Insulation For Ss Mash Tun

[yardy]

gday all,

heading to bunnings tomorrow, can some of the learned here tell me what the stick on insulation is called that is used on the keg shaped mash tuns ?

Cheers
Yard

 

[clean brewer]

Aeroflex????????????????

 

[Batz]

gday all,

heading to bunnings tomorrow, can some of the learned here tell me what the stick on insulation is called that is used on the keg shaped mash tuns ?

Cheers
Yard

Bet a friendly lagger could make a nice job of it.

Batz

 

[dr K]

An old doona, a towel or two, SS is a poor conductor,,you have a shitload of thermal mass and mashing is (for the main) exothermic, just don't try this outside at near freezing temps!

K

 

[jonocarroll]

mashing is (for the main) exothermic

WTF??? Since when did adding water to grain produce heat?

In thermodynamics, the term exothermic (literally meaning "outside heating") describes a process or reaction that releases energy usually in the form of heat

You measure the energy of grain, water, and mashtun before and after mashing and I guarantee that you'll have less at the end - by exactly the amount of thermal energy lost to the surroundings. Lowering this loss is what helps. Mashing is completely endothermic - you use heat to break chemical bonds and hydrolyze starches.

Your post doesn't really help the original poster - who was asking for the name of a product, possibly this.

 

[dr K]

Mashing is completely endothermic

Is it?
I suspect not.
Any idiot (villiage or not) will tell you that the temp of the mash after 60 minutes is lower than the start temp.
The initial stages of a mash are (and it is well documented) exothermic. Now I am not talking about for example the amount of heat that th fermentation of yeast produces but more a slaking heat.
With regard to the initial post I would say, again, that a doona whilst not very bling is adequate, indeed a naked mash is concievable in moderate temps.

K

 

[MHB]

Big +1 for Aeroflex, tho I doubt you will find it at Bunning's.
It's my weapon of choice, glue it on with the Aeroflex glue and give it a full wrap in 50mm PVC tape.
I would disagree with the inimitable Dr K on the choice of insulation, but he is right on a mash being exothermic, at least mashing in is, no surprise there.

As for SS being a crappy conductor, well yes it is for a metal (alloy) just means its bad at being a good conductor, but it's very good compared to say plastic, glass, Aeroflex or even towels or a doona.
Energy costs money and I'm loathed to give it away

MHB

A snip from "Brewing Science and Practice"

When malt is mixed with water heat is generated and this slaking heat or heat of hydration is less for malts with higher moisture contents. So, for example, a malt with a moisture content of 2%, mashed in a particular way, may give a temperature rise of about 4.8 oC while a malt with a moisture content of 6% would give a temperature rise of 2.6 oC when mashed in the same way. The initial heat of the mash can be calculated from the formula

I = [St + RT/S+R] + [0.5H/S+R]
Where S specific heat of the malt, t the temperature of the malt, R the weight of water, relative to the unit weight of the malt, T is the temperature of the water, H is the slaking heat of the malt expressed in the correct units and I is the initial temperature of the mash.

Others prefer to use H (rather than 0.5H) and make allowances for heat losses, determined by trial and error. The final temperature of a mash warmed by "underletting", that is the addition of hot liquor to the mash, can be calculated from the formula

Final temperature = [M(S+R) + QT] / (S+R+Q)
Where M temperature of the mash at the time of underletting, Q is the quantity of water used in the underlet, T temperature of the underlet liquor. The other symbols are as used before. These calculations can be used only for guidance. They cannot give exact results because no allowance is made for heat losses from the system, and these will vary with the temperature of the brewhouse.

 

[reg]

You could just go to Rays Outdoors and grab a camping mat for a few dollars.
Wrap around and use string to tie around.
Then you can take off whenever you need etc....

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

Buildersblanket Yardy ,, drop around too a few new house sites and the roofing plumbers will probly have a bit of scrap laying around ... Its the stuff with wool one side and the silve paper stuck too it ... then grey tape/duct tape...

heeps cheeper , Areoflix is great but very exxy ....

Cheers

 

[reVoxAHB]

Hiya Yardy,

I've tried a few materials over the years and settled on concrete expansion jointing.. Warren put me onto it. It's around 13mm in thickness.. use duct tape to secure each roll as you stack it on the keg, then optionally finish the job (mostly for cosmetics) with a large roll of rubber (1 piece)... mate gave me a bit; it's sort of like wet suit material... he picked it up at a local trash and treasure for a $5er. Otherwise, camping mat, etc. would do the trick.

