Mash Tun Sealability

[bconnery]

Just curious as to how important it is to be able to completely properly seal a mash tun.

I have a 30L fermenter I am thinking of converting to a basic one, as I know some others have done, but it has a crack up the middle of the lid from a hop sock/airlock Belgian kit disaster...

Would it be best to try and replace the lid or would it be sufficient to tape and silicon etc it?

 

[Stuster]

No need for the mash tun to seal as its all going to be boiled after that. The mash tun just needs to maintain the temperature well. Fix that lid and away you go. :super:

 

[Finite]

yeha i have an old rectangular esky which i just finished today for a mash tun. The sides are streached so there are gaps on the sides where steam can get out but it still only looses 2c in 1 hour

 

[pint of lager]

You should be aiming to seal it, as escaping steam means escaping heat.

If you are still losing 2 deg over an hour, try throwing some old towels or blanket doubled up over the top to give a bit more thermal insulation.

As Stuster said, it all gets boiled downstream so you are not after a high level of sanitation, just keep everything clean.

 

[BottleBitch]

The bulk of conversion happens in the first 15mins, after that enzyme activity drops off pretty sharply, so hit the right strike temp and you should be right. You dont have to go to extremes with insulation, but a little helps, I recon just seal the lead with food grade silicon, and wrap up the whole thing in a blanket, and see how it goes, a few degrees over the hour is fine, and nothing to worry about. If this is still not ok use a small esky and just preheat it with boiling water before you put your strike water in, and you should always stay within a few degrees over the hour.

I wouldnt recommend going to the RIMS kind of extreme, where they recirc for the whole hour, keeping the mash within 0.000000001 of a degree, and meanwhile extract loads of beta gulcans and oxidize the crap out of the mash.

Food of thought I guess :unsure:

Hope this helps

Brett

 

[bconnery]

Cheers peoples.

Sounds like a plan then.

Basically was planning on the large cooler or else space blanket, camping mat arrangements as have been displayed a few times on this site.

Basically just wanted conformation on the lid issue...

Awesome!

Now if only I actually had something large enough for a full boil...

 

[Steve Lacey]

I use a piece of polystyrene foam cut out to shape to fit snugly inside the improvised mash vessel. Let it actually float on top of the mash. Drive your thermometer through it. Perhaps line the bottom with some food-grade plastic sheet to stop nasties dissolving out of the foam (I don't know how temperature stable it is). Camping mat around the outside is good. Then as POL susggested, throw the wife's best doona over the whole shebang ;-)