Ss Braiding In Mashtun

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berto

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Hi all,
Im off to get an esky now to use as a mashtun. Actually, is it ok to use an old esky for this? Give it a good scrubbing with the bleach and all should be ok or not?

But my main question is to do with the size of the braiding. I got 1 inch. is that too big? My way of thinking is that it will give me greater surface area for draining, hence faster and less chance of a stuck sparge. Is there any flaws in my way of thinking? Do i need a smaller braid?

Cheers, Rob
 
Berto - since to my knowledge there are no "ten commandments" for brewing, just give it a whirl. There is a risk it won't work optimally, OTOH it might, as you say, improve the flow.

As long as you can attach it to the T/Barb or whatever to the ball valve, you should get some wort out. If it is really pooncy SS braid it might flatten out. Let me guess you are a petrol head?

Use any old esky. Give it the sniff test.
 
While I dont wish to enter the fors and againsts for s/steel braid as a manifold I would like to point out that the larger the diameter of the braid, the more wort you leave in the mash tun.

Cheers
 
I use 1", and its fine, never had a problem. Dont worry about bleach in your esky unless its really bad. Just scrub it with hot water if its dirty. You'll be boiling the wort for an hour or so, so unless theres toxic waste or sump oil in there dont stress too much.
 
Just used my mash tun then. Ended up buying a plastic tub for the tun and just wrapped it up in blankets really well. Ive heard people on here talking about sparges taking an hour. With 4.3Kg of grain mine was finished in a little over 5 minutes. Couldnt believe the flow rate after all ive read.
 
5 mins is good if your batch sparging or recirculating your mash. If your flood sparging, slow is better.... By slowly introducing your sparge water over 45 mins it spends more time in contact with the grains drawing out more of the remaining sugars.......

Remember... boil hard & sparge long !

Asher for now
 
Controlling the rate of runoff is very important. Too fast, and you may end up with a compacted grain bed and stuck sparge. Plus, running off too quickly with fly sparging will mean poor efficiency.

Batch sparging, you need a quicker runoff. Fly sparging, you want to sparge slow.

Yep, Asher is 100% on the money, sparge slow and boil hard.

Even a simple plastic bowl is fine to mash in. A big saucepan works ok too, that way, you can easily pop it back on the stove, stir and heat for adding a bit of heat or for stepped mash. Put it in a cardboard box and insulate with crumpled newspaper, this will form a saucepan shaped nest that will retain the shape when the saucepan is moved in and out. A blanket or some bubblewrap over the lid for more insulation will help.
 
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