Mash Tun (square V Round)

[JDW81]

What makes a better more efficient mash tun? I'm looking at either modifying my good old 35L rectangular esky and putting a copper manifold in or using a round rubbermaid (or similar) cooler with a stainless false bottom.

Does one have pros/cons over the other?

JDW

"I've always taken more out of a bottle of whisky than a bottle of whisky has taken out of me"

Winston Churchill

 

[brendo]

Have a look at John Palmers How To Brew (if you don't have a copy go to www.howtobrew.com).

In the appendices there is an equipment building section that discusses mash tun dynamics, giving pros and cons for each. A good read and will help you make up your mind.

Long and short of it is that they both work and there isn't a massive difference between them provided you design them correctly.

Incidentally - I have both - 50L keg tun and a 160L rectangle.

 

[jasonharley]

No difference in efficiency as far as i know. I have a round one because it is narrower but more high so there is slightly more head to push out the wort when draining... but that is the engineer in me going a bit overboard!!!!! just be careful that the copper manifold is designed properly with enough length, holes and surface area... otherwise the flow rate will be very very slow.

5 eyes

 

[browndog]

No difference in efficiency as far as i know. I have a round one because it is narrower but more high so there is slightly more head to push out the wort when draining... but that is the engineer in me going a bit overboard!!!!! just be careful that the copper manifold is designed properly with enough length, holes and surface area... otherwise the flow rate will be very very slow.

5 eyes

I'm pretty sure a round mash tun will be more efficient than a rectangular one due to less surface area removing heat. Must be a sound recording engineer.

 

[Lecterfan]

Must be a sound recording engineer.

Gotta push the mids on an ale for some crunch but have very delicate highs and lows (with a scooped mid) for a lager...

All bottom end for a stout.

I always thought the trapezoid has been sadly overlooked in the mash tun arena.



















Ignore me, I'm not being a smart arse, just at the very end of sample-night.

p.s. Browndog: love the pic... did you enjoy that boy? Cockney urine all over your face?!?!...I'M A PEPPERMINT NIGHTMARE!.....

 

[browndog]

p.s. Browndog: love the pic... did you enjoy that boy? Cockney urine all over your face?!?!...I'M A PEPPERMINT NIGHTMARE!.....

I"m talking about hops boy, wriggling around inside ya like internal green wanger.....

That's it, off to watch some Boosh.

 

[Lecterfan]

....finding an entrance where they can!


Did ya see Elsie boooy??? Did ya daaaance with her?????

 

[browndog]

....finding an entrance where they can!


Did ya see Elsie boooy??? Did ya daaaance with her?????

errr no...

of course you did. we all did

dummmm dummmmm

 

[dougsbrew]

IMO i would go the round rubermaid, as mentioned previous less surface area-heatloss, and a deeper grainbed for better filtering of wort.

 

[jasonharley]

sound recording engineer ...... hey how did you know ???????

 

[browndog]

Trade secret.

 

[Phoney]

*bumpity bump*

I'm looking at investing in an esky *gasp* for a mashtun. BIAB in an urn has served me well over the past few years but I'd like to be able to brew a big beer without sparging in a bucket, losing efficiency & would eventually like to upgrade my kettle so that I can have the option of doing double batches. So first step is to get a mashtun. I dont mind spending a bit extra for quality that will last me years and the less I have to build myself the better.

I have a couple of questions;

1. Will a 38L Rubbermaid be big enough for double batches (50L) or 23L batches of big (1.100 ~ 10kg+ grain bill) beers? or would a 45L rectangular ice box be better?

2. Does anyone know where to buy Rubbermaid coolers in Sydney? And SS false bottoms to fit them?

3. The 36L Coolers from BCF; Worth spending extra for rubbermaid or not?

4. Just so I've got this clear as I'm pretty ignorant of multi vessel brewing; I will use the urn as a HLT for heating up strike water, pump into the esky on top of the grains for the mash, afterwards I add more hot water for mashout, then pump the liquor back in to the urn for boiling. Does this sound right?

5. Any other suggestions? (and no, I cant afford a BM)

6. There is no 6.

:icon_cheers:

 

[Rowy]

Craftbrewer do a ready put together Rubbermaid mash tun.............at least I know they used to. Give them a try. See how much postage would be.

