insulated HLT project

I work for a company that deals with EPS foam(coffee cup foam). I got the idea to order a 30x30x24 cube with the center cut to slide my keg into. The block is a bit big, I may shave it down and laminate the outsides to keep it from getting banged up. It will have a foam floor and top. The trick is to keep it manageable for moving, and removal of the HLT keg for cleaning. Still noodling the whole idea through. I will post further pics.

pic of keg inside foam...

Wortlover said:

I work for a company that deals with EPS foam(coffee cup foam). I got the idea to order a 30x30x24 cube with the center cut to slide my keg into. The block is a bit big, I may shave it down and laminate the outsides to keep it from getting banged up. It will have a foam floor and top. The trick is to keep it manageable for moving, and removal of the HLT keg for cleaning. Still noodling the whole idea through. I will post further pics.

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I love your Idea. I used foamed board duct taped together to form a box that I slide on top of the keg. I keep my keg on the burner when mashing. Why not design the block to slide over top the keg, heat rises you don't really need it on the bottom. I like the round hole better than the box shape becuase it will hold the heat better.

Warrior said:

I love your Idea. I used foamed board duct taped together to form a box that I slide on top of the keg. I keep my keg on the burner when mashing. Why not design the block to slide over top the keg, heat rises you don't really need it on the bottom. I like the round hole better than the box shape becuase it will hold the heat better.

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I think that is a good idea. Over the top would be easier I think.

Is it fire resistant? There was a thread last week or so about needing to have it fire proof, so it would not melt/catch fire.

I wasn't planning on putting fire under it. I guess I have my terminology wrong. I'm new to all grain brewing. This will insulate my MLT, or mash vessel. I think that if I preheat the keg with hot water, draing and add grain and mash water, it should maintain a good temp. This foam doesn't get along well with open flame. I could use an electric immersion heating element.
I have an igloo cooler no as a MLT. The temp drop over an hours time with that is quite a lot. I'm hoping this will work better. It is awful big, may prove to be hard to work around. I will try a test run with hot water.

View attachment cube Model (1).pdf

Looks good to me. Anytime you have a DIY project its always fun to tinker. I'm sure it will work. How much was the cube?

cube was..........FREEBEE for me. Somewhere around $120 retail. I'm thinking of shaving it round on the exterior, laminating FRP board to it.

Wortlover said:

I wasn't planning on putting fire under it. I guess I have my terminology wrong. I'm new to all grain brewing. This will insulate my MLT, or mash vessel. I think that if I preheat the keg with hot water, draing and add grain and mash water, it should maintain a good temp. This foam doesn't get along well with open flame. I could use an electric immersion heating element.
I have an igloo cooler no as a MLT. The temp drop over an hours time with that is quite a lot. I'm hoping this will work better. It is awful big, may prove to be hard to work around. I will try a test run with hot water.

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I put the foam box over the MLT after turning the burner off. The foam cube does not have to go all the way to the bottom of the keg. Keep it above the stand off ring on the bottom of the keg. Lining the inside with coil stock and crimping it arond the bottom would protect the foam. I like the MLT on the burner so I can step up my temps with the burner after the rests.

LOL, hey wortlover I just did a project too. I actually thought this was mine, lol. I went to this and it just looked wrong, then I saw it wasn't mine, lol. Close name and everything. Here's mine just for the curious. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=49928

I think they turned out really good and only cost me $150 for the both to be done (Insulated and lined anyways).

Wortlover said:

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I have an igloo cooler no as a MLT. The temp drop over an hours time with that is quite a lot. I'm hoping this will work better. It is awful big, may prove to be hard to work around. I will try a test run with hot water.
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This surprises me a bit. How large is your cooler and how much grain are you mashing to see the large temp losses? I mash in a converted 5 gallon cylindrical cooler, and I'm only seeing temp losses of 1-2 degrees F over 75 minute mashes...

Yeah jds, you're probably right. I have a rectangular cooler. I insulated the top also with spray foam. I did a weizen this last Sunday, and temps didn't budge that much. It was hard for me to get an accurate temp reading. If I sunk the temp probe into the grain bed, that temp was different from the mash liquid that was more towards the top.

WortMonger, can I tell you, you s$ck!! You're idea trumps mine. I got
a bunch of that foil faced bubble wrap, that really looks more practical. Awesome job.

Thanks, I love your name man, lol. That Expanded Polystyrene Foam sure cuts easily with a soldering wand, lol. I am glad I made my keg-tun lids out of it. The rigidity when covered with a plastic or latex coating is great and insulates very well. I tried both types of insulation on my lid project and the EPS lid is as tight as a drum, while the Reflectix insulated lid looks like a raisin, lol.

I really am having problems finding the correct temperature readings in a 15.5 gallon keg. I checked overnight. As insulated as I am with my new setup I didn't lose but a few degrees. However, moving the thermometer around showed significant temperature fluctuations from what I thought the temperature was. I have to find a way to get a more complete reading of my mash temperature now that I am not losing those degrees through the walls of steel like I used to. The problem with those coolers is the lid isn't insulated near enough. I mean they are made for keeping cold, not really for keeping hot. I bet the same cooler with a better insulated lid would be cheap and good. I mean, I am talking some EPS, particle board, and latex paint and you would probably not drop 2 degrees an hour.