Insulation For Ss Mash Tun

[jonocarroll]

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

Then he should know where to get it. Depends if you're still keen on the advised pricing.

 

[yardy]

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

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 rudder 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

Thanks Screwy & TP, plenty of ideas now, may go with the concrete expansion and some 100 mph tape, gotta go, halfway through the Vienna Lager boil

thanks again guys

Cheers
Yard

 

[dreamboat]

I use polystyrene and I love it. If you can find the right place, they can cut it to shape for you.
I have two semi-circles which sit face to face around my mash tun - around 50mm thick - and with a nice flat base to go right to the outside of the polystyrene. Costs bugger all to get made as I think they charge based on the volume of material used. The off cuts get remade into more big lumps and goes around again.


dreamboat

 

[Ross]

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 rudder 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

Pete, what's rudder sheeting - used on boats maybe :huh:

 

[crundle]

Reading this thread with interest, I was wondering if any BIABers using 40 litre urns have made insulating covers for their urns. If so, anyone got something of their experiences to share, or photos?

I am wondering if it is safe to use with an electric urn or not. I was thinking of going the Clark rubber path, but dont want to use anything that will melt onto the outside of the urn, as SWMBO would still like to be able to use it occasionally for its original design purpose (apparently they are for boiling water for tea and coffee, not mashing and boiling wort. The removable types of covering are sounding good, but does polystyrene melt to the metal at all?

cheers,

Crundle

 

[Bribie G]

I now do 90 minute mashes with my Urn and attempting a 120 min mash today as it's got a kilo of maize in it, so I'm performing a long mash as an insurance policy.

Anyway, with 90 minute mash I lose about 2 degrees using idea from Pollux:

Slip a kids camping sleeping bag over the urn
Wrap the whole thing in a doonah (I have an old feather single doonah that I also use for cool ale fermenting)

Strap it and walk away for an hour or two.

If you aren't interested in 'pretty' it works just perfectly and takes me thirty seconds flat to wrap it up.

 

[staggalee]

I found the removalists felt blankets make ideal insulating material. They come in a couple of different thicknesses, the heavier one is obviously more efficient.
A decent pair of scissors will cut them to shape.

stagga.

 

[TidalPete]

Pete, what's rudder sheeting - used on boats maybe :huh:

:lol: Thanks for pointing that out Ross. All fixed now.
BTW, a ss Guinness keg holds 30 litres & could well be a collectors item for anyone who has one.

TP

 

[SJW]

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


nice rig btw


Cheers
Yard

It aint cheap. About $50 for one sheet. Now one sheet is about 1.2 square but it will do a std 50 litre keg + a circle for the bottle with a little left over.
The advantage with this stuff is its "closed cell costruction" that has excellent insulation properties, also being 25mm thick you cant feel any heat on the outside, unlike other stuff I tryed.

Steve

 

[dreamboat]

Not in the last 5 or so years it hasn't.

SNIP

The removable types of covering are sounding good, but does polystyrene melt to the metal at all?

cheers,

Crundle

 

[WitWonder]

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

TP I have the same stuff - you've got the silver lining facing away from the vessel? This is the way I thought it should go but asking the staff at Clark Rubber they said it should go with the silver lining contacting the vessel.

 

[crundle]

I now do 90 minute mashes with my Urn and attempting a 120 min mash today as it's got a kilo of maize in it, so I'm performing a long mash as an insurance policy.

Anyway, with 90 minute mash I lose about 2 degrees using idea from Pollux:

Slip a kids camping sleeping bag over the urn
Wrap the whole thing in a doonah (I have an old feather single doonah that I also use for cool ale fermenting)

Strap it and walk away for an hour or two.

If you aren't interested in 'pretty' it works just perfectly and takes me thirty seconds flat to wrap it up.

View attachment 25799

I might have to give this a crack on my next one BribieG to see how well it will work for me. I have been having some issues with hitting my gravities, and thought that it might be an idea for me to be doing more stirring during the mash than I have been. Pretty isn't a factor to my brewing, so the doonah and sleeping bag might be what I am after.

When you mash and are seeking 66 degrees, what temp do you normally set the water for - 68, and then it is ok to drop 2 degrees over 90 minutes?

thanks for your continued help to a new AGer,

Crundle

 

[TidalPete]

TP I have the same stuff - you've got the silver lining facing away from the vessel? This is the way I thought it should go but asking the staff at Clark Rubber they said it should go with the silver lining contacting the vessel.

Too late WitWonder.
I have already punched the holes for the HE inlet, outlet & temp gauge & it will not work in reverse.
Not too worried though as I can't really see much of a difference in temperature loss occurring anyway but thanks for letting me know.

TP

 

[Bribie G]

I might have to give this a crack on my next one BribieG to see how well it will work for me. I have been having some issues with hitting my gravities, and thought that it might be an idea for me to be doing more stirring during the mash than I have been. Pretty isn't a factor to my brewing, so the doonah and sleeping bag might be what I am after.

When you mash and are seeking 66 degrees, what temp do you normally set the water for - 68, and then it is ok to drop 2 degrees over 90 minutes?

thanks for your continued help to a new AGer,

Crundle

It's now about 4pm Banjo Playin' time and I've just hoisted the bag after a two hour mash and pleased to report with the sleeping bag and doonah I've had a 2 degree - bang -on drop over that time. The cruicial time is probably the first half hour or so, the rest being fine tuning. What I have been finding with an urn Biab brew is that 4 degrees more with the strike water is perfect for a biggish grain bill such as 5.5k like I normally use, but with something smaller like 4k then maybe 3 degrees. At the end of the day a degree more or less isn't going to hurt as long as you are mashing in the sweet range from 64 to 68.

:icon_offtopic: Re gravity. Try this. Hoist the bag and drain six or eight litres of the first runnings into a stockpot. Lower the bag and top up with six to eight litres of very hot water, say over 80, and stir like buggery then let it rest for ten minutes. Then hoist again, drain and squeeze etc and of course start the power up again. Then when you have got all you can from the bag, pour the first runnings back into the urn and do a good long boil of at least 90 mins to get the wort quantity back down to where it should be.

It's a cross between a batch sparge and a mashout but gets a bit of extra goodness out of the grain bill.

Edit: of course you need something for the mash water as well, like a ten buck Sams warehouse stockpot, cant have too many stockpots in this game :lol:

Cheers

 

[yardy]

couldn't find any aeroflex but came across Abelflex, looks like it would do the job.

cheers

 

[bradsbrew]

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

Got pics of this for us Pete, sounds like a good product.

Brad

 

[TidalPete]

Got pics of this for us Pete, sounds like a good product.

Brad

Will take a pic in the morning Brad. It's still not attached to the MT as my Ebay Velcro hasn't arrived yet.

Tp

 

[oldbugman]

Pete, what's rudder sheeting - used on boats maybe :huh:

Nah it's the insulation my mate kevin put in your roof for free.

 

[porky]

heading to bunnings tomorrow, can some of the learned here tell me what the stick on insulation is called

Cheers
Yard

two pages later.....are you glad you asked??
jeez

 

[monkale]

My two cents, the insulation on my mash tun is heat sheild for engine bay insulation great thermo properties cheap enough from any foam & rubber shop,oh and its got good sticky contact on one side handles the heat works a treat
Cheers