Sous Vide with 10 Gallon Cooler Mash Tun

[ITV]

I bought a sous vide (800W Monoprice) for cooking. Since I now own a sous vide I was interested to see how it would do to maintain mash temperatures and do step mashes. Since my cooler mash tun looses only 2 deg F for a 60 minute mash, the ability to maintain mash temperatures with the sous vide was not my primary goal.

I did a test setup with warm water and a recirc pump since the sous vide's little propeller didn't seem up to the task to recirculate water in a 10 gallon cooler. To my supprise I was able to get a 3 deg F temperature rise every 5 minutes. Although not enough power for step mashes, I could add hot water to get to the next target temp quicker. To keep the grain away from my sous vide, I used my 400 micron stainless steel hop filter, note that I mash commando (no filter bag). I repurposed my insulated enamel pot lid which I cut a slot to help maintain the heat inside my mash tun.

I recently used my sous vide setup for a brew which the target mash temp was 151 deg. F. The sous vide held the temperture within 1 deg. F for my 60 minute mash. I have a seperate thermowell midway on my mash tun which I use my inkbird to display the temperature. The inkbird showed a consistant 150 deg F temp which was only 1 deg F from what the sous vide showed. After my mash was done, I was supprised on how clean the sous vide internals were. A quick cleaning with bar keepers friend brought it back to new condition.

Overall I was happy with my sous vide mash tun setup. By recirculating my mash, it was ready to transfer to the brew kettle after the mash was complete.

 

[seatazzz]

Subbed. I've also thought of adding a sous vide to my mash tun and want to see what others have done.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

Brilliant use of your hop spider!

 

[markcurry]

I like your setup. I've always used my sous vide in brewing - but only to heat my mash water. That in itself has been a great time saver - I setup things the night before, and turn on the sous vide right before I go to bed. In the morning I've got 12-15 gallons of mash water at around 180 ready to go.

I've not gone the step you have to actually heat my mash itself with the sous vide. I've headed the manufacturer's instruction closely (too closely I'm now realizing) to only use the device to heat plain water. But now - screw any warranties - the sous vide devices, for better or worse only last 2 years max anyway - it's a harsh environment. I doubt any carmelization from the wort / etc. is going to effect the life span any more. It's the heat on the electronics that kill these things.

Using the sous vide to help maintain temperature of the mash (especially during winter months), and to "help" with step mashes is something I'm going to look into as well. Using the hop spider is a brilliant idea.

 

[ITV]

My choices to experiement with this project is that I had more time for projects with the pandemic and I paid $35 for my sous vide on sale. It is a basic model that doesn't have wi-fi or reqiure an app to operate and if I end up damaging it I am not out much money. I also did not want to scrap my brewing equipment and buy a new RIMS system so I thought I would try to create a poor man's RIMS system with what I already had around the house.

I have seen other people using a sous vide for maintaining mash temperatures but they were using smaller mash tuns and most of them use a brew in a bag approach. I would be interested what other sous vide applications people had experience with.

I looked up the 120VAC version of the Grainfather and my setup takes twice as long to heat up.

 

[RePete]

I used a Sous Vide to heat mash water yesterday. I brew in the garage with a Robobrew, and don’t have a way to heat mash water. What I usually do is to bring 8 gallons to a boil, and then draw off 5 into a cooler. Then add a gallon of cold water to the kettle to mash. By the time it’s ready to sparge, the water in the cooler is down to about 170*. It works well, but it takes a long time to get 8 gallons to boil. Yesterday I was hoping to save time by heating the sparge water with the Sous Vide while mashing. I didn’t start soon enough. And then, while not a stuck sparge, it drained painfully slow. So, it ended up taking about as long overall. I think it has potential to save time, just need to work out some kinks in the process.

 

[AF1HomeBrew]

I've often thought about using my BCS controlled system and my Spike Mashtun to Sous Vide. This thread has peaked my interest more, and I might need to give it try. Good re-use of your brewing equipment.

 

[RePete]

I used the Sous Vide to heat sparge water yesterday, this time in a smaller cooler, and it worked great. Started heating that water right after getting the mash water going, and it was ready plenty of time. Between that, and coming up with a different chiller setup, I was able to cut a couple hours off of my brew day. I was quite happy.

