Keg mash tun heat loss q?

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pegelow04

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Calling on all brewers that currently brew with a keggle mash tun. How much heat loss are you brewers getting while mashing? What type of insulation are people using and with what success? I am about to brew my first all-grain in my newly converted keg-mash-tun. any tips would be great.
 
I used my keg mash tun for the first time 2 weeks ago (usually use a 10 gal Igloo cooler) on a 10 gal IPA recipe. W/ no insulation and 90° outside temp I lost 5° over a 60 minute mash. Not happy about that at all. If I continue to use the keg I am definitely going to wrap in it something.
 
I use one of the keg jackets made out of neoprene to insulate. It does help especially if it's cold outside.
 
The lid of a wok fits well on top. When you heat the bottom of the pot make sure to stir the mash as you take temp readings, or you can have pockets that are cold and others that are very hot. congrats on moving up to a new steel MLT, it is so much better in some ways...
 
I ended up using a fleece blanket to wrap the keg and a towel to help insulate the lid. With the garage at about 65 degrees I only lost 1°-2°. Turned out better than I had expected.
 
5 wraps of reflectix made into a jacket, seals up with some thick velcro straps.
Bottom cavity of keggle filled with spray-foam. (Tinfoil separating the foam from the keg, so I can tear it out if I ever want to without foam sticking to the keg)
2 lengths of black foam pipe-wrap around the opening. 2 circles of this above the keggle-cut, and one around the top rim to make a place to slide in a plastic disk into the gap. Seals super tight.
3-4 towels over the top, bunched up on the top to give 5-6 inches of insulation over the plastic disk (disk is actually the bottom of a wal-mart cake-carrier)
Wrap the whole mess up with a blanket if there is wind.
I do this in my gargage, and lose MAYBE a degree if it's very cold.
I do only 10-13 gallon batches.

I love my keggle mash tun. Make sure you get a good false bottom and a good paddle.
 
I use no insulation,so I'm sure I lose lots of heat. I have a full sized case bottom, so I direct fire heat my mash tun while recirculating with my pump. Works really well. It's also nice for doing step mashes. I will admit, I did a five gallon recipe in 20 degree weather with 11 pounds of grain and it sucked trying to ,ain't sin temps, but I did a 10 gallon batch with 32 pounds of grain on a 30 degree day and it was easy. Thermal mass is your friend in a mash tun.
 

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