 

[Phoney]

Cheers, I will! I guess CB will be about as much as grain & grape - I was kinda hoping to avoid interstate freight but will pay if theres no other option.

Another question; without any bias Are CB, G&G and beerbelly 12" false bottoms all the same bit of kit?

 

[barls]

i have done 13kgs in my round cooler. i wouldnt recommend it but it is doable.

 

[Rowy]

Cheers, I will! I guess CB will be about as much as grain & grape - I was kinda hoping to avoid interstate freight but will pay if theres no other option.

Another question; without any bias Are CB, G&G and beerbelly 12" false bottoms all the same bit of kit?

No idea sorry mate. Might need one f the gurus on this site to give that advice.

 

[Wolfy]

From what I have heard others say, they are just a little too small to (easily) do double batches in.

What I used to do with an urn/esky was drain the mash tun into a 3rd vessel (old fermentor) while the sparge water was heating in the urn, transfer the spare water from the urn to the mash tun, and then the wort from the 3rd vessel back into the urn (that way you can batch sparge or fly sparge, which in theory gives better extraction than the 'no sparge' using just the two vessels).

KegKing sell 'smaller' sized false-bottoms that their catalog says is designed for the round coolers.

However, given the cost of a round cooler, wouldn't it be worth considering one of the Techni-Ice type coolers, that are bigger, more robust and better insulated?

 

[dicko]

I wouldn't bother with a false bottom in any plastic mash tun.
Quite often the inner lining of the esky may warp out of shape due to the heat and a falsie may not seal on the bottom.
A manifold or "bazooka tube" will be cheaper.
If you make a manifold I suggest you read Palmers book with the section on design of false bottoms so that you may avoid pitfalls that other brewers have fallen into with sparging and efficiencies.

Anyhow the choice is yours but this may give you some food for thought.

Cheers

 

[alfadog]

Cheers, I will! I guess CB will be about as much as grain & grape - I was kinda hoping to avoid interstate freight but will pay if theres no other option.

Another question; without any bias Are CB, G&G and beerbelly 12" false bottoms all the same bit of kit?

Also just check the cooler before you purchase the false bottom, some of the round 38l (cosmoplast keep cold, but maybe others) will only fit the 9 inch false bottom.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

It all depends on how you decide you want to sparge.

If you batch sparge:

- You will need a bigger tun. How much bigger will once again depend on the sparge regime you choose, the simpler the regime (less individual sparges) the bigger the tun required. The maximum size needed would be for single run-off (or if you like, no-sparge) and then it would equate to the same sized vessel you'd need for BIAB.
- The design of the manifold, FB, Braid or whatever, will not at all influence the efficiency of the system, only how fast and conveniently you are able to drain the vessel out. The only impact the design will have on efficiency, is via how much deadspace it leaves and thus how much unrecoverable wort will be left in the tun.

If you Fly/Continuous sparge:

- You need the minimum sized tun. Just big enough to hold your mash at whatever l:g ratio you choose, is big enough. Easy to work out. eg: 5kg of grain @ 3:1 is 15L of water. Adding grain to water adds around 2/3rds times the weight of grain expressed as litres, to the volume. So 0.66666x5=3.3333. Total is therefore 18.33L so a 20L MT is big enough for that much grain. Plug in the numbers to get the minimum you need for what you want to brew.

- But... the design of the manifold/FB and the shape of the tun, can and does make a difference to how well it will lauter. It might mean it just doesn't do the job properly, or it. might mean that in order to do the job properly you have to drain at a rate so slow as to be impractical. IMO, on a HB scale the best result will be from a round tun with a perforated FB of as large a surface area as will fit into the vessel, preferably full width. Thats usually not practical and what you will be able to conveniently buy will be a domed falsie. Get the biggest one that will fit in your tun and it will be happy days. Do be mindful of what was mentioned above about the possibility of plastic vessels warping a little and making gaps around the edge. It can be fixed and i dont think its that big an issue (its a pretty common paradigm) but its certainly something to look out for. That said, plenty of people have lots of success with square tuns with manifolds or other options, I'm nit saying they aree bad, just that I think they aren't the optimum.


So - you need to decide how you are going to brew first - then you can decide what sort of vessels are the appropriate ones for you.

TB