I bought this a 40lt techni ice esky about 3 months back, and haven't used it for a mash yet because I've been too lazy about getting a false bottom. Today I thought "enough is enough!", and decided to try something I saw fellow AHB'er SpillsMostOfIt do (here) and use a pebble bed instead. There's some photos below.
The brew was the smoothest AG brew I've done yet. I've been doing a bastardised BIAB sort of method with 2 small kettles and a whole heap of stuffing around to get volumes, and this was just so darn easy. I should note that true BIAB is easy peasy, but I've only got small pots so do a few dunk sparges and stuff an boil across 2 pots so that I have enouhg to fill the cube. Anyway.
So the technique? Get some stones/pebbles (I used round ornamental stones cause I had some handy), some swiss voile ($2/metre @ spotlight today - seriously, $2 a metre... crazy). Lay the stones on the bottom of the esky, then line the esky with the swiss voile. Chuck in the grain, chuck in the strike water, and away you go!
So, what problems did I have? Not many, and they were the sort of problems ANYONE would get with almost any system they were using for the first time.
- Mis-calculated the deadspace created by the stones, so the mash was initially a tad thick. Although I was also using Golden Promise which seems to have a small reputation for dough balls. No harm done - add some more water and Bob's your mothers brother.
- Forgot to heat the stones before mash-in, and they sucked about a degree out of the mash temperature. I did heat the esky, forgot the stones. Rookie error, no harm done. I won't lose sleep cause it mashed @ 66 instead of 67
Lined esky
Pebbles. This was post mash. Shoulda taken a photo before...
Ended up getting a respectable 74% efficiency into the cube (17l @ 1.062), which is my highest efficiency to date by a mile (prior was around 65%).
The only negative is washing the stones. But some sodium perc makes that a breeze.
So the question now becomes - why would I bother with a proper false bottom or manifold? This REALLY worked well. I got every last drop out of the mashtun, recirc was probably unecessary (but I did it anyway), the sparge could not have gone any smoother, and dough in was rough as guts 'cause I didn't have to worry about dislodging a falsie and getting grain underneath it. The effiency was more than respectible for a first effort, and there were a couple of things I could have done better to wring some more sugaz out that had nothing to do with the pebblebed design.
So let's hear it people - am I missing something that makes this a ridiculous way to manage a mashtun? Cause this seems like a damn fine way to brew!
The brew was the smoothest AG brew I've done yet. I've been doing a bastardised BIAB sort of method with 2 small kettles and a whole heap of stuffing around to get volumes, and this was just so darn easy. I should note that true BIAB is easy peasy, but I've only got small pots so do a few dunk sparges and stuff an boil across 2 pots so that I have enouhg to fill the cube. Anyway.
So the technique? Get some stones/pebbles (I used round ornamental stones cause I had some handy), some swiss voile ($2/metre @ spotlight today - seriously, $2 a metre... crazy). Lay the stones on the bottom of the esky, then line the esky with the swiss voile. Chuck in the grain, chuck in the strike water, and away you go!
So, what problems did I have? Not many, and they were the sort of problems ANYONE would get with almost any system they were using for the first time.
- Mis-calculated the deadspace created by the stones, so the mash was initially a tad thick. Although I was also using Golden Promise which seems to have a small reputation for dough balls. No harm done - add some more water and Bob's your mothers brother.
- Forgot to heat the stones before mash-in, and they sucked about a degree out of the mash temperature. I did heat the esky, forgot the stones. Rookie error, no harm done. I won't lose sleep cause it mashed @ 66 instead of 67
Lined esky
Pebbles. This was post mash. Shoulda taken a photo before...Ended up getting a respectable 74% efficiency into the cube (17l @ 1.062), which is my highest efficiency to date by a mile (prior was around 65%).
The only negative is washing the stones. But some sodium perc makes that a breeze.
So the question now becomes - why would I bother with a proper false bottom or manifold? This REALLY worked well. I got every last drop out of the mashtun, recirc was probably unecessary (but I did it anyway), the sparge could not have gone any smoother, and dough in was rough as guts 'cause I didn't have to worry about dislodging a falsie and getting grain underneath it. The effiency was more than respectible for a first effort, and there were a couple of things I could have done better to wring some more sugaz out that had nothing to do with the pebblebed design.
So let's hear it people - am I missing something that makes this a ridiculous way to manage a mashtun? Cause this seems like a damn fine way to brew!
