Mashing Questions ?

[roger mellie]

Hello there

Wanting to get back into brewing after a 20 year break (kits and some weird fruit beers only). After 10 years living in the UK and many trips to Germany and Belgium would like to try and brew a Kolsch style beer (among others of course)

I have done plenty of reading and lurking in forums such as these (as well as reading the Palmer Site) and have a few questions. Please go easy if they fall into the "dumb" category - mind you of all the forum pages i have read this at least seems to be full of helpful enthusiasts.

I have aquired a 50L SS kettle which I am modifying currently. I have only to build a wort chiller and i'm ready to roll.

Question 1 is :- Would it be possible to do the mashing and sparging in the kettle as opposed to using an esky as a lauter tun?

I gather that the Esky helps to minimise temperature drop during the rest periods - is this delta T so critical or could a burner be used to maintain temperature during the mash? What are the tolerances for mash temperature?

Question 2:- Using the SS Braid filter method - when it comes time to sparge - could I drain the kettle to a cube and then do the sparge - again drain to the cube - rinse out my kettle and do the boil from there?

Are there any downsides to the above? Is there anyone out there who uses a similar method.

Thanks

Jason (aka Mellie)

 

[browndog]

Hi Roger,
I am an AG newbie (on my 11thAG) but I will try to answer your questions.
1 - Your idea for the kettle being the mash tun would work if you insulated it to avoid too much temperature loss during the mash.
2 - Yes that would work too.

However,

It would be a major pain in the butt transfering your wort to a cube then cleaning out your tun to start the boil. You would loose a lot of much needed heat and use a lot more gas. Brew days are quite time consuming and labour intensive without going though what you propose. There are some quite cheap alternatives available for mashing from a converted esky to a bucket in a bucket type tun, if I were you I'd look at these options.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Tony]

hey mate

ummmmmmmm

id say go with the esky.

the method you have outlined could work but if it was worth doing everyone would do it and i cant say i have seen it done before....... corect me if im wrong please

I spent my early AG days with an esky and using a 50 liter "kettle" to boil in.

worked great.

I now use a 50 liter ss thingy converted into a dedicated mashton with a mesh false bottom and boil in a 68 liter keg for 50 liter batches.

here are some pics of the esky i used to use. there are plenty or designs for pickups...... let your imagination guide you

cheers

 

[Tony]

here are some pics of my SS thingy converted to a mashton

Note: I dont use the dodgy return in the pic of inside the ton. It didnt work well

I did post a story on my new improved mash return system under gear and equipment.

cheers

edit: forgot to say that the top of the ss thingy is now the botton of the mash ton.

cheers again and hope this helps a bit

 

[roger mellie]

Thanks for that Tony

Its a pity I have already seen to my 50L SS "Boiling Receptacle" with the angle grinder - the use of the nipple on the bottom (top) is a good one.

Nevertheless - will go down the Esky route I think - just wanted feedback from the learned ones.

There will be mondo questions as I progress

Like - where can i get cheaper (than 23 bucks each) QD's? and also Corny seal kits? My local HBS seems excellent for grain and advise but the prices are pretty steep. Ebay from the US would seem the obvious alternative but there is that once bitten twice shy mantra - never again!

Thanks

Mellie

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I prefer a false bottom to a minifold in my esky, but I batch sparg and it works better

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

Roger, good evening and bollocks.

Barfridge is having a brewday on 10th june in Morley,link here, its a bit of a drive for you but maybe worth it, just to see how it all should be done.