Mash Tun Test Run

[Hogan]

Just finished putting together my hlt, mlt and kettle. Pre first AG.

Mash tun is a 41 lt. octagonal esky with a five bar 1mm cross cut copper manifold.

I put 12 litres of 80c water into my mash tun which my mashmaster showed had an internal temp of 12c.

Lid sealed and temp dropped 4c first 15 minutes then 2c every 15 minutes thereafter. Over an hour 10c total.

This of course was only hot water and I am assuming that with the grain mixed in, the temp will remain a lot more static.

Ran the liquid off through the manifold and got 3 litres left. Again I am assuming that with the grain bed in place the drain will be much better.

Do these figures seem OK.

Cheers, Hogan.

Edit = Rectangular esk not Octagonal. Wouldn't that look weird.

 

[Ross]

Hogan,

The only real test is with grain, but your set up sounds fine to me. Look forward hearing how your first brew goes - Seem to be a lot of brewers taking the plunge into AG of late - Great to see :beer:

Cheers Ross

 

[tangent]

"i seee noooothing!"
sounds good Hogan
get Frenchy to roll up the map in the bed and we'll take the tun out for a test run while Schultz is talking to the blonde secretary
3 litres does sound a little high considering you haven't had 6kg of grain soaking it up. Is your manifold touching the bottom of the tun?
(pictures would be cool)

 

[mika]

I put 12 litres of 80c water into my mash tun which my mashmaster showed had an internal temp of 12c.

Nope, unless I'm reading it wrong... how did the water go from 80 to 12 just by poruing it into the mash tun ? Thought most people only lost ~10deg in the transfer ?

 

[Franko]

I think hogan is saying the mash tun was at 12c when he put the 80c water into it

 

[mika]

Ooops :blink: ... that makes a bit more sense h34r:

 

[Hogan]

Thanks Ross. Having only been in HB for the past twelve months I still consider myself a definate 'newbie' but having tasted the 'kit twang' in the back of my mouth as compared to brewing an ESB fresh wort I decided to make the step up to AG.

Six months ago the talk of kettles, HLT's and MLT's scared the heck out of me but having looked deeper into the subject and having the time and inclination, I decided to take the step. Joined the Macarthur Ale and Lager Enthusiasts and have got great assistance from Linz, Franko, Trev and Wes and heaps of relevant info from the posts and responses from the AHB site. Looking forward to my first AG and will let you know how it turns out.

Tangent - The manifold is sitting a couple of mil off the deck but that is only due to the diameter of the compression nut. The manifold has not been brazed (just pushed together) so with only hot water I suspect that the gravity drain would have been interupted well before it reached the low level cross cuts. I am hopeful that the inclusion of the grain bed compaction will improve the drain. No pics at this time (it's only your basic tube type manifold).

Cheers, Hogan.

 

[Screwtop]

Hoges, I use the stainless braid type manifold which left 1.2 L in the bottom of the cooler when wet tested. However with mash there seems to be no liquid left, all seems to be in grain absorbtion. For your first I would try setting the tun loss to zero. From experience test drain your kettle to see what trub and kettle losses you might expect, much more applicable. And set your evaporation rate to 15% per hour until you have an actual figire for this.

 

[dicko]

Thanks Ross. Having only been in HB for the past twelve months I still consider myself a definate 'newbie' but having tasted the 'kit twang' in the back of my mouth as compared to brewing an ESB fresh wort I decided to make the step up to AG.

Six months ago the talk of kettles, HLT's and MLT's scared the heck out of me but having looked deeper into the subject and having the time and inclination, I decided to take the step. Joined the Macarthur Ale and Lager Enthusiasts and have got great assistance from Linz, Franko, Trev and Wes and heaps of relevant info from the posts and responses from the AHB site. Looking forward to my first AG and will let you know how it turns out.

Tangent - The manifold is sitting a couple of mil off the deck but that is only due to the diameter of the compression nut. The manifold has not been brazed (just pushed together) so with only hot water I suspect that the gravity drain would have been interupted well before it reached the low level cross cuts. I am hopeful that the inclusion of the grain bed compaction will improve the drain. No pics at this time (it's only your basic tube type manifold).

Cheers, Hogan.

Hi Hoges :lol: luv it,

The first manifold I made had the slots on the side instead of the bottom of the copper tube and it left a lot of potential wort in the tun.
My new one has the slots cut in the bottom and I leave very little in the tun provided that you dont get inquisitive and lift the drain tube near the end of the sparge and interupt the drain syphon ( if you know what I mean) :unsure:
It sounds like you are getting your basics together and all information is relevant, long term.
Good luck with AG

Cheers

 

[Hogan]

From experience test drain your kettle to see what trub and kettle losses you might expect, much more applicable. And set your evaporation rate to 15% per hour until you have an actual figire for this.

Thanks Screwtop. As I don't have an immersion chiller (or any other kind) I am going to go the way of the 'No Chiller Method' to start with. Actually I came across a vegetable steamer that I hoped might be useful as a hot break strainer in my kettle. Will post pics tomorrow. Don't know if the hole diameter of 2mm will be appropriate but it can be used right way up or inverted. I would be surprised if someone has not tried one out before. Maybe they just don't work. Hopefully that in combination with a well sealed draw tube and Ross's hopsock should reduce the kettle loss. Will note the 15% rate.

Cheers.

 

[tangent]

the hop sock has made things a lot easier for me

 

[Pumpy]

Hogan all you need know is an immersion heater to adjust your temperature easily

 

[Hogan]

That's a nifty piece of gear Pump. Will wait and see how my temps go but good to know there is a better way to increase the temp other than adding more hot water. Will have to have a chat about it sometime down the track when we get together.

Thanks dicko.

Cheers.

 

[Joel]

I have one of those el-cheapo 30L Coolibah eskies with a SS braid filter for my mashtun. I was getting about 5 degrees of temp drop over an hour mash, but I had to have the thing wrapped up in a nice thick blanket to get that. A few weeks ago took it apart, and replaced the dodgy polystyrene insulation with some of that expanding foam. Bit of a tricky job.

I also made a floating lid (just some polystyrene wrapped in plastic) to sit on top of the mash with my new mashmaster brewing thermometer sticking through the middle and right into the middle of the mash. I also had the esky lid on. Just lifted to lid to check the temp.

My mash yesterday stayed at 65 degrees for the whole hour. If you've seen the size of the face of those thermometers then you know that you can easily tell any temp change.

 

[DJR]

Your test and results sound almost the same as my new Frankenstein mash tun i did yesterday - a 20L food grade pail with foil and camping mat insulation. Put 10L of 70C water in and got to 62C after 60 mins, 68C on strike since the plastic absorbed a bit of heat to start with. Might look at an immersion heater but i can always use more foil, camping mats and a styrene block on top of the mash.

 

[stephen]

Have a look for the Borretmade mashtun.

Cheers

Steve

PS. Too lazy to look for it myself!

 

[DJR]

got it from borret already - but thanks though. His is a little more complicated but the idea's the same. The pail is good to 80C and it has a ball valve, brass fittings and stainless steel manifold. Just needs a little more insulation, i don't think it's a huge problem though as it only lost 6C over an hour, and that was with me lifting the lid once or twice.

 

[tangent]

if you're using an el-cheapo tun that loses a bit more heat over the 90 minutes than you'd like. Keep it off the concrete floors, wrap it in bubble wrap & make a small boiling water addition and stir every 30 mins.