Home Made Mash Tun...

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r8rphan

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Thinking about making one completely from scratch..

Would be wood shell, closed cell insulation, and a fiberglass tub..

Is there anything wrong with using off the shelf fiberglass (fabric and resin custom to shape) as a tub material/surface for mashing?
 
Yeah, higher temperatures will leach chemicals out of the resin. As of late, the thought is that the fiberous materials of "fiberglass" can cause the same health effects as Asbestos since both are silicate fibers. The chemicals will kill the beer and eventually you. There is a reason why people wear filtered masks when pouring fiberglass and shaping. All mash tuns are made from food grade plastics or SS. If you want to make your mash tun, go with an igloo cooler. Find one for cheap on CL maybe.
 
I wanted to make one custom shaped and sized.. So I guess that if I'm set on that, the only way is stainless steel?

Or are there other materials that can be used?
 
I wanted to make one custom shaped and sized.. So I guess that if I'm set on that, the only way is stainless steel?

Or are there other materials that can be used?

SS is one way. I know for a fact that used kegs can be bought off of eBay. Another way is to search for kegs to convert them off of Craigslist. Not sure about food grade plastics, but I am sure you might be able to find some injected food grade plastics. Just make sure they can handle higher heat or you will end up with a mash tun made out of jello.

Custom sizes would all have to be fabricated and that gets expensive. I would go with a converted keg with various parts like a valve and thermowell with thermometer.
 
I have a mig welder (oxy/acet rig too).. I can weld steel, but have never tried SS or aluminum... wonder how hard it would be to weld up a SS or aluminum box with no prior experience...
 
I have a mig welder (oxy/acet rig too).. I can weld steel, but have never tried SS or aluminum... wonder how hard it would be to weld up a SS or aluminum box with no prior experience...

You could MIG weld it. I would use shielding gas instead of the core wire. Or if you have the soldering experience, that is an option.
 
I have 'lots' of soldering experience at the electrical/electronic level.. but very little with sheet metals...

What about products like rubbermaid containers? Is that a food safe and reasonably temp safe material?

How about tupperware (if I could find a vessel the size I want)?
 
Rubbermaids website says their roughneck totes and stackable totes are made from polethylene.. They say their coolers are also made from polyethylene...

Am I safely able to conclude that their totes could be used for mash tuns then (after modifying and insulating of course)?
 
I have no idea about the food grade issue, but why do you want to make the entire vessel? Are you going for a larger size than what's available? Kegs are already SS and can be found fairly cheap ( I paid $30 for each of mine from a real brewery that had decommissioned them) and can be insulated, or coolers can be had in a huge variety of sizes and dimensions. I'm all about DIY, I just built my own 2 vessel ebrew rig, just wondering what you're going for.
 
Rubbermaids website says their roughneck totes and stackable totes are made from polethylene.. They say their coolers are also made from polyethylene...

Am I safely able to conclude that their totes could be used for mash tuns then (after modifying and insulating of course)?

Not all polyethylenes are suitable food grade plastics. You have to remember that food grade plastics use a different polymer structure and chemicals than say the plastic in a tote. This goes back to my OP here. If you have the wrong plastic, then you will end up leaching out chemicals that are very undesirable. I admire you for wanting to DIY. And it sounds like you have good enough experience with soldering to be able to convert some kegs. While a keg wont be too customizable, you can still configure it in the correct way you want with thermowells, valves and insulation. I mean a keg is 15.5 gallons. Thats big enough to do anything you are looking for unless you are looking to brew more than 10 gallons.
 
As of late, the thought is that the fiberous materials of "fiberglass" can cause the same health effects as Asbestos since both are silicate fibers.

This statement is blown way out of proportion and is the result of a lot of 'classically trained' asbestos litigation lawyers who have no more clients and are looking to demonize the next fiber by putting pressure on OSHA and the EPA. General use fiberglass and asbestos are both fibers but the similarity with regardt o health effects ends there.

Anyway, your exposure to respirable glass fibers becomes nil after you encapsulate the stuff in the resin. The resin, however, isn't good for this type of application due to leaching.
 
You can also nest a smaller SS pot into a larger one and fill the gap with insulation. That's kind of the best of both worlds, durability of stainless and heat retention of a cooler.
 
I have no idea about the food grade issue, but why do you want to make the entire vessel? Are you going for a larger size than what's available? Kegs are already SS and can be found fairly cheap ( I paid $30 for each of mine from a real brewery that had decommissioned them) and can be insulated, or coolers can be had in a huge variety of sizes and dimensions. I'm all about DIY, I just built my own 2 vessel ebrew rig, just wondering what you're going for.

Every persons situation and needs are unique.. If I were to go the keg route, I would lose the gravity feed ability, and then I'm looking at pumps, welded fittings, false bottoms, etc. etc. etc.

I am currently going the cooler route..

It would just be 'nice' if there was a readily available inexpensive 'DIY' material that could be used for custom sizes.. As then I could build one that nests nicely into my setup, would hold 'a lot' of liquid, and not add any additional space to the foot print of what I'm doing now...

This is not a 'have to' or 'need to' sort of deal, but rather a 'want to'...
 
You can also nest a smaller SS pot into a larger one and fill the gap with insulation. That's kind of the best of both worlds, durability of stainless and heat retention of a cooler.

