Mash Tun and Fermentor Shape

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TastySalmon

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I'm in the process of designing my own RIMS system. I want to fabricate most of my equipment to save money since I have access to a welder, plasma cutter and cutting torch.

My question is this: I want to build a mash tun that has the ability to hold enough grains to do batches of beer up to 30 gallons. I realize that a cube is possible for a mash tun, but does anyone know what it does for efficiency? I assume the shallower the better possibly? I don't want to use old kegs and I don't want to buy larger pre-made SS containers when I can buy SS sheets for pennies on the dollar for what pre-made containers would be.

Also, has anyone ever made fermentors in a cube shape? Obviously I ask this because last time I checked it wasn't cheap having sheets of SS being bent into semicircles. I realize that cleanliness might be an issue.
 
The efficiency of the mash tun is based upon the shape of the manifold versus the shape of the tun. So a square tun will work fine, so long as there is a square manifold. A search on here will show several ways to design an efficient manifold.

You can ferment in anything, but I believe the reason people stay away from square shapes is because of the added number of corners. Corners = harder to sanitize. Gunk can collect in there and nasties can hide. Good clean welds followed by good sanitizing practices will alleviate this though.
 
The reason most tanks are cylinders is because they can be thinner walled. Square tanks have a long of pressure at the long sides. Same reason you don't many square above ground pools.
 
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