 

[kestrelbrewing]

Excellent! I've been using the sous vide to heat to strike temp +2º/lb of grain and then taking it out and adding the grain in. I guess I finally have a need for a hop spider …

 

[ITV]

I have done two batches of beer with my sous vide setup. The first batch went as planned, the second batch my grain bill was smaller which didn't get to the minimum level on my sous vide. With a low level the sous vide shuts off, my guess so the heating element doesn't run dry and burn up. I was able to lower the hop filter to rest on the bottom of the mash tun. This worked out well but the display on the sous vide was below the wall of the mash tun which exposed it to moisture. Fortunately this didn't affect the electronics on the sous vide but I wouldn't recommend it.

The sous vide also has a maximum level, so it is important to be able to adjust the sous vide (up or down) to have the level of the mash fall between the min and max level. The other nuance that I noticed is that the mash can't be too thick or the pump can't recircirc the mash properly to maintain a constant temperature throught the mash tun. The suggested ratio (1.25 qt water/ lb of grain) works out well, in other words this will not work for thick mashes.

I plan on continuing on using my sous vide cooler mash tun setup since I really like that I can control my mash temps within 1 degree F.

 

[kestrelbrewing]

I was told by a chef friend that the reason for the minimum immersion level, and this fits with the tiny bit of what I know about outboard engines, is because the impeller relies on the water as a lubricant and running it dry can damage the impeller.

Curious: At 800W, what do they say the maximum volume of water is?

Thought you might find my pandemic project interesting:
I brewed a batch of Belgian Quad.
Got 4.5 gallons of 13% ABV beer. It's currently in secondary.
When it's done, I plan on racking 3 gallons into a 3 gallon carboy and then bottling the rest.
3 gallon carboy gets hooked up to a distillation column that I found on Amazon. (Junior high science kit comes with stands, stoppers, etc. $70,. the distillation column is hooked up to a small pond pump circulating water through the column jacket from a cooler filled with ice water.
I will put the 3 gallon carboy into a 5 gallon bucket which is then filled with water giving me a 2 gallon water jacket around the carboy.
Drop the sous vide into the water jacket and set to 155. Allow to distill until nothing is coming out. Throw all that crap out. Now the methyl alcohol should be completely gone.
Jack the sous vide up to 175º. What comes out while it's holding at 175º should be pure ethyl alcohol and some flavonoids from the hops that evaporate around the same temp.
In theory, this should yield around a half gallon of alcohol. The idea is to use it to make genever, a traditional Belgian "gin" made with alcohol from malted grains rather than standard vodka.

Having read your mashing experiment, I'm wondering if I'm being too conservative by not just dropping the sous vide into the beer. Especially since my warranty has been expired for some time now and I've been waiting for the thing to die so I can get a fancier one.

 

[ITV]

Interesting pandemic project!

My sous vide states 4 gallons maximum volume and 2.25 gallons per minute circulation pump (impeller?).

Since I use my chugger pump to recirc, I am not relying on the tiny impeller from the sous vide.

I took the pump housing off the sous vide to correlate the min and max level marks. The min level is above the heating coils and the max level is below the housing.

I feel that droping the sous vide in the mash shouldn't be a problem as long as the impeller is kept clear of the grains.

 

[kestrelbrewing]

Interesting pandemic project!

My sous vide states 4 gallons maximum volume and 2.25 gallons per minute circulation pump (impeller?).

Since I use my chugger pump to recirc, I am not relying on the tiny impeller from the sous vide.

I took the pump housing off the sous vide to correlate the min and max level marks. The min level is above the heating coils and the max level is below the housing.

I feel that droping the sous vide in the mash shouldn't be a problem as long as the impeller is kept clear of the grains.

View attachment 690538

Interesting. Mine is older, rated at 5gal, and the min/max range starts just above the hole where the impeller pushes the liquid out and about an inch below the bit that houses the circuitry. Not sure what the scale is in you photo, but the distance between min and max on mine is about an inch and a half. That's been a bit challenging with evaporation on a 24 hour pork shoulder cook even with a lid.

I was more worried about sugars cartelizing on the heating element and reducing the efficiency.

 

[ITV]

Interesting. Mine is older, rated at 5gal, and the min/max range starts just above the hole where the impeller pushes the liquid out and about an inch below the bit that houses the circuitry. Not sure what the scale is in you photo, but the distance between min and max on mine is about an inch and a half. That's been a bit challenging with evaporation on a 24 hour pork shoulder cook even with a lid.

I was more worried about sugars cartelizing on the heating element and reducing the efficiency.

The distance from the bottom of my sous vide to the min mark is 2.5" and just over 6" to the max mark or 3.5" between the two.

I never thought about evaporation before, most of my sous vide cooks are less than 2 hours. I suppose for a 24 hour cook you can add hot water occasionally.

For my brews I didn't have any issues with build up on the heating elements, however I haven't brew any high gravity beers with it yