size and simplicity to make, doesn't the bag idea have the advantage of zero empty space at the bottom.??



'zero' empty space isn't an advantage - remember that any bit of a mesh bag that sits hard against a plastic surface isn't really mesh any more, and if the bag sits right up against the tap, then the entire wort has to channel through a tiny circle of mesh at the tap inlet.

You really need the wort to filter out into some free space so that you use more of the filter surface rather than just a few square mm of it. So you should either hang the bag so it hangs clear of the bottom, or use some kind of baffle to hold back the bag and keep some distance. The only 'side effects' of excess space are the risk of the dreaded HSA if there is air in there (only really a problem if you are sparging from a height, like using a colander in the fermenter neck - even then it's a hotly argued topic) or from excess thinning of the mash if you need to have large amounts of extra liquid in the deadspace. A litre or two isn't going to cause any problems, in fact it will help things run smoothly.


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## domonsura (8/3/07)

braufrau said:


> Much easier than making holes in a bucket which would require the big pointy whirly thingo .. that's secret
> men's business.
> 
> braufrau



 My GOD. The perfect woman does still exist......she likes beer...she likes MAKING beer......._and_ she doesn't want to play with your tools!!!! Where were you before I met my wife? _She_ won't drink enough beer to appreciate it's qualities, won't help me make it, and just _won't_ get the point that the shed is *mine* :angry: 

(unless you are really a fat bald 47 year old male comic shop owner with a hairy back and sweaty hands who likes teasing brewers, in which case scrub the perfect part)


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## Steve Lacey (8/3/07)

If you go bag in bucket, you could support the bag on a round cake rack or similar to create the free space that Wortgames was talking about. You can then have a pickup coming under the support to a tap or up the side and over as a siphon. For a siphon, you could fashion it all out of copper tubing with some soldering and elbows, or perhaps just a length of copper for the pickup end attached to 1/2" braided hose for the longer bits, perhaps clamped to some 3/8" copper elbows to get your 90 degree and 180 degree bends to prevent the tube from collapsing. I'll attach a crappy picture in case those words don't quite do the job.



I haven't gone to the trouble fitting a tap to any of my stainless mash tuns over the years and always use some kind of siphon arrangement. It can be a pain in the arse at times, but generally works pretty well. The current incarnation is a slotted copper ring with a copper up and over piece, all bends formed from elbows and Ts and stuck together with silver solder. A bit messy I suppose but it saves plumbing my 27-L S/S stockpot. It also doubles as a pickup after the boil after whirlpooling. With batch sparging you don't need to worry about throttling back the flow rate, but some kind of in-line valve does not go astray.


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## Brooksy (8/3/07)

Absolutely brilliant pics Fents.

You blokes have almost got me to try AG or partial. Trouble is though grains are non-existent within 1oo miles of my place.


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## tangent (8/3/07)

try a mail order place like (dare I suggest  ) Craftbrewer 
then you don't have to buy a mill.

skip the partials, try the real stuff.
porridge, drain, boil. too easy.


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## Phrak (8/3/07)

<Slight hijack>
KegDrainer - Try these blokes http://www.ubrew.com.au/, I'm pretty sure they sell grain, even though they're not listed.
Otherwise, Ross Kenrick/Craftbrewer  will deliver any quantity you need anywhere in Australia. Plus you help keep AHB alive :beer: 
Tim.
</Hijack>
Edit: Beaten by "quick-draw" Tangent


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## Fents (8/3/07)

KegDrainer said:


> Absolutely brilliant pics Fents.
> 
> You blokes have almost got me to try AG or partial. Trouble is though grains are non-existent within 1oo miles of my place.



Actually crappy phone camera pic's but you get the idea. Seriuosly mate make the jump its so much easier than people think.

Like tangent said - soak, rinse, boil, ferment!

Your first one might not be great but it will be a hell of alot better than a basic kit.


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## tangent (8/3/07)

quickdraw

nothing wrong with the phone pics mate. makes it soooooo much easier to understand than pages of text.


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## Offline (8/3/07)

KegDrainer said:


> Absolutely brilliant pics Fents.
> 
> You blokes have almost got me to try AG or partial. Trouble is though grains are non-existent within 1oo miles of my place.




There are a few Upper Hunter AG brewers, depends on how far up the Hunter you are though.
You should talk to them about where and how they get their grain, they might even give you a demo some time.

