Huge Stainless Mash Tun on wheels

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Evan! said:
...now, for only 3 easy payments of $29.95, you too can mash in a dumpster!

Heh... actually we have a bunch of dumpster carts just like that where I work. They use them to haul scrap/waste (we make snack foods) out back to the big dumpsters.
 
Well, there are different kinds of stainless, but that looks like a 2 barrel tun to me. Maybe three.
 
Just curious, but would there be any negative's to constructing a large capacity square MT? I realize many use the cooler MT's so its the same concept, but what about large scale?

We've got large, steam jacketed rice cookers that hold probably 600 gallons. They are square, with a huge perforated stainless strainer on a crane.

Lets say one was to construct a false bottom and work up some sparging device that distrubuted evenly and equally... would it work well? Anything to look out for (other than finding an easy way to get the spent grains out)? I could potentially use the rice strainer as well..
 
In general I think the rectangular tuns are more suited to batch sparging. The shallow grain bed makes it easier to fully stir the mash during sparging. However, it is my opinion that large flat bottom MLTs lend a larger perceived dead space. I call it perceived dead space because when testing it without grain, it would probably drain pretty well. When you add the grain, it stops a lot of liquid from flowing to your outlet along the flat bottom. It's not quite grain absorbtion nor deadspace, but it is wort lost nonetheless. Of course, this effect is negated if you use a full false bottom so I think that rice cooker would be pretty sweet.

Dumpster? You've got to think outside the box when you want to scale up without dropping money on some retired dairy tanks.
 
The original New Belgium Mash Tun was a large rectangular bin made of sheet metal and steam heated. Really not too much different.
 
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