Mash Tun

[JasonY]

Wedge, another option which I went for was to just make a cheap and cheaful mashtun. All up cost me no more than $30. Got a 25L bucket (I think its 25L) from bunnings with lid + the tap to go in it & about 1m of annealed copper tube + 1 copper T piece.

Bent the copper into a circle and cut a heap of slits in it, made a little take off to come out of the T-piece and into the tap. When I drilled out the hole for the tap I made it so it was a tight fit for the copper pipe so I dont bother about sealing it. Finally I had some left over airconditioner duct so I cut that up and used it to insulate the tun.

Works a treat and cost stuff all. My esky never had a tap in it so this was the option for me.

Pics below:

 

[JasonY]

And another:

 

[JasonY]

And the manifold (no need to weld here either):

 

[wedge]

Ok, built the manifold today got all the equipment from work.
Used polybutelene pipe and profit brass fittings. I will post a pic when finished.


Still have to drill the hole in the esky.




Wedge

 

[Goat]

I hope this doesn't seem like a stupid question but.....

What size cooler should I go for (assuming a volume in the fermenter of say 25L) ? Are there any which are better than others?

I was looking at a Coleman one (Coleman 34L Extreme Cooler) which is said to keep ice for 5 days with an outside temp of 32 deg, so one would assume that it can hold a temperature - but it costs $150 compared with a standard one which is about half that....

Also, where does one buy a Bazooka screen in Aust?

TIA

 

[jayse]

Goat, you can get a rectangle 25litre esky from 'woolies' for $25, no tap but you can easily fit one and there's plenty of room in there for a full mash.
I used one of these for a mash tun for a while but transfered to a bucket in bucket lauter tun. Simply because the lauter tun was only around 18 litres up to the top of the bottom bucket with the other bucket inside which is not quite enough for a a bigger mash, but does hold enough for a mash around 5 kg. The extra 7 or so litres in a mash tun is perfect.
So basically you can use down to a 20 litre tun for mashes and for higher gravity beers you'll just have to mash thicker.
But the best option is get a 25 litre mash tun.
The woolies one holds ice for a few days if left alone in the shade.
I use it for a magic box now. Last served XLCR at a wedding. A few people found out what hops taste like that day.


Cheers,'50L tun,Jayse'

 

[wedge]

Its happened i've finally finished the mash tun. Heres the pics.

Wedge

 

[Justin]

Yep, no need to go that dear. $150 is big dollars for a glorified esky, you could get yourself a Rubbermaid for that. A normal esky will hold the temp for you nicely, but if you want something extra eventually you could get yourself a pail heater (element that hangs over the side) to bump your temps back up. But for the moment a normal esky is the way to go.

JD

 

[wedge]

and another :blink:

 

[Justin]

Nice one. Bet you can't wait to fire it up

 

[Goat]

Thanks chaps....

Jayse, I'm being obtuse here but does that mean you would recommend a 40 or 50 litre esky then...? It seemed that you were implying that the 25 L one may get a bit small - more so than the 20 :blink:

Jason, I was just looking at those (bucket heaters) - sound like a pretty good idea....

 

[jayse]

NO NO. 20-25 litres is great.
5Olitres just lets me do a double size batch.

 

[jayse]

I see where i may have confused you.
Anyway i think you get the idea.
When I transferred to the bucket I left some in the esky and added that when the level went down.

Cheers Jayse

 

[johnno]

Rang one place today and was talking about this stuff coz ive got a big esky (igloo 48 liters).
The bloke I spoke with suggested another alternative.
One I've never heard or read anything of before. Maybe for this reason its not a good way to do it. Surely if it was a good way of doing it I would've read something by now. To mash you use a really big calico bag that hangs all the way over your esky. Lautering and sparging is done as per normal. Collect runoff and boil etc.
What about this idea?
What do the AG brewers think?
I reckon it sounds ok for a beginner even though its a bit primitive.
I suppose if it works it would be ok.

cheers B)

 

[Jazman]

i got a 25 ltr for $30 buck from bunning had other coolers as well and drilled a 2o mm hole for the tap and built a manifold

 

[Justin]

Goat. I am in love with the pail heaters. I will one day incorporate another keg in the system, most likely if/when I flatten my system out to one or two tiers, but in the meantime my beverage cooler is great and the pail heater allows me to just bump the temp up a degree or two without having to add more boiling water-especially if you miss low. I don't own one yet but I will (thanks goes out to the guys that I lend one off). I may even try building one using a kettle element on the end of a length of PVC pipe-if I trust it that is. Saw a design on the net somewhere, just trying to find it.

Cheers JD

JD

 

[Goat]

Thanks guys - great info....

I can feel the lure of the dark side very strongly now......

 

[PostModern]

To mash you use a really big calico bag that hangs all the way over your esky. Lautering and sparging is done as per normal. Collect runoff and boil etc.
What about this idea?

It's a bad idea as there's only one hole - the drain tap. You will not get an even lauter. Sugars at the far end of the esky from the tap will not give all their sugars to the wort. You would most likely get crappy efficiency. Sparge water would also "shortcut" down the side the tap is on and basically not wash thru the rest of the grains... It's like a bigger version of the tea-towel in a colander trick for partials. Why not spend an hour or so knocking up a copper manifold. It's something you'll use more than once, and it worth the trouble just for the mash efficiency.

 

[johnno]

Thanks for the feedback PoMo

 

[johnno]

Thanks for the feedback PoMo,
Just that I had not heard of this before and was interested as to what others thought.
What about if you gave the esky a big shake to mix everything??
Just a thought..

cheers