Reflectix - My Rreview (BIAB)

So, I have recently made the move to BIAB. As many of you are aware, temperature loss during the mash is a common problem with BIAB since you are mashing in an uninsulated kettle.

I started to research and saw many posts about wrapping the kettle in a sleeping bag, comforter or even a winter coat. Then I rememebr seeing some people wrapping their kettles is some sort of reflective insulation. After a little research I found that it was called Reflectix and decided to give it a shot.

I bought a 2' x 25' roll at Lowes. I simply wrapped it around teh kettle 4 times and cut it where the 2 ends met. This is a pic of the inside empty Reflectix after I had formed it to my kettle.


With teh remaining material, I cut 3 circles that overlapped my lid by about 1.5" and made a slit in the middle for the handle. This is a of the top of the 3 teh 3 layers.


A pic of the underside of lid to show the overlap.


This is my kettle...62qt Bayou Classic Turkey Fryer.


Here is the kettle wrapped in Reflectix. I notched spots on teh bottom for the valve and the thermo.


Shot from top looking at lid sitting in the kettle. The lid is just friction fitted and sits nice and snug.


I filled my kettle with 8.5g of water...typical for my BIAB water volume...and heated it to 158F. I am using a digital probe thermometer that I got at Kohl's on clearance for $10. I situated the probe so it was about halfway down the water level (what would be mid-mash). I cut the flame and stirred for a good minute to make sure that the heat was evenly distributed and the temp settled at 159F. I also took a reading with my Thermapen just to verify the accuracy of the chepo thermo. The Thermapen showed 158.8F. I then put the lid on and set the timer for 90 minutes.

I took readings at 5, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 minutes (with the digital probe only so I wouldn't have to remove the lid).

The temp stayed rock steady at 159F all the way to the 60 minute mark at which time it dropped to 158F. It then dropped to 157F at the 75 minute mark and that is where it finished out after 90 minutes. (BTW...I am going to get a better probe thermo that does measurements in the tenths. I really believe that the temp may haave falledn less than 1F in those times)

How do you guys see the results? 1F loss after 60 minutes and 2F loss after 75 minutes. Acceptable? Honestly, I think it is very acceptable but want other opinions.

On a side note...this stuff was VERY easy to work with. I basically wrapped the kettle 4 times and used a hot glue gun as I went to hold the wraps to each other. The excess cuts easily with fabric scissors. Also, I was a little worried about the bottom melting since it would be in direct contact with the rack right above my burner. No signs of burns at all.

Thanks for the input!

John

I approve. Good idea. It looks like the insulation my dad used on his radiant floor heating.

You didn't mention where you bought it; can you get it at lowes?

Lowes. I think it was $23 for a 2' x 25' roll.

I've found the item on both Lowe's and Home[less] Depot's sites. Just under $23.97 at Lowe's, and $23.34 at HD...

Curious as to how many feet roll you picked up, and used for this. I'm looking at getting a roll to use to insulate my keg mash tun before my next brew day comes around. I'm thinking that I could make it so that it slips over the keg, and then secures so that it's removable for when I clean the keg out. A 2' wide roll should be more than enough (also comes in a 4' wide roll).

From the pictures it looks like you used 4 layers of the material. Probably accounts for your results.

I do agree that the OP is really good. Very useful and provides heat loss over time with the product. Add how much was used and it's sticky worthy... :rockin:

Interesting experiment. Did you happen to do this same test without the Reflectix to see how well it held the temps without any insulation?

johnodon do you brew on a baker's rack? I guess I had never really thought about doing that but if it's safe, I bet it works pretty well. Sorry for the topic switch.

I'll be doing this for my keggle to use with BIAB. a temp drop of 2F over 90minutes is great.. plus once you add the grains the thermal mass will increase and you should hold temps even better

Mysticmead, how many layers do you use on your keggle??

Your results seem promising and very acceptable IMO. Typically water will tend to lose much more heat than a mash does. Thermal properties, circulation?? IDK just what I've read on some forum I guess?

Golddiggie said:

Mysticmead, how many layers do you use on your keggle??

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none yet... which is why I said I'll be doing this to my keggle.. I would do at least 3 layers though... maybe make it a slip fit to remove for heating and cleaning

Golddiggie said:

Curious as to how many feet roll you picked up, and used for this.

