I've seen lots of people using various methods of insulating their Urns and thought I would share my setup. I have an electric Urn but I am sure this would work on a Pot or Gas setup just as well.
As I am a tight a$$, and believe as much of my Homebrew Kit as possible should be salvaged or invented the Total cost for this project was an hour or so's work and $0
This is how I had my Urn insulated for my first brew. I just had the Walls wrapped with a product called Air-Cell Glareshield. You can usually get scrap off-cuts from house building sites. The brickies commonly use this for Wall Cavity insulation. So anyone building near you just go ask the Brickies or look on the site rubbish pile for offcuts. Anyway for my first brew day I used the common "Sleeping Bag over the top" method to keep the Lid insulated, worked well and I only lost 2 degrees over a 90 minute mash but it got wet and dirty so I decided I needed something better. Hence I needed to make a "Beanie" for my "Baby"
Just as a background the reason I chose Glareshield is it insulates well, is strong and can be washed down easily. It also can handle high temperatures. Basically it consists of a silver foil which has a fibreglass weave though it for strength. In the middle is sandwiched some sort of foam. All up they rate it at about R1.5 so not massive but I wrapped it around my Urn twice for added insulation.
The other key thing is the Tape. They use a special tape that can handle high temperatures and sticks like buggery. It also has the fibreglass weave through it which makes it strong also. You can buy the tape from Bunnings for around $15 or $20 a roll. (In my case I had some left from my house build) I can confirm it works as although I have only completed 1 brew the tape didn't budge throughout my 90 minute boil.
Anyway for the Walls above I just trimmed to the right height and wrapped the Glareshield around the urn a couple of times, trim and cut appropriate holes for Taps and handles then tape it up to seal the joints from water. (I wrapped around twice for added Insulation and believe it is well worth it)
Now I needed a Lid.....
Insulation Batt for the "Lid". Being Heat rises I figured the urn Lid might benefit form a bit more insulation than the walls.
This was sandwiched between 2 layers of Glareshield. It will give me an insulation value of about R5. Again just scrap material from a building site.
NB: This is just for the Lid. - So It's 1 x Layer of Glareshield, Insulation Batt, Then another layer for Glareshield to sandwich it all together.
Doing this way keeps the insulation fibres contained. The walls of the Urn just got Glareshield wrapped around twice)
I Used the Urn Lid as a Template to Cut out 2 Circles. Then 2 x pieces joined to the ends to go down the sides of the Urn.
NB: All taped up inside and out to seal all the joins so It can be washed down easily and also keeps the insulation batt fibres locked away from my Beer.
Finished - All edges sealed with the Foil tape and cut-outs made where the handles need to slip past.
Final product with the new "Beanie" sitting on top.
The lid slips snuggly over so everything will be kept warm and toasty come Mash time
Anyway just my idea and hopefully someone else may find it useful.
As I am a tight a$$, and believe as much of my Homebrew Kit as possible should be salvaged or invented the Total cost for this project was an hour or so's work and $0
This is how I had my Urn insulated for my first brew. I just had the Walls wrapped with a product called Air-Cell Glareshield. You can usually get scrap off-cuts from house building sites. The brickies commonly use this for Wall Cavity insulation. So anyone building near you just go ask the Brickies or look on the site rubbish pile for offcuts. Anyway for my first brew day I used the common "Sleeping Bag over the top" method to keep the Lid insulated, worked well and I only lost 2 degrees over a 90 minute mash but it got wet and dirty so I decided I needed something better. Hence I needed to make a "Beanie" for my "Baby"
Just as a background the reason I chose Glareshield is it insulates well, is strong and can be washed down easily. It also can handle high temperatures. Basically it consists of a silver foil which has a fibreglass weave though it for strength. In the middle is sandwiched some sort of foam. All up they rate it at about R1.5 so not massive but I wrapped it around my Urn twice for added insulation.
The other key thing is the Tape. They use a special tape that can handle high temperatures and sticks like buggery. It also has the fibreglass weave through it which makes it strong also. You can buy the tape from Bunnings for around $15 or $20 a roll. (In my case I had some left from my house build) I can confirm it works as although I have only completed 1 brew the tape didn't budge throughout my 90 minute boil.
Anyway for the Walls above I just trimmed to the right height and wrapped the Glareshield around the urn a couple of times, trim and cut appropriate holes for Taps and handles then tape it up to seal the joints from water. (I wrapped around twice for added Insulation and believe it is well worth it)
Now I needed a Lid.....
Insulation Batt for the "Lid". Being Heat rises I figured the urn Lid might benefit form a bit more insulation than the walls.
This was sandwiched between 2 layers of Glareshield. It will give me an insulation value of about R5. Again just scrap material from a building site.
NB: This is just for the Lid. - So It's 1 x Layer of Glareshield, Insulation Batt, Then another layer for Glareshield to sandwich it all together.
Doing this way keeps the insulation fibres contained. The walls of the Urn just got Glareshield wrapped around twice)
I Used the Urn Lid as a Template to Cut out 2 Circles. Then 2 x pieces joined to the ends to go down the sides of the Urn.
NB: All taped up inside and out to seal all the joins so It can be washed down easily and also keeps the insulation batt fibres locked away from my Beer.
Finished - All edges sealed with the Foil tape and cut-outs made where the handles need to slip past.
Final product with the new "Beanie" sitting on top.
The lid slips snuggly over so everything will be kept warm and toasty come Mash time
Anyway just my idea and hopefully someone else may find it useful.