Devo hooked me up with aeroflex. Awesome stuff but I found it dinged, tore, etc. too quickly moving the tun around for cleaning, etc. Would better suit a HLT that sits on a shelf, imo.

reVox

 

[gibbocore]

I'm going to hit up the local wetsuit shop (wing) they do wetsuits for under $50 and i am going to ask em to make me up a jacket with zipper for my Mash tun and HLT, see what quote they give me. I hear Neoprene works fairly well, that way i can unzip it for cleaning etc, obviously i'd be paying a fair bit, but hey, functionality wise would be pretty ace. Plus i get worried about wort/grain soaking into the media that i'd be sticking/taping/glueing to the mash tun and causing a ripe stink over a few batches.

 

[jonocarroll]

Sorry for the slight wander off-topic, but this thread has degenerated into 'what should the OP use instead of the material he was enquiring about' anyway...

I would disagree with the inimitable Dr K on the choice of insulation, but he is right on a mash being exothermic, at least mashing in is, no surprise there.

A snip from "Brewing Science and Practice"

When malt is mixed with water heat is generated ... <snip>

This required some looking around. Had a look at BSaP and apart from directly quoting from their reference, they note

Data recalculated, by interpolation, from the data of (a) Brown (1910) and (b) Hopkins and Carter (1933)

The 'data' from Brown seems to be in J. Inst. Brewing, 1910, 16, 112-129. but damned if I can find it (not surprised really, it's from 1910). This is the most recent data that anyone has. Any mention of this effect seems to be a direct quote from Brown. I'm not saying it's incorrect, but really... an experiment from 1910???

More to the point, this effect only seems relevant at mash-in, if at all. Not "mashing is (for the main) exothermic" - a hint of truth doesn't save this statement. If this temperature addition affects mash-in, the temperature predicted by beersmith must also include this contribution, otherwise everyone's strike temps would be off.

As for this gem

Any idiot (villiage or not) will tell you that the temp of the mash after 60 minutes is lower than the start temp.

Any village idiot who knows any thermodynamics at all will tell you that less than ideal insulation is completely different from an exothermic reaction. An exothermic reaction actually generates heat, not just loses it to its surroundings. Pouring an acid on magnesium generates heat, it doesn't just get cooler because the room is cooler. If mashing was exothermic, you wouldn't need good insulation - it would keep itself warm!!

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Recently bought some aeroflex from airefrig here in Adelaide. 1.2m x .9m x 13mm sheet of it. Used good old kwikgrip to stick it to the pot. Almost cried as I applied the glue. All that lovely SS get covered in shit so to speak. Be careful when you start to put the sheeting on, you only get one crack at positioning the aeroflex. Kwikgrip gives no second chances. Currently having a vinyl zip cover made for it. Hioefully have it by this week-end. Yep +1 for the aeroflex.

BYB

 

[SJW]

Aeroflex????????????????

Go the Aeroflex, like Mark said. Those camp mats suck. 25mm Aeroflex is the only way to go. I have it on my mash tun and HLT. Although I could not bring myself to glue it to my nice shiny kegs, so just the 50mm tape did the trick.

 

[yardy]

Aeroflex????????????????

Bet a friendly lagger could make a nice job of it.

Batz

Buildersblanket Yardy ,, drop around too a few new house sites and the roofing plumbers will probly have a bit of scrap laying around ... Its the stuff with wool one side and the silve paper stuck too it ... then grey tape/duct tape...

heeps cheeper , Areoflix is great but very exxy ....

Cheers

Thanks Fellas, Builders Blanket / Aeroflex it is.

Batz,
top idea but I've never met a friendly Lagger :lol:



could've done without the pissing contest in the form of a science lesson though :angry:

 

[yardy]

Go the Aeroflex, like Mark said. Those camp mats suck. 25mm Aeroflex is the only way to go. I have it on my mash tun and HLT. Although I could not bring myself to glue it to my nice shiny kegs, so just the 50mm tape did the trick.

View attachment 25797

thanks SJW, any idea of approx $$$ you paid ?


nice rig btw B)


Cheers
Yard

 

[Screwtop]

Used concrete expansion jointing here, held on with 50mm tape all from Bunnings, this was then covered with cheap car windscreen insulation, the silver lined bubble wrap type, again taped up with 50mm silver coloured PVC tape. Cheap and effective, sure takes care of those Endo and Exo thingys

Screwy

 

[TidalPete]

Yardy,

If it's not too late I would like to add my 2 bob's worth.
I'm in the middle of replacing my cooler mash tun with a similar model to yours & have splurged out on a length of 1000mm wide aluminium backed rubber sheeting from Clark Rubber. A 1300mm length will be enough to cover the outside + top & bottom of your mash tun. A little pricey at $24.00 metre but gives a good bling factor.

TP

 

[jonocarroll]

If you are considering alternatives, perhaps contact BeerBelly and ask what the black stuff he uses on the Brewboy is.

 

[samhighley]

If you are considering alternatives, perhaps contact BeerBelly and ask what the black stuff he uses on the Brewboy is.

Wayne told me a while back that it was aeroflex insulation.