MCT
Beer Nerd
- Joined
- 4/3/08
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So I'm thinking about ditching my 38L round eski in favour of a 50 keg style vessel for my mash tun. Simple reason is I am doing double batches and I don't have the room in the tun for a mash out. I'm using a 3 tier gravity fed system and batch sparging.
Just looking for a bit of advise on insulation for the tun. Alot of people on here seem to be using just a bit of camping mat duct taped around the outside of the keg which is fine, but I'm wondering what people are using for the top/lid? I'm guessing I'd lose a fair bit of heat if it's not insulated well.
I was thinking of just cutting out a circular 11" piece of styrofoam (that's how big the hole in the top of the keg is), but I'm not sure how much this will help as the heat will still just escape around the sides of the styrofoam.
Which leads me to my next question.
How paranoid should I be about maintaining a a consistent mash temp? Am I right in thinking that most of the conversions will be done in the first 15/20 mins?
I'm guessing that the thermal mass in the mash should keep the temps fairly steady for a little while. Does it really matter if I lose a 5 degrees over an hour?
OK, I'm overtired and ranting. Hope that makes sense.
Just looking for a bit of advise on insulation for the tun. Alot of people on here seem to be using just a bit of camping mat duct taped around the outside of the keg which is fine, but I'm wondering what people are using for the top/lid? I'm guessing I'd lose a fair bit of heat if it's not insulated well.
I was thinking of just cutting out a circular 11" piece of styrofoam (that's how big the hole in the top of the keg is), but I'm not sure how much this will help as the heat will still just escape around the sides of the styrofoam.
Which leads me to my next question.
How paranoid should I be about maintaining a a consistent mash temp? Am I right in thinking that most of the conversions will be done in the first 15/20 mins?
I'm guessing that the thermal mass in the mash should keep the temps fairly steady for a little while. Does it really matter if I lose a 5 degrees over an hour?
OK, I'm overtired and ranting. Hope that makes sense.