Idea For A Stainless Mash Tun

[Thirsty Boy]

Just a wild and crazy idea, but has anyone thought of using one of these as a mash-tun?? 45litre capacity, all stainless tub....

It seems that it would only need a lid and a little bit of plumbing to make a nice, solid stand alone MT. Maybe a little bit of spray in expanding foam to insulate it (inside the cabinet)

Just a thought

Thirsty

 

[Stuster]

I'm not sure, but the first thing that comes to mind is the conductivity of metals. As all the parts are in contact, I guess a lot of heat will be conducted throughout the metal sheeting. So you'd need to insulate the whole thing, wouldn't you? Stainless is not that good a conductor, but still. :unsure:

 

[DJR]

I'm not sure, but the first thing that comes to mind is the conductivity of metals. As all the parts are in contact, I guess a lot of heat will be conducted throughout the metal sheeting. So you'd need to insulate the whole thing, wouldn't you? Stainless is not that good a conductor, but still. :unsure:

You should be able to remove the tub from the base, then put something in between to insulate it better, could even just be silicone grout or something simple like that.

Sounds like a nice idea, you have to make a lid and stuff but it might just work.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Or to take it a bit further, this looks like a mash tun boil kettle combo to me, couple of burners, couple of ball valves.....

 

[PostModern]

Good ideas, but can't imagine emptying the grain from one... I suppose you could hinge the laundry tub...

 

[homebrewworld.com]

Your onto something boys !
<_<

 

[pb unleaded]

I use a stainless keg as a mash tun and it's not insulated. I start the temp. at around 67 and just let it sit there for 90 mins. The temperature drops to 61-62 when finished, still within the range. Sometimes I pour in a boiling kettle half way through. Is it really that important to maintain the mash temp?

arthur

 

[Thirsty Boy]

hmmm

If you put a rubber/silicone gasket in between the sink and the stand, and then you turned it upside down and filled the space between the sink and the walls of the cabinet with expanding spray foam. I think you would end up with considerably less heat loss than a converted keg.

As for getting the grain out, its got a three inch hole in the bottom of it, just pull the plug.... incorporate a ball valve into the plug/stopper/whatever for draining the wort, then when its time to clean out the tun, just pull it all out and smoosh the grain down the hole into a waiting garbag.. Or you could go all high end and stick a big glorp valve thingy into the plug hole and have a separate outlet for the wort.

possibilities

 

[Stuster]

Seems like it might work. What would you cover it with? Do you by chance have one of these just 'lying around' waiting to find its purpose in life?

 

[sah]

I know sometimes you can pick these up from the tip or recycling yard for nix but in general wouldn't they be comparable in price to an esky? My esky loses less than a degree C over 60 minutes and it is very easy to clean and work with. It was also easy to fit a copper manifold and ball gate valve.

regards

Scott
(the wet blanket)

 

[redbeard]

I dont think u have much chance of pushing spent grain thru a 3" hole. better off using a jug & scooping it out ....

 

[Frothy]

Interesting idea
The grain is pretty good at insulating it's self and as long as there's enough of it you wouldn't need to insulate it. A lid would be a good idea. Plastic barrels are cheaper

Matt

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I know sometimes you can pick these up from the tip or recycling yard for nix but in general wouldn't they be comparable in price to an esky? My esky loses less than a degree C over 60 minutes and it is very easy to clean and work with. It was also easy to fit a copper manifold and ball gate valve.

regards

Scott
(the wet blanket)

Actually, that was exactly my thought when I originally suggested it. "hey, this thing is only around the same price as an eski...."

And as frothy points out, considerably more expensive than a plastic drum. However, neither of these 2 things are made of shiny, shiny stainless steel, nor do they have a handy dandy cabinet for hiding plumbing, pumps etc and keeping it all high enough off the ground to drain into a fermentor.

Essentially I just saw a shiny steel eski with a purpose buit stand. I think with a little effort you could turn one of these jobbies into a quite effective and fairly professional looking unit. I'm not running out to buy one, so my eski mash tun is safe for now, but if I did indeed have one lying around the place, I might well give it a crack just in the spirit of experimentation.

If I could get one of those big arsed double sink commercial ones for cheap though.... now I might just be tempted to start a project B)