Yeah, that's the general idea of what I'm trying to do here.. Now if I could only find a rectangular pot of the general size I need...
:D

Maybe a big oval one? Would a ceramic coated steel pot be acceptable? The kind they use for boiling big roasts or casseroles?

Maybe ebay will turn something up for me...
 
Why the hesitation with cylindrical vessels? Is it because your spot for the MLT is rectangular already?

Whatever you're thinking about probably exists in a scrapyard somewhere. How about a stainless tank out of a boat?

Surplus tanks, etc..
http://www.genemco.com/catalog/rectangulartanks.html

SFEC250v2sstank_pop.jpg
 
My SS kitchen deep sink would be perfect.. but that cost over $600... So I won't be buying another one of those any time soon..

But maybe I can find a suitable used SS sink somewhere.. The bottom drain might be a plus too.. or worse case, I can seal it off and drill a side one...
 
Why the hesitation with cylindrical vessels? Is it because your spot for the MLT is rectangular already?

Yes.. And I could get more volume out of a lower profile with a rectangular one..

I can nest the vessel in a rectangular shape box, to make it fit into my set up properly, no matter what shape the actual liquid vessel is within it.. so a round one will work, for sure.. But a rectangular one would work 'better'...
 
Every persons situation and needs are unique.. If I were to go the keg route, I would lose the gravity feed ability, and then I'm looking at pumps, welded fittings, false bottoms, etc. etc. etc.

I am currently going the cooler route..
This is not a 'have to' or 'need to' sort of deal, but rather a 'want to'...

Well, you can do it however you want but you can still gravity feed with a keg set up. Look at Blichmann's Top Tier system- all gravity fed. I guess I'm not seeing why using a keg would require pumps. As far as a false bottom, you need one anyway, no matter what the composition of the MLT, or at least a way to lauter.
 
If I've calculated correctly, something like this would hold almost 54qts in the bowl...

http://cgi.ebay.com/D-Shape-stainle.../250742466136?pt=US_Sinks&hash=item3a616a6658

So if I were to find something a bit bigger in a single sink (for a lower price), I might be able to do what I want...

Then it'd just be a matter of building a plywood box and filling the space between the sink and the box with expanding foam... and coming up with a sheet of SS or glass or whatever to make a suitable insulated cover to match....
 
If I've calculated correctly, something like this would hold almost 54qts in the bowl...

http://cgi.ebay.com/D-Shape-stainle.../250742466136?pt=US_Sinks&hash=item3a616a6658

So if I were to find something a bit bigger in a single sink (for a lower price), I might be able to do what I want...

Then it'd just be a matter of building a plywood box and filling the space between the sink and the box with expanding foam... and coming up with a sheet of SS or glass or whatever to make a suitable insulated cover t match....

Are you going to fabricate a false bottom or a manifold?
 
Well, you can do it however you want but you can still gravity feed with a keg set up. Look at Blichmann's Top Tier system- all gravity fed. I guess I'm not seeing why using a keg would require pumps. As far as a false bottom, you need one anyway, no matter what the composition of the MLT, or at least a way to lauter.

That's what I mean about every persons situation being unique.. I have a specific place and method I want to set it up in.. In the 'same' space (foot print) that the mash tun will be stored, I also will be stacking a box that doubles as a foot stool, and storage box for all my spoons, tubing, measuring, cleaning, etc.. equipment..

yes, I understand that I need some way to lauter, but with the keg method, you pretty much need to go with a more costlier method than the usual copper tube or faucet hook up tube sheath...

Not to mention that my current 'brew stand' is well on it's way to completion.. I really don't want to start over, and waste the money and time already invested...
 
Are you going to fabricate a false bottom or a manifold?

manifold.... I'm a contractor by trade, so I already have all the scrap and fittings laying around for that...

I'm already budgeting for one of Jaybirds hinged False Bottoms for my HLT/BK, so two of them would start getting really pricey..

For the record, I am currently converting a 48qt cooler into a mash tun to use 'right now'... It'll be done before the weekend is out.. I'm just considering future possibilities, problems, and solutions in regards to 'improvements' for my particular set up...
 
yes, I understand that I need some way to lauter, but with the keg method, you pretty much need to go with a more costlier method than the usual copper tube or faucet hook up tube sheath...

I understand that the shape of a keg won't work for you, but why would you think a manifold would be any more costly for a keg MLT than for any other vessel? My keg MLT manifold cost me ~$8 in plumbing parts and works great.
 
manifold.... I'm a contractor by trade, so I already have all the scrap and fittings laying around for that...

I'm already budgeting for one of Jaybirds hinged False Bottoms for my HLT/BK, so two of them would start getting really pricey..

For the record, I am currently converting a 48qt cooler into a mash tun to use 'right now'... It'll be done before the weekend is out.. I'm just considering future possibilities, problems, and solutions in regards to 'improvements' for my particular set up...

Why a FB for the HLT? I don't understand.
 
Why the hesitation with cylindrical vessels? Is it because your spot for the MLT is rectangular already?

Whatever you're thinking about probably exists in a scrapyard somewhere. How about a stainless tank out of a boat?

Surplus tanks, etc..
http://www.genemco.com/catalog/rectangulartanks.html

SFEC250v2sstank_pop.jpg

I like the way you think!

Ideally, I can find what I'm looking for at a scrap yard or a garage sale.. I'll just keep my eyes open, and use the cooler in the mean time...
 
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