Offline


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## Wardhog (8/3/07)

Fents said:


> Heres my simple Pail Mash tun :
> 
> .
> <snip informative pictorial>
> ...



That is one of the handiest posts I've read, Fents. Cheers for that, I'm planning to make my esky into a mash tun, and didn't know what the various bits' names were, or where to get them.


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## DJR (8/3/07)

Check out this thread too:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...c=10362&hl=

That was my original AG setup thread, shows how it started. Done about 20 batches on that setup now, with the only change being a slightly revised braid setup, now uses a t-piece with a bit of round braid like the one above, difference being that i use an all-thread to go through the pail, then 2 locknuts to hold it in place, and a comp fitting connected to the 1/2 copper and 1/2 copper T piece. The one above looks a lot simpler though. Mine will probably come out and go into my new 48Qt esky when the wife agrees


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## PistolPatch (8/3/07)

Please excuse my poor but long writing skills last night. 42 degrees plus Batz's Altbier makes a deadly writing combination. Those posts were more roundabout than the ones I wrote the night before Tangent 

Hopefully, if nothing else braufrau, it may have helped you see the hassles of the bag in a fermenter. Hope so!

Cheers,
Pat


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## tangent (8/3/07)

first post i've read all the way through, Pat :lol: :beer: 
(please excuse my short attention span)

We're both agreed though, no matter which way you approach it, AG isn't worth pussyfooting around. 

Nike got is almost right. Just brew it.


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## drsmurto (8/3/07)

PistolPatch said:


> Hopefully, if nothing else braufrau, it may have helped you see the hassles of the bag in a fermenter. Hope so!
> 
> Cheers,
> Pat



Pat

If the fermenter is a pail type could i still do BIAB if i wrapped the pail in a mattress a la Fents?

Cheers
DrSmurto


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## Brooksy (8/3/07)

Thank you for your replies chaps.

When the garage/shed/workshop/wife'sstoragearea goes up I might have the required room, but until then I'm limited to the kitchen draining board (damn it). 
The pension makes it a bit hard to pay those hardworking truckdrivers to deliver the grain as well. 
Pushing as hard as I can.......


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## braufrau (8/3/07)

DrSmurto said:


> Been watching the thread develop and thought it time i joined in as i am super keen to move up to AG and skip the partials. I currently do 'enhanced K&K'  and extracts. I have 3 x 30L fermenters + my bulk priming 'pail' which is just a pail type fermenter whose lid cracked.
> 
> Am i right in thinking that PP _et al_ are advocating using a fermenter for the BIAB mash vessel, maybe wrapped in a camping mat a la Fents? Would i need the 'fancy' tap etc or would the normal fermenter tap work? Then i would need a 40+ L stock pot (kettle) and a bag made out of Swiss Voille?
> 
> ...




Hi DrSmurto,

I'm obviously not the right person to answer this but no one else has so I'll have a go.

You need either a mash tun for traditional brewing, *or* a big bag for brew in a bag. When you do a "normal" mash and sparge
you put your grain with about 2.5l/kg grain of water. i.e. 5kg of grain needs ~12.5l of water. Keep it warm
and stand back for awhile then collect the "runnings" and the sparge with enough water so that the runnings
fill your kettle. 
So you have two things. A tun and a kettle.
But with BIAB you line your kettle with the bag. Put *all* the boil water in (23l or whatever it is) and
bring to mash temperature. Stand back for awhile. Pull the bag out and drain and then do the boil.
This is called "no sparge" mashing. And you don't have a second vessel and you don't have to get the stuff
from the tun into the kettle. No muss, no fuss. But *allegedly* the extraction efficiency is low compared
to methods that include sparging. Pistol Patch will have the skinny.

Now to confuse the issue, tuns have false bottoms, really they are colanders sitting in a tub with a
tap. And I thought I could use the bag idea for the false bottom in the tun by lining a bucket or
pot with the bag. But that's not BIAB.

-braufrau


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## PistolPatch (8/3/07)

Looks like brau beat me to it DrS! Thanks brau and really well-written.

Only one correction. The BIAB is actually getting higher efficiency (anywhere from 5 to 9%). One guy got lower efficiency and it had me stumped for a while until I saw that the bag being used was too small.

