Direct fire or insulate sanke for mash tun?

I am kinda leaning towards insulating, but I am unsure how much or type of insulation I would need to keep temp loss to a minimum.
I could direct fire, but I don't want to check temps every two minutes and risk overshooting.
I am mostly going to use it for high OG 5 gal batches if it matters how full the tun will be.

I would insulate personally. Before I went to a cooler/stainless braid setup, I used to wrap my Sanke in a furniture blanket. Rarely would the temp drop more than a degree, two max, over an hour mash.

I would direct fire if you can. You would have to add a pump with a recirc loop though if you go that route so as to spread out the heat evenly. By adding direct fire you give yourself the option of step mashing. You wouldn't have to check temps very often anyway as you have quite a bit of thermal mass with all the water and grains. It won't move very much at all.

For that matter, if you are handy, you could build some kind of heat shield and use both somehow. I am sure an inventive mind could find a way to do it. You would still need the pump though.

Forgive my ignorance, as I have always mashed in an Igloo cooler. But, with the direct fire method, why do you have to add a pump? Couldn't one stir with their mash paddle?

Mike

Horseshoot said:

Forgive my ignorance, as I have always mashed in an Igloo cooler. But, with the direct fire method, why do you have to add a pump? Couldn't one stir with their mash paddle?

Mike

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I think you could, but it wouldn't be nearly as effective at bringing the hotter liquid from the bottom to the top.

Horseshoot said:

Forgive my ignorance, as I have always mashed in an Igloo cooler. But, with the direct fire method, why do you have to add a pump? Couldn't one stir with their mash paddle?

Mike

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Been there, done that, doesn't work. You end up with hot spots and overshooting the temp.
I also suggest direct fire with re-circulation. It's pretty easy to control the temp.
For an insulation blanket, check out Harbor Freight... they have fiberglass cloth welding blankets for ~$30 for the large. It's flame-proof.
Personally, I direct fire the strike water, add the grains, then recirc through an electric RIMS tube, while insulating with the fire-proof blanket (it's a product of several upgrades).

Insulate really well with cheap reflectix.
Insulate with high temp stuff and you can direct fire with recirculation (Direct fire RIMS).
Insulate (or not) and run a RIMS tube or HERMS coil for remote heating.

Direct firing does require recirculation and for that purpose, you really do want a 15" false bottom to keep the grain off the heated surface.

I went with the insulatation and a RIMS tube to maintain temperature. Have an HLT to heat the mash/sparge water.

Thanks for the replies. All of them some food for thought. I wish I had money laying around for a pump! Guess I need to sit on this and decide what I am gonna do.

Although I a moving towards an all electric RIMS. I found this to work great. I lose less than three degrees over a 90 minute mash.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009XCJA2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I made velcro attachements for the wrap. It takes seconds to install. I do use direct fire to mash out however and find with good stirring it is effective.

You can get small quantities of 'reflectix' much cheaper in the form of car windshield sun-blockers sold at walmart and auto stores. It's foil on both sides with bubble wrap in the middle; essentially the same thing as reflectix but just enough to wrap around a keggle and maybe $10-$15.

I ended up installing a HERMS system. When I direct fired it felt like there was always a lag between when I turned the flame off and what the final temperature would end up at. I couldn't keep the temperatures I wanted.

lakedawgs said:

I would insulate personally. Before I went to a cooler/stainless braid setup, I used to wrap my Sanke in a furniture blanket. Rarely would the temp drop more than a degree, two max, over an hour mash.

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I wish this was my experience. I have always recirculated just for efficiency purposes and found my temperature would drop quite quickly. Now I don't have that problem, but I did spend a few hundred dollars to remedy.

I guess I am lucky, I have great luck with a wrapped keg, also when I use a 7 gallon pot on the stove for 3 gallon test batches, wrapped in 2 towels, I hold steady. Did a 3 gallon batch last night, went from 154 to 152 during a 50 minute mash.
I will quietly hope this trend stays steady.

Thanks for the answers to my questions. This cones at a good time as I am working on my own system.

You can get small quantities of 'reflectix' much cheaper in the form of car windshield sun-blockers sold at walmart and auto stores. It's foil on both sides with bubble wrap in the middle; essentially the same thing as reflectix but just enough to wrap around a keggle and maybe $10-$15.

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Agreed- I got twice as much as I needed at Lowes. It wasn't with the standard home insulation. Think I paid 17 bucks. I have about 10 feet left...

I hate reflectrix. It has poor durability, and the coating flakes off if you don't take care of it meticulously. Plus it's not a very good insulator. Opt for camping pads if you're not direct firing. If you want some really nice stuff, look for armaflex sheet. Comes in 3x4' sheets. You can use mineral wool if direct firing, but then you'd need to make some sort of shell for it.