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I bought the 25' roll (2' wide). This was the perfect amount (at least for my kettle) to wrap 4 times and still had enough for 3 layers on the lid.

John

Seven said:

Interesting experiment. Did you happen to do this same test without the Reflectix to see how well it held the temps without any insulation?

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I plan on doing this tonight when I get home. I'll report back then.

John

Spintab said:

johnodon do you brew on a baker's rack? I guess I had never really thought about doing that but if it's safe, I bet it works pretty well. Sorry for the topic switch.

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I do. It sits about 2 inches off of the bottom and is nice a snug inside the kettle.

John

Mysticmead said:

I'll be doing this for my keggle to use with BIAB. a temp drop of 2F over 90minutes is great.. plus once you add the grains the thermal mass will increase and you should hold temps even better

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Exactly my thought and why I was very happy with open 2F drop over 90 mins.

John

Forgot to mention one thing...

I took 0 minute and 90 minute readings with my Thermapen and they were aligned perfectly with what the $10 probe thermo was telling me.

John

What was the ambient temperature during your test?

jmestayer said:

What was the ambient temperature during your test?

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It was in my garage so probably 80F if I had to guess.

Well, in case it's useful, I noticed the following when I did my BIAB last weekend at 95-100F ambient, in my bare aluminum turkey fryer. Sorry, I brew in Celsius.

At 52 degrees C, my rate of cooling was imperceptible...less than 1C per half hour.

At 72 degrees C, my rate of cooling was about 1C per 15-20 minutes.

BetterSense said:

Well, in case it's useful, I noticed the following when I did my BIAB last weekend at 95-100F ambient, in my bare aluminum turkey fryer. Sorry, I brew in Celsius.

At 52 degrees C, my rate of cooling was imperceptible...less than 1C per half hour.

At 72 degrees C, my rate of cooling was about 1C per 15-20 minutes.

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..but you live in Texas, America..

I really like the idea. I have done 2 BIABs so far while transitioning to all-grain. I'm going to do a different thing for insulating my keg, but I just might use your reflectix lid idea for that.

Seven said:

Interesting experiment. Did you happen to do this same test without the Reflectix to see how well it held the temps without any insulation?

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Well...I'm officially a believer now.

I tested mash temps with my kettle uninsulated. Ambient temperature/humidity was almost exactly what it was yesterday. Once again, my starting temp was a steady 159 after stirring for 1 minute. I then put the lid on (also uninsulated) and set the timer for 90 minutes.

Here are the results:



So, I lost 10F over a 90 minute mash with the uninsulated kettle. Once again, both starting and finishing temps were confirmed with my Thermapen.

John

johnodon said:

Well...I'm officially a believer now.

I tested mash temps with my kettle uninsulated. Ambient temperature/humidity was almost exactly what it was yesterday. Once again, my starting temp was a steady 159 after stirring for 1 minute. I then put the lid on (also uninsulated) and set the timer for 90 minutes.

So, I lost 10F over a 90 minute mash with the uninsulated kettle. Once again, both starting and finishing temps were confirmed with my Thermapen.

John

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Your experiment does indeed show a significant temperature difference over time between insulated and not-insulated configurations. I don't personally observe a 10-degree temperature drop with my not-insulated setup so it shows how different equipment configurations can have very different results.

Nice job!

Well, doing my first BIAB today using the Reflectix. As a lot have commented, I expect to be able to hold temps much better than my test considering the thermal mass of the mash (not that my temp loss was bad at all during the water test).

The recipe I am using has a mash temp of 156 - 158. I like my beers drier than most recipes call for so I planned on a 154 mash temp. So, I doughed in @ 158 and stirred for about a minute. The temp settled out at 153 which I was happy with.

I decided to check temps throughout and I picked up 1F after 15 minutes. This happened in my water test also. However, something very interesting happened. I checked temp again at the 45 minute mark and it is actuall sitting @ 156! I can honestly say that I have never had that issue before. LOL I'm not really worried as a quick stir will help bring the temp down or at least even it out.

So, the moral of the story: This Reflectix stuff really works!

John

Another member here taught me to add the grain early, say at 140-ish, then continue stirring and heating until you are about 5-degrees shy of your target temp. Cut the heat, cover and let sit for 5-mins then check the temp. again. This gives the mash time to evenly distribute the heat throughout and so far it has always risen a few degrees after cutting the heat each time I've done this. It usually stabilizes within 1 or 2 degrees of my target temp. I've done this for the last 5 or 6 batches and it has worked perfectly every time.