DrS, on my way out the door now but do have a read of, "A Guide to Mashing and Batch-Sparging," and the BIAB Booklet.pdf Both of these have lots of pics(there you go Tangent!!!) and should help you to really get your head around both methods.

Cheers,
Pat

P.S. Sorry brau - just noticed one more correction. 'No sparge,' brewing is something different again - a method used to produce extra malty beer. To avoid confusion with this, I call BIAB, 'full volume brewing.'


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## poppa joe (8/3/07)

My el cheapo setup..
Buckets from bakery...zilch...
SS cake stand...Vinnies.....
pj


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## braufrau (8/3/07)

PistolPatch said:


> Only one correction. The BIAB is actually getting higher efficiency (anywhere from 5 to 9%). One guy got lower efficiency and it had me stumped for a while until I saw that the bag being used was too small.



Thanks Pat. I just read your guide to masing and batch sparging. Very informative! 
But I don't get this efficiency thing? Is the '7' key broken on your key board? :huh: 
Should it be 75% to 79%?? :unsure: 

-braufrau


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## braufrau (8/3/07)

Wortgames said:


> And don't you forget it
> 'zero' empty space isn't an advantage - remember that any bit of a mesh bag that sits hard against a plastic surface isn't really mesh any more, and if the bag sits right up against the tap, then the entire wort has to channel through a tiny circle of mesh at the tap inlet.
> 
> You really need the wort to filter out into some free space so that you use more of the filter surface rather than just a few square mm of it. So you should either hang the bag so it hangs clear of the bottom, or use some kind of baffle to hold back the bag and keep some distance. The only 'side effects' of excess space are the risk of the dreaded HSA if there is air in there (only really a problem if you are sparging from a height, like using a colander in the fermenter neck - even then it's a hotly argued topic) or from excess thinning of the mash if you need to have large amounts of extra liquid in the deadspace. A litre or two isn't going to cause any problems, in fact it will help things run smoothly.



Thanks Wortgames.

I found this in DJRs original thread on AG. Its from a "pint of lager" post.
"Something to sparge in. Cheesecloth pegged over/in a bucket fermenter with some rolled up metal mesh to keep it from off the bottom of the fermenter. Somebody else on the board used an old pillowcase."

Hasn't HSA been debunked??
There was something about HSA on basic brewing radio where they did an experiment, areating
the hot wort their darndest and found it made no difference.

Part 1: http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr03-16-06.mp3
Part 2: http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr06-22-06.mp3
Part 3: http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr11-02-06.mp3

But perhaps I should listen to the episodes myself. 

Anyway, I'm still keen on the bag in a bucket thingo but given up on the fermenter idea.
Tangent has a good point that it will be easy to get the grains in through the opening .. not so
easy getting it out again!

-braufrau


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## Fents (9/3/07)

Wardhog said:


> That is one of the handiest posts I've read, Fents. Cheers for that, I'm planning to make my esky into a mash tun, and didn't know what the various bits' names were, or where to get them.



haha cant help but think ur taking the piss outta me cause i kept calling stuff thingy's...hahaha  :lol:


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## Wortgames (9/3/07)

braufrau said:


> Hasn't HSA been debunked??



Quite possibly. To be honest I don't really care either way, as I don't think there's any _advantage_ in HSA nor any particular _disadvantage_ in avoiding it - but maybe I'm spoilt because I've already moved to a stage where I've got some decent equipment and HSA won't really happen anyway. Certainly plenty of AG brewers have been splashing their runoff into buckets for years, and my first AG brews involved colanders and plenty of splashing, and I thought they were fantastic.

I should make a correction to my earlier post though, there is of course another potential problem with having airspace under the mash, which is that it makes a compacted grain bed more likely to happen. Ideally you want to keep the mash somewhat 'suspended' within the liquid wort, and just gradually draw off wort from the bottom. But you have to work with what you've got, and I think the truth is you can still make excellent beer even if you break all the 'rules'.

Most of the 'rules' lead to slight improvements here and there, and represent 'best practise', but there are very few that are absolutely essential. To quote Tangent:

porridge... drain... boil with hops.


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## PistolPatch (9/3/07)

braufrau said:


> I don't get this efficiency thing? Is the '7' key broken on your key board? :huh:
> Should it be 75% to 79%?? :unsure:



Mornin' Brau,

What I meant here was that the increase in efficiencies have been anything from 5% to 9%. So, say if you batch-sparged and achieved 68% then, if you did the same brew with BIAB, you should expect anywhere from 73 to 77%. Hope that's a little clearer.

Pat

Glad you enjoyed the mash/sparge guide. I'll tidy it up soon and put it in the Wiki.


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## Breezy (10/3/07)

HOOLIO said:


> Hi
> I have already attempted a few partial "mashes" but haven't got anything to sparge in.
> So I want to make something so that this year i can advance my brewing techniques.
> I am keen to make a mash tun maybee a circular cooler style.
> ...



Hi Hoolio,
I just ordered a 38 litre Igloo round esky from Barbeques Galore and have been quoted $109.00. Not bad compared to the Rubbermaid I paide twice as much for. You will of course have to modify the tap somehow. I used a piece of half inch brass all-thread and a few more bits and pieces from the local plumbing supplier.
Good luck.


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## PistolPatch (10/3/07)

An esky can do a hell of a lot more than just be a mash tun.

Eskys are expensive as Breezy has shown.

When I batch-sparged, I used a 65 litre esky which cost $120 from Bunnings 'Lower Prices.' (2 weeks later the same esky was $80 at the local supermarket - good old Bunnings!) *An esky (round or square) can do a lot more than just be a mash tun used once per brew.*

Before you buy one, really consider what else you can use it for. The first post of a thread I wrote tonight should get you thinking.

Even though I haven't needed an esky as a mash tun for quite some time*, this esky still solves many brewing problems. I have never regretted that money though it is a lot brewing-wise.

Before you buy an esky, think ahead and do measurements. I just got lucky with my esky - it seems to be just big enough for any task I have given it. It fits a fermenter or one keg plus soda gas bottle. Changing it from being just an esky into a mash tun, fermenting fridge or party cooler takes less than 5 minutes.

Always think multi-purpose on big-ticket brewing items.** It's not only fun but it's quite amazing what you'll dream up.

Cheers
Pat

**This sort of thinking made my esky redundant as a mash tun. *Many thanks to James Sqyre posting a great question on AHB which lead to me doing BIAB.


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## Aaron (11/3/07)

MY mastun is also my lauter tun like it is for many. It is an esky and can be turned back into a regular esky with little trouble.

You can see the post I wrote on how to build a mash tun here:

http://beachbrewery.com/?p=79


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## HOOLIO (13/3/07)

Hi guys thanks for all of your great responses, and thanks too for the off topic ones.
I really like the guts of Fents tun. and I really like the look of the cooler that Aaron posted a link to. I think that Aron's arrangement Is the type probably best suited to my needs but I may install stainless steel mesh tubing like Fent did.
About that mesh tubing.
Where can you get a good price on it? 
is it stainless steel?
How hard is it to clean?
Is it very efficient?


And Aaron about that keep cold cooler.
How big is it?
I assume that it doesnt mind the heat? (Without warping that is?)
How much would one of those set me back?

Thanks Breezy I will have to check out BBQ Galore.
Have you tried an Igloo to see if it ill stand the heat?

Once again guys thanks for the response to my post I havent posted much on this forum yet, but I hope to get stuck right in.
I value the advice from you seasoned brewers.
So cheers.
From Hoolio

And P.S. thanks for your offer GMK
It would be great to check out your setup (brewing setup).


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## Fents (14/3/07)

HOOLIO said:


> Hi guys thanks for all of your great responses, and thanks too for the off topic ones.
> I really like the guts of Fents tun. and I really like the look of the cooler that Aaron posted a link to. I think that Aron's arrangement Is the type probably best suited to my needs but I may install stainless steel mesh tubing like Fent did.
> About that mesh tubing.
> Where can you get a good price on it?
> ...



Hey mate i just took my bucket into mitre 10, grabbed the first bit of mesh hose i could find and wrapped it round the bottom of my bucket to see if it would fit. It did perfectly. Any hardware store will sell it im assuming.

I too will put my mash tun "guts" into another type of tun when i get the funds. Prob buy a 55litre esky one day.

As for efficenciy i get close to 65 % on my setup. Im only knew to all this so i dont know if its me or my equipment, but someone suggested last week i can just add more grain to get a higher efficency.

Good luck with it all and keep us updated. Cheers.


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