Aluminum mash tun
- Thread starter tobrew
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No problem using the aluminum pot, although you will need to insulate it, or devise a method to apply heat during the mash if you are determined to use it.
If possible, you could stick the pot / mash tun in a warm oven to maintain temps during the mash.
IMHO a cooler makes a better mah tun, YMMV.
If possible, you could stick the pot / mash tun in a warm oven to maintain temps during the mash.
IMHO a cooler makes a better mah tun, YMMV.
Ummm...maybe I'm confused but it's a kettle. Why wouldn't he just use it like any other heatable mash tun? I mash in a cooler but don't a lot of people mash in kettles, adding bottom heat to hit and maintain temps?
Orangevango
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Its not gonna be big enough to do some stuff, and you will hate trying to maintain the temperature with a burner. Do yourself a favor and buy a cooler and convert it.
khiddy
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It really depends on the size of the kettle, doesn't it? I'd bet that the kettle is somewhere around 32QT, which would mean 8 gallons - at that's the standard size I see at Wal-Mart in their turkey fryer kits.
In an 8 gallon container, you can comfortably fit just shy of 20lbs of grain at 1.25qt/gal. Of course, you'll have some dead space at the bottom where your false bottom sits, but that's still a lot of grain in the kettle. The biggest challenge will be keeping it warm, as mentioned above. You have the option to apply low heat to the base of the kettle and, with regular stirring, you can keep it from scorching. But then you gotta wonder how you're gonna heat your sparge water, if you're using the burner to keep the mash temperature steady.
At that point, it's probably better to use the aluminum kettle as a Hot Liquor pot, into which you've attached a ball valve draining to a sparge arm. Set the sparge arm in the top of a converted 10-gallon Igloo mash tun, and everybody wins.
In an 8 gallon container, you can comfortably fit just shy of 20lbs of grain at 1.25qt/gal. Of course, you'll have some dead space at the bottom where your false bottom sits, but that's still a lot of grain in the kettle. The biggest challenge will be keeping it warm, as mentioned above. You have the option to apply low heat to the base of the kettle and, with regular stirring, you can keep it from scorching. But then you gotta wonder how you're gonna heat your sparge water, if you're using the burner to keep the mash temperature steady.
At that point, it's probably better to use the aluminum kettle as a Hot Liquor pot, into which you've attached a ball valve draining to a sparge arm. Set the sparge arm in the top of a converted 10-gallon Igloo mash tun, and everybody wins.
I brew with an aluminum kettle and I haven't had any problems with it. However, you do have to treat it by heating it in the oven or boiling water in it for at least ten minutes to develop a layer of aluminum oxide which stops your wort or mash from absorbing the aluminum.
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