How does this stuff stand up to the heat of the kettle when the heat is on?

MrZ2U said:

How does this stuff stand up to the heat of the kettle when the heat is on?

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For me, not that well. I got some curling at the bottom and some noxious fumes that I'd like to avoid breathing in the future.
I definitely encourage using it with bungie cords or similar, so it can be removed when the flame is on.

Are you using a kettle or keggle? I would expect this to be a factor for kettles but less of one for keg conversions. Still, I might try making it slip-fit on the beginning. Depends on how well it stays ib place (even with bungies).

I just added this to my mash tun and I'll see how it does tomorrow. I went with 2 layers with a velcro seam so I can pull it when the burners are going and had enough left for a single layer on top.

FWIW, I would think that you could insulate say the upper 3/4ths of the kettle and get most of the same benefit with a reduced chance of melting or igniting the plastic bubble foil insulation stuff. If it still melts at the lower edges, cut it back some more as needed.

I do not leave this on when I have an open flame...I just don't trust it. I get my strike water to temp...cut the flame...dough in...stir...cover...and let it sit for 90 minutes. I know some prefer to stir throughout the mash. I have not had to do this and have been getting efficieny in the 85% range (it's all about the crush for BIAB!).

John

Tried Reflectix on my last brew, had the bubble wrap on the inside melt about halfway up the kettle (I had it on while the flame was on). I'm wondering if it did that because the top and bottom edges of the Reflectix aren't covered in foil. If I put some kind of protective foil around the bottom, would that protect the bubbles? With the handles and ball valve I really don't have a convenient way to make the Reflectix removable.

eulipion2, I had mine covered, top and bottom, with aluminum tape and it still melted inside. Since I'm mashing in a keg (converted with all the nice fittings), it didn't make much sense to try and make something that would fit over the entire thing. Especially since I recirculate when I need to add a few degrees to the mash. Especially when I'm getting the grain bed up to sparge temp.

I'm now using a carbon fiber welding blanket as a thermal barrier on the mash tun keg. Works really well so far. It's long enough to go around it 1-1/2 times, which is nice. I'm securing it with Velcro, so it's easy to secure/remove as needed.

my buddy and I were going to do this exact same thing. saw the stuff at lowes. I've got a 40 gallon kettle. right now we just bungie a blanket around it. drops about 6 degrees over a 60 minute boil. but didn't like the "look" of a blanket wrapped around it.. plus kind of a pain in the butt by yourself.. How "rigid" is it when it's not around the pot? is it hard for it to keep it's shape?

borto1990 said:

How "rigid" is it when it's not around the pot? is it hard for it to keep it's shape?

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I used a hot glue gun between each layer (4 total I think) so it holds it form very well.

John

For anyone thinking about using it on a direct fire vessel, don't. It shouldn't be that difficult to understand why it fails as it's bubble wrap with foil on the outsides. The max temp is something like 140F.

Bobby_M said:

For anyone thinking about using it on a direct fire vessel, don't. It shouldn't be that difficult to understand why it fails as it's bubble wrap with foil on the outsides. The max temp is something like 140F.

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+1.

I have an electric BK so it hasn't been an issue for me.

Now that I recirculate the mash, I don't even use the Reflectix anymore. However, I can say that it works when applied correctly.

John

has anyone used this with a brew pot on an electric burner? I know I want to use it for mashing (I mash and boil in the same pot) but would like to use it for boiling too.

cardinalsfan said:

has anyone used this with a brew pot on an electric burner? I know I want to use it for mashing (I mash and boil in the same pot) but would like to use it for boiling too.

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there are plenty of people using it with electric BIAB setups.. as long as it doesn't come into contact with the electric burner it should be perfectly fine.

How weird??? I just picked this stuff up at lowes? I bought some velcro to secure it

So I did this as well. I plan to use this on my BiaB kettle and may use it for the boil, not sure yet. Bought the roll of insulation for $10 and bought a $5 nylon tool belt to hold it on the pot. I plan to hot glue the layers together and glue the strap to the insulation and cut it down the middle, making it easy to get on and off. I have trimmed it since I took the pictures and it looks much better. 3 layers on the pot, 2 on the lid. We will see how it works!!