I was hoping that I could get some suggestions. I originally purchased this as my brew pot, with the intention of using the 5 gallon igloo for my mash tun.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...tles/megapot-with-ball-valve-brewmometer.html
It worked great as a brew pot and clean up with a little Bar Keepers Friend was always a breeze. The igloo as a mash tun was great at hitting and maintaining my mash temps but I always seemed to have problems with grain getting under the false bottom, more often than not leading to a stuck sparge. I dealt with the stuck sparge on a case by case basis but it became painfully obvious that anything of a higher than average gravity was pushing the limits of my 5 gal igloo. The first of the year arrived, as did a used bourbon barrel and I knew that I wanted to brew a barley wine and age it in the bourbon barrel but the conundrum was fitting 24+ LBS of grain in a 5 gallon mash tun. Long story short, I borrowed a friends brew pot and used mine as the mash tun since I already had the false bottom. It worked like a charm, I didn't have to fiddle with the ball valve fitting and leakage, I didn't end up with a stuck sparge and after a quick vourlaf, I had clear wort! Perhaps the clearest wort to date, I was smitten. I did notice a little drop in mash tun temp but not a great deal and assumed it would just leave me with a higher level of fermentable wort.
In hind sight, I now realize that the temp drop wasn't that great because, or rather at least I theorize, was due to me pushing the limits of 10 gal mash tun, it was filled to the brim. Now, when I attempt to brew using the 10 gal brew pot with the false bottom as my mash tun, I'm finding that the temps are dropping and dropping fast. I've been getting around this by periodically turning on my burner and recirculating the wort below the level of the false bottom. It works but it's labor intensive, doesn't allow me to mash at one temp for very long and I worry about hot side aeration.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can further insulate the brew pot to get around the temp losses? Am I over thinking the hot side aeration issue and should I just continue with method of adding heat intermittently? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...tles/megapot-with-ball-valve-brewmometer.html
It worked great as a brew pot and clean up with a little Bar Keepers Friend was always a breeze. The igloo as a mash tun was great at hitting and maintaining my mash temps but I always seemed to have problems with grain getting under the false bottom, more often than not leading to a stuck sparge. I dealt with the stuck sparge on a case by case basis but it became painfully obvious that anything of a higher than average gravity was pushing the limits of my 5 gal igloo. The first of the year arrived, as did a used bourbon barrel and I knew that I wanted to brew a barley wine and age it in the bourbon barrel but the conundrum was fitting 24+ LBS of grain in a 5 gallon mash tun. Long story short, I borrowed a friends brew pot and used mine as the mash tun since I already had the false bottom. It worked like a charm, I didn't have to fiddle with the ball valve fitting and leakage, I didn't end up with a stuck sparge and after a quick vourlaf, I had clear wort! Perhaps the clearest wort to date, I was smitten. I did notice a little drop in mash tun temp but not a great deal and assumed it would just leave me with a higher level of fermentable wort.
In hind sight, I now realize that the temp drop wasn't that great because, or rather at least I theorize, was due to me pushing the limits of 10 gal mash tun, it was filled to the brim. Now, when I attempt to brew using the 10 gal brew pot with the false bottom as my mash tun, I'm finding that the temps are dropping and dropping fast. I've been getting around this by periodically turning on my burner and recirculating the wort below the level of the false bottom. It works but it's labor intensive, doesn't allow me to mash at one temp for very long and I worry about hot side aeration.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can further insulate the brew pot to get around the temp losses? Am I over thinking the hot side aeration issue and should I just continue with method of adding heat intermittently? Any help would be greatly appreciated.