Now what would you do?

[MichaelBD]

I currently have a 100 litre biodiesel rig at home which I think could be PERFECT for home brewing, but I'm in a dilemma on 'what' application I should use it for...
A mash tun or a fermenter??

Ok so firstly just to explain what this baby has in it. It's all electric and it has a heating element, a centrifugal pump which recirculates the water/wort into a tube with holes which is mounted horizontally on top of the unit (inside, just think of it as a sparge arm) just like a RIMS system. It also has a float sensor inside, a temperature probe, a sight glass, and even a tube inside at the bottom that is used to connect oxygen/air to aerate the liquid.

I think to make this system work as a mashtun, I'll just have to add a false bottom, cut off the smaller conical shaped container and re-weld, and it should be set.
As for a fermenter, I'll have to remove lots of stuff and re-weld the container. I think keeping the aerator should be good as well though.

So what do you guys think? Could it be used for the mentioned purposes? I'm not planning on upping my scale anytime soon, but it would be great to know if it is a possibility for the future.

 

[T_Baggins]

maybe you could mix explosives in it?

 

[insanim8er]

Ok so let's say you do convert it to a tun, what will you do for a boil kettle of that size? If you turn it into a fermenter... How will you fill it?

Looks like you can turn the smaller extended vessel into a conical (probably closer to Homebrew size)

But as you explain what it is and has in it, it screams to be made into a mash tun ... Has it been contaminated by the previous use?

 

[MichaelBD]

Well if i really convert it into a conical then i will certainly size up my whole rig. As for contamination, the whole thing has to be cleaned up well and all should be fine imho.

 

[thadius856]

It's stainless (right?), so if you're diligent about cleaning, I wouldn't be worried about re-using it.

I don't think you'd need to do a huge amount to make it work as a conical. That'd be where I'd go with it, if it were me. However, I've avoided conicals because temperature control is difficult without a gylcol jacket and heating/cooling system.

Mash tun? Uhhh, how you gonna get all that grain out? Aside from a huge grain basket (which comes free with many large crawfish boil kettles, just saying), it's going to be a major pain in the ass to scoop out of that thing and scrub the sides. Plus, you'd need a custom false bottom, and now we're starting to talk pricey. I'm in the initial planning stages of a 1 bbl build, and I can't imagine working at that scale without a tippy-dump.

Do you know if it holds pressure?

 

[insanim8er]

Mash tun? Uhhh, how you gonna get all that grain out?

He could do BIAB and get a fork lift for the bag.

 

[thadius856]

Found this:

I can't imagine the bag you'd need for a huge grain bill in this thing. You'd likely have to rig the pulley system to gear it past a certain weight.

Personally I didn't go the BIAB route because you can't really recirculate/vorlouf to clarify, but to each their own.

 

[fpweeks]

Looks like a conical to me!!


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[MichaelBD]

Wow thanks guys! I think ill just put this on hold for the time being. Maybe ill just cut off the small conical part and use it for small trial batches


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