Is an insulated mash tun necessary if recirc with a RIMS heater?

[Ntwkdsnr]

Hi All,

I'm looking to upgrade from my 10 gal cooler with false bottom to a 20gal SS MT. I recirc with a pump and RIMS tube now. Does the insulated MT like the SSbrewtech have an advantage over a non-insulated MT? I'm thinking it would be just an extra cost. Although, the Spike MT's can get almost just as expensive.

Thanks!!

 

[mongoose33]

I have 10- and 20-gallon mash tuns, they're kettles. I found that if I wrapped them in Reflectix insulation, they held heat better. That means I ran ramp up more quickly when doing step mashes because I'm not losing some of that heat to ambient.

I've attached a pic below showing that. Wrapped in Reflectix, and I sit them on foamboard insulation so I lose little to heat escaping conductively at the bottom.

There are several caveats here. One is ambient temp; colder will suck heat out more readily. I brew in my garage, so sometimes it's cool in there. Another is the capacity of your RIMS. If it's relatively weak, then insulating will help. If it's a beast, not so much. And the flow rate matters. If the flow rate is very slow, then there's a longer time for the liquid (now wort) to turn over, and thus more time for heat to leave. If your flow rate is higher AND your RIMS has high heat capacity, probably won't matter.

As to whether it's worth it with one of those turnkey systems, your wallet will have to decide that. While mine isn't as pretty as that equipment--I have a Spike kettle and Spike CF10 fermenter--I can't see where mine would function any differently if it looked nicer.

 

[Ntwkdsnr]

You make some good points Mongoose33. My RIMS is 5,500 watt. Usually I run it at 50% cycle unless I'm heating strike water or parge water. I'm also recirculating about 1 gal/min. according to my flow meter.
I'm thinking there may be little benefit going with an insulated MT. However, I could start heating my strike water up the night before to save time in the morning. Insulation would be a benefit there.

 

[mongoose33]

You make some good points Mongoose33. My RIMS is 5,500 watt. Usually I run it at 50% cycle unless I'm heating strike water or parge water. I'm also recirculating about 1 gal/min. according to my flow meter.
I'm thinking there may be little benefit going with an insulated MT. However, I could start heating my strike water up the night before to save time in the morning. Insulation would be a benefit there.

You certainly have capacity; I'm using a 120v element in mine.

I wonder about the rate of recirculation, though. I typically use 8.25 gallons of water when I'm doing a 5-gallon batch. A 1 gpm rate would mean turnover every 7 minutes or so, which isn't all that fast....unless the mash tun is insulated. So I'd use an insulated tun in your case.

I did decide to put reflectix around my 20-gallon kettle (10 gallon batches). It's slower heating--same element--so I wanted to at least eliminate some of the losses.

Here's a pic w/ the larger kettles, both MT and BK:

 

[augiedoggy]

Hi All,

I'm looking to upgrade from my 10 gal cooler with false bottom to a 20gal SS MT. I recirc with a pump and RIMS tube now. Does the insulated MT like the SSbrewtech have an advantage over a non-insulated MT? I'm thinking it would be just an extra cost. Although, the Spike MT's can get almost just as expensive.

Thanks!!

Short answer should be NO... If the rims is designed correctly it should be more than adequate to maintain and even step the mashing temp of an uninsulated tun (granted your not brewing outside in freezing temps) will an insulated tun hurt? no it should have slight theoretical advantages but do those advantages merit the disadvantages like cost, easy of use/emptying and cleaning vs a regular kettle. (the SStech mashtun weights 40lbs empty!) To me using both is like wearing a raincoat indoors to stay dry from a practical standpoint. Mongooses approach is more practical IMO than a bulky expensive insulated tun.

I have an 1800w 240v rims at home and use a regular 16 gallon bayou classic kettle as a mashtun... never had an issue stepping or maintaining temps. (brew indoor though)1.5-1.8gpm
at the brewpub we have a 125 gallon non insulated mash tun and currently use a rims comprised of a 6000w and 2200w elements at 70% max power to step mash at up to 10 degrees rise per pass @ 4-5gpm... in this setup everything also works as it should and we loose more heat out the top when mashing in and stirring the grain in than anything.. if ever there was a case where insulation would make more sense it would be with the larger vessels though and I'm guessing insulation on our mash tun would result in less work for the rims but again... thats what its there for.

 

[logdrum]

I wrap mine in an old sleeping bag, My experience is that it helps somewhat for step mashing. I use the same sleeping bag for my conical-this is in an unheated garage in NE Ohio, all seasons.
Edited to add: 120v RIMS Rocket, 10 gal Spike mash tun

 

[cfrazier77]

At 5500 watts you don't need it. I use refletix, and it really helps on my 120 volt system. If you go with insulation it will not hurt you. Maybe just a wrap or two of refletix would be all you need and then you don't have to deal with the weight.