Free Urn - Now What?

[rendo]

Hi Guys

(sorry if anyone thought I am giving away a free urn - I just got a free urn..but now that I have your attention :lol: )

I got this ZIP 10 LITRE Urn the other day (pictured), a friend gave it to me who was going to chuck it. It was cruddy inside. Nothing an overnight soak with some lemons and vinegar wont fix.

Anyway...WHAT DO I (or can I) USE IT FOR?

1. Boiling water...YES I KNOW...

Besides that...?? I am currently a kit brewer moving into spec grains, leading up to partials, looking to get into BIAB, eventually full AG.

So...I gather I can use it for heating sparge water, but I am more interested if I could do BIAB in this thing? Its only 10L, so does that mean I couldnt do a full brew's worth? maybe I can do partials in here?? Any guesses how much grain I could fit in?? 2kg?

I am wondering about the exposed element? Is that okay to do BIAB in?

Anyway, would love to hear what you guys think I should/could use it for

Rendo

​

 

[thesunsettree]

Hi Guys

(sorry if anyone thought I am giving away a free urn - I just got a free urn..but now that I have your attention :lol: )

I got this ZIP 10 LITRE Urn the other day (pictured), a friend gave it to me who was going to chuck it. It was cruddy inside. Nothing an overnight soak with some lemons and vinegar wont fix.

Anyway...WHAT DO I (or can I) USE IT FOR?

1. Boiling water...YES I KNOW...

Besides that...?? I am currently a kit brewer moving into spec grains, leading up to partials, looking to get into BIAB, eventually full AG.

So...I gather I can use it for heating sparge water, but I am more interested if I could do BIAB in this thing? Its only 10L, so does that mean I couldnt do a full brew's worth? maybe I can do partials in here?? Any guesses how much grain I could fit in?? 2kg?

I am wondering about the exposed element? Is that okay to do BIAB in?

Anyway, would love to hear what you guys think I should/could use it for

Rendo

View attachment 37127View attachment 37128View attachment 37129​

hi rendo,

great score if for nothing else a hlt of sorts. i am currently doing partials - biab - in an 18lt pot (stove top). with 10-12 lt strike water and around 2.5 - 3.5 kg of grain. not sure how that will translate to your urn, also given you will lose some space with the element. it would make a great hlt for partial mashes tho, might be a door opener for you to ag

cheers
matt

 

[Pollux]

I'll take it off your hands and use it as the heat exchanger vessel for my upcoming HERMS build.....


I reckon a small BIAB would be possible, but with only 10L to play with you may be cutting it a touch fine. Perhaps just use it as a way of having your strike water able to be set to preheat on a timer and grab an 18L pot from Kmart and do stove top partial boils....

 

[Bribie G]

That would be great to supply wort for partials, and it would just handle 2kg as a BIAB, going on what I used to do as a stovetop boil in my 10L stockpot. There would be hardly any work involved, just dough in, wrap it in something insulating for an hour, hoist the swiss voile square (wouldn't even need a tailored bag at that size) and boil the wort for an hour. Chilling is a breeze if you already have a 10L stockpot with a lid and chill in laundry sink.

It would be great for making good solid lager type beers with a tin of Coopers Lager or Canadian. IMHO my lager partials turned out almost as good as AG, and definitely more tasty than XXXX or Tooheys, although using the method with UK Bitters etc might be stretching the friendship. If you are into hop driven US APAs it would go well with extract as opposed to tinnies.

You should be able to adapt something from the BIAB in an Urn tute.

Cheers
Michael

:icon_cheers:

 

[RdeVjun]

+1 for BribieG, that's precisely what I was thinking- partials would be a cinch with that new urn. :icon_cheers:

 

[Bribie G]

Hehe I was expecting Rde to jump in there, and once we have your soul then you are on the inevitable slippery slope to full BIAB all grain brews B)

Edit: seriously, with an exposed element there is no need to apply power during the mash itself. What you can do is:

• Heat strike water to - say - 69 degrees for a 66 degree mash.
• Switch Off
• Put bag in
• dough in and stir quickly
• Put lid on urn and immediately wrap in a beach towel or Mum's fur coat or whatever will insulate it so you only get a degree or two temp drop in an hour.
• Then hoist, drain and squeeze the bag
• At that stage, turn the power back on again.

So if you do that there's no disadvantage in having an exposed element. In fact with such a light load, if you were doing a mash in cold weather than at 30 mins you could hoist the bag, run the power for a few minutes to bring the temp up, turn the power off, stir like buggery and re-wrap for the second half of the mash. So there is no excuse to ever have the bag touching a hot element.

 

[RdeVjun]

Haha, these guys think think they have my soul, but I resist the lure of shiny new age urns and still use my faithful old testament- style stockpot!

 

[Bribie G]

:icon_offtopic:

And I know your Mrs supports you in your hobby as well .

 

[Duff]

HERMS.

Cheers.

 

[Bandito]

Yep, HERMS for full AG.

 

[rendo]

Hi Guys,

WOW....I have just read a truckload on what a HERMS is...HAHAHA...is there anything the home brew folk wont do. That is COOL...but way outta my league at the moment. Thats amazing.

Not just yet, maybe in the future.

BIAB here I come. It's destiny. Will post back here tomorrow or so after a bit more reading. I have read BribieG's guide about 5-10 times over the past 3 or so months.

swiss voile.....i guess I am going to spotlight to pick some of this stuff up.

Rendo

Yep, HERMS for full AG.

 

[argon]

Use it as a herms in your biab setup... h34r: grab a 50L pot from somwehere and a march pump and you'll have the simplicity of biab and the accurate control of herms.

 

[Bribie G]

 

[rendo]

Chappo's setup?

View attachment 37139

 

[Pollux]

Rendo, not sure where in Sydney you are mate but I have some spare voile here that I am never likely to use, if you want it (probably easily be enough for you to build a bag for this urn, or just drape it in there) let me know. I'm in Stanmore.

 

[rendo]

Hi Pollux,

Thanks for the offer, that is very generous of you. I live in Lane Cove, work in Norwest/Baulkham Hills.

If its okay I am happy to drop by sometime in the near future. I wont be needing in the next week or two as I have a lager down for another 4 weeks. I will have to drop a some beer your way too as I would love feedback on it, I am sure u can find the courage to drink it

Previous brews I was a bit too heavy on the dex, so body is a bit thin, but always good to get another brewers opinion. Will have to give you my LCBA clone, was the first brew done in my ferm fridge and I reckon its excellent. no dex, all malt, Hard to pick a thing wrong, lovely.

Sort out the details via PM Thank You!

Rendo, not sure where in Sydney you are mate but I have some spare voile here that I am never likely to use, if you want it (probably easily be enough for you to build a bag for this urn, or just drape it in there) let me know. I'm in Stanmore.

 

[Pollux]

No worries, it's just sitting in a ziplock bag in a drawer in the brewery....

Fire me a PM when you're ready to come grab it and I'll let you know the address.