Pot Insulation - How To Not Burn

[brad81]

I put a brew together on Saturday and thought I'd have a go at insulating the pot as the weather was shockingly cold.

I grabbed some old towels and a couple of occy straps and was going great guns for a 90min mash. I bumped on the gas about 45min in to ramp up the 2deg I lost and all was well. I then had to step up the temp to 74 from 66 over 7mins to mash out for 10min. I had a very low flame underneath but alas, I was putting out spot fires with the watering can.

For BIAB folk using gas, how do you stop your insulation burning/melting when ramping/touching up temps?

I'm using a 32jet mongolian burner and a 50L stockpot.

Cheers,

Brad

 

[glenwal]

Take off the insulation when you have the burner going?

 

[brad81]

I was hoping to avoid that, but might have to just do it.

Seen a few setups with camping mat or some sort of rubberish looking material and tape. I was thinking there may be some sort of heat resistant material along those lines....

 

[QldKev]

I was hoping to avoid that, but might have to just do it.

Seen a few setups with camping mat or some sort of rubberish looking material and tape. I was thinking there may be some sort of heat resistant material along those lines....

I think you will find they are elec kettles


QldKev

 

[mkj]

Put it in a big terracotta pot?

 

[manticle]

Electric kettles or electric stoves. You can't gas fire something flammable under a big burner and expect it to survive.

 

[brad81]

Electric kettles or electric stoves. You can't gas fire something flammable under a big burner and expect it to survive.

I kissed dangers arse and hoped for the best. Hence my question. If there is some sort of flame retardant material that someone is using, I'd love to know what it is

 

[punkin]

ceramic wool. I think they call it kawool or somesuch.

 

[kymba]

I think you'll need a disc of thin stainless sheet that extends out past the insulation and slightly overlaps the kettle base. This should divert the 'burnies' out past the insulation

I'm hoping to do the same to my pot one day

 

[glenwal]

Or a kevlar jacket. Its fire proof, and when people come and shoot up your house, your brew rig will survive that too :lol:

 

[adraine]

Asbestos would do it!

 

[brad81]

:lol: report back in 10 years adraine and let me know how you're getting on!!

thanks for the ideas kymba and punkin, will check them out. Was thinking last night of a square sheet with a disc cut out mounted to the burner stand. I might lose a bit of heat that way, but I can keep the pot wrapped up.

 

[Feldon]

Asbestos and synthetic mineral fibres (eg ceramic fibre) are nasty.

Maybe vermicultite (it is a light clay mineral used by gardeners) could be used to surround the sides of the pot, but would need to be held against the pot by a skin of sheet metal.

Just a thought, never done it. But was reading recently about rocket stoves used in developing countries to provide energy efficient, clean burn stoves for cooking and the insulation material used on the flue is often vermiculite.

Think you still have to be careful handling vermiculite (wear mask when pouring etc).

 

[glenwal]

Why not just make a removable jacket? Seems alot eaiser and safer to me.

 

[brad81]

I've been reading about those stoves and also how to build refractories on and off for the past year or so (link). It's actually not such a bad idea. Would add substantial weight to the pot, also would have to find a way to make sure the clay stays dry when it comes to cleaning etc.

Glens posts do make the most sense though. Will just have to devise a removable jacket, I already have occy straps etc.

Had a look for what punkin mentioned, it's kaowool. That and other fibre sheeting can be found at insulation shops etc and have different heat ratings. Lowest rating I saw was for 350c.

Some good ideas so far though!!

 

[QldKev]

Since LPG can burn up to almost 2000c my vote is for a removable jacket. Basically like all the BIAB'ergs do, wrap it up in a blanket when holding temps.


QldKev

 

[warra48]

Never mind occy straps. Investigate Velcro instead.

 

[Feldon]

What about a large Hebel block (http://www.hebelaustralia.com.au/Pages/Default.aspx ) of expanded concrete. Lightweight, fireproof, insulative, non-expanding when hot, and can be easily worked.

Cut out a big circular hole to fit your pot diameter, leaving the base exposed for heating.

To get the hole size right, you would first need to heat your pot with boiling water and measure the circumfrence (because the pot will expand slightly when hot and could crack the block). This should make a nice loose fit when cold for easy insertion of the pot into the block.

The idea of enclosing a combustible insulation material in a fireproof jacket would result in scorching of the insulation and the loss of its insulative properties (apologies if I misunderstand other peoples posts). To test this, put whatever insulation you intend to use inside a jaffel iron and cook it on the stove and see what happens.

 

[DJR]

What about a fire blanket? Might not insulate enough? Maybe some of the kaowool stuff or earthwool insulation surrounded by a fire blanket?

 

[glenwal]

What about a fire blanket? Might not insulate enough? Maybe some of the kaowool stuff or earthwool insulation surrounded by a fire blanket?

Are fire blankets actually fire proof though? I thought they just worked because they smothered the fire exhausting it of oxygen and hence putting it out before the blanket can catch alight. If you put one on a burner which is pumping LPG into the fire, i'd think it would go up in smoke pretty quickly.