mash/lauter tun from a keg

Anyone out there seen a good design (meaning one that drains well, is easy to stir while heating, etc.) for a mash/lauter tun from a fifteen gallon keg?

I'm thinking of simply duplicating my boiler, but I'concerned about not being able to stir underneath the hop filter (a stainless-steel "pillow") and the potential for overheating a small amount of the mash.

thanks a lot, jp

Oops, I just read grimsawyer's thread. It's sort of the same thing, but I want to heat, mash and sparge up to twenty five pounds of grain all at once.... How good a flow do you get out of one of those ss mesh hoses? Can you knock it out of the way to stir under it???

thanks jp

perry said:

Oops, I just read grimsawyer's thread. It's sort of the same thing, but I want to heat, mash and sparge up to twenty five pounds of grain all at once.... How good a flow do you get out of one of those ss mesh hoses? Can you knock it out of the way to stir under it???

thanks jp

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I'm no expert but I think you would want a stainless steel false bottom for your set up. I don't think the SS braided hose would work all that well in that application.

I've thought about doing a false bottom, but the drain pipe (at least the way my boiler is set up) goes through the side of the keg a couple of inches up from the bottom. I would worry about the liquid under the false bottom getting too hot since I couldn't get at it with the spoon...

Maybe I need to weld the drain through the very bottom of the keg... and raise the keg up a bit off the burner... A false bottom would work there.

thanks, jp

jp

Perry-

I just did this very project and did my first AG using the converted keg. I simply drilled the hole as close to the bottom of the keg as possible and put a ball valve in it along with some fender washers and rubber o-rings for the seal.

I also made a manifold from C-PVC. This stuff is heat resistent and easy to work with. I basically made a square with "T" joints in the middle and regular 90 degree angles on the ends. This allowed me to have 4 tubes in the manifold that would aid in draining the wort from the grain.It drains easier than you would think because once it starts draining it creates a vacum and draws most of the wort out. I think i was left with maybe a cup of liquid that did not get drained off.

I can post pictures if you would like.

Add a pump and a few hoses and make a HERMS with you HLT. My Mash tun is a black plastic coated keg that does not use a burner. Holds temp well, and works great.

Reverend JC, Yeah, I'd love to see a pic of your set-up! The manifold idea is intriguing... I'm assuming you mean perforated tube-inside-tube-inside-tube? Easy to stir around, easy to clean? Or just a single tube wrapping around the bottom?

Beermaker, are doing a single-infusion mash? Does your keg have a drain or do you transfer your mash to a separate lauter tun?

I kinda batch sparge. I drain from the bottom of the tun into the boil kettle. I try to get 100% of everything into the boil kettle.