Beerbelly Complete 55 Litre Esky Mashtun

[Dazza_devil]

Evenin Brewers,
I'll be needing a mashtun after Christmas and just lookin at the Beerbelly Complete 55 litre Esky Mashtun. Has anyone got one and how do they perform? Is it worthwhile paying the extra for the dial thermometer?
Cheers.

 

[dj1984]

Mine works a treat never had a stuck sparge or a problem.

worth the money for sure.

Cheers
DJ

 

[enoch]

Evenin Brewers,
I'll be needing a mashtun after Christmas and just lookin at the Beerbelly Complete 55 litre Esky Mashtun. Has anyone got one and how do they perform? Is it worthwhile paying the extra for the dial thermometer?
Cheers.

If you are going to spend that sought of money why scrimp on the thermometer? Really you will not regret it - just make sure you keep recalibrating them.
Having said that I have a thermo on my boiler and HLT too so I may be biased.

 

[Darren]

I recommend source the materials yourself and save $100.

It ain't rocket science

cheers

Darren

 

[Cocko]

Evenin Brewers,
I'll be needing a mashtun after Christmas and just lookin at the Beerbelly Complete 55 litre Esky Mashtun. Has anyone got one and how do they perform? Is it worthwhile paying the extra for the dial thermometer?
Cheers.

Can't go wrong with anything built by BB, even if it is a little more than wherever... MONY WELL SPENY IMO!!

 

[tazman1967]

Can't go wrong with anything built by BB, even if it is a little more than wherever... MONY WELL SPENY IMO!!

love mine..Wayne does great work
Great Eff. and dont even need rice hulls for a Wheaty.

 

[Dazza_devil]

I've never done an AG before, could someone just give me a simple run down on what's involved in the process of using this specific piece of equipment?

 

[Darren]

Great Eff. and dont even need rice hulls for a Wheaty.

Why would that be any different to a self assembled "esky"?

cheers

Darren

 

[skippy]

I've never done an AG before, could someone just give me a simple run down on what's involved in the process of using this specific piece of equipment?

350+posts and you dont know how AG works?

 

[Cocko]

350+posts and you dont know how AG works?

Not fair!

What about Chappo with over 4000 and still uses kits... and sea water! h34r:

Seriously though,

Boagsy, AG [All Grain] is when you get ALL your fermentable sugars for grain, malted barley.

So you get all your sugars from the grain, do a hop boil and ferment as normal...

Do a youtube search and read up on it on this site if you are truly interested in giving it a go!

Cheers

 

[Dazza_devil]

I get the basics of it but I've been concentrating on what I have the equipment and resources for at the moment. I'll be reading up before I get the gear and wondered if there is a specific method needed for this specific piece of equipment. Please excuse my ignorance but I wouldn't even know what a bulkhead, ball valve or a hosetail was atm.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

350+posts and you dont know how AG works?

Must come from some other state ! LOL
Hows it going Skip ? See you soon for a drink ? :icon_drunk:
GB

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

I get the basics of it but I've been concentrating on what I have the equipment and resources for at the moment. I'll be reading up before I get the gear and wondered if there is a specific method needed for this specific piece of equipment. Please excuse my ignorance but I wouldn't even know what a bulkhead, ball valve or a hosetail was atm.

Sorry not trying to be an WA ass. Give me a PM and I can answer most of your questions.Its easy once you get the hang of it. :icon_cheers:
GB

 

[Scruffy]

Typically, in AG brewing, unless you count BIAB, you would use a pot to boil water in, a pot to soak the sugars out of the grain and a pot to boil the resulting liquid (and add the hops etc). The pot you use to soak the sugars out of the grains could be an Esky, or a Stainless Steel pot, or an Esky with 'Esky' scribbled out and 'Beerbelly' written in crayon next to it... they all contain roughly the same components - a thermometer, a tap, etc... with a varying amount of additional 'custom' refinement - false bottom, sparge arm. iPod dock etc.

Seriously, think of the Beerbelly mash thing as your Bespoke, Craftsman built, State of the Art Mashtun, where everything fits and everything works. If you're at all handy you could source the bits and make one yourself, or you could buy a cheap one, or you could buy one of the best systems... like buying cars really - not sure what you mean by not understanding what a mash tun does?...

edited to correct bd spling.

 

[rockin49]

I used to have the same setup as Beerbelly's 55ltr kit. Sourced the Willow esky myself and bought the falsie, tap, bulk head and hose tail from Beerbelly. Stuffed around with other setups and this one was fantastic and if I did it again I wouldn't bother wasting time trying different components trying to skimp, when the kit works well. Didn't really save much $$ getting the bits separately. No stuck sparges, decent efficiency and the falsie didn't lift up off the flat bottom of the Willow. The Willow also has nice strong handles that hold up well under heat.

Only problem was the 55ltr (which I think is a bit less internally) didn't do well with double batches using large grain bills. Bit scary sometimes.

Dan

 

[Dazza_devil]

I know what a mash tun is and the theory of mashing but I'm a musician not a plumber.
So I'm gonna need one of Beerbelly's 50 litre Stainless Steel Brew Kettles fitted with a welded socket for a thermometer so I can use it as HLT as well? And another thermometer.
A 30 plate Bare BSP plate chiller, an Italian Spiral Burner with adjustable regulator, all the hosing to connect it all up, anything else?
What about a hopscreen and a mash liquor return dish?
I don't mind spending the dough, I wanna get this set up properly and high quality without having to stuff around building it.

 

[doon]

I have the complete set up, and dispite not knowing how to set it up so the everything was water tight i stuffed around for a bit and got it all together.

Done two AG now and very happy with it. My set up is a 60l aluminium pot with tap and esky set up from beerbelly, turkey burner from Grain and Grape and a urn i bought off Ebay. i just use a floating thermometer for the HLT and mash in my kitchen then take pot outside to boil.

Will eventually make a stand but this works for the moment.

Dont stuff around planning and worrying about what recipe you are going to do, download beersmith get that set up then just do a brew. Only way to learn how things work.

 

[Dazza_devil]

Just a quick calculation comes to around $1500, might be worthwhile going the whole hog and investing in the Brewboy 2 RIMS.

 

[captaincleanoff]

maybe learning the basics would be a good idea before investing in a Brewboy....

 

[MaestroMatt]

II know what a mash tun is and the theory of mashing but I'm a musician not a plumber.
So I'm gonna need one of Beerbelly's 50 litre Stainless Steel Brew Kettles fitted with a welded socket for a thermometer so I can use it as HLT as well? And another thermometer.
A 30 plate Bare BSP plate chiller, an Italian Spiral Burner with adjustable regulator, all the hosing to connect it all up, anything else?
What about a hopscreen and a mash liquor return dish?
I don't mind spending the dough, I wanna get this set up properly and high quality without having to stuff around building it.

Hey Boagsy

Funnily enough, I am a musician too! hahaha I just got into all grain brewing and it is a lot of fun and not too difficult at all. I too have no experience with plumbing at all but it wasn't hard.

If you are going for the esky with BB false bottom (if you have the cash, then get the complete version from them...saves the haslte of making it yourself if you aren't too confident), then you won't need the liquor return dish. Besides, I am pretty sure that this would only be useful if you were recirculating with a pump.

Whilst it's great to setup yourself with all the bling (I like bling) if you haven't done an AG yet, you might not get into it fully and then all that bling becomes a waste of cash. IMO, start with the basic bling - BB falsie and spiral burner...and work from there.

You can check out a few pics on my blog (shamless plug) on link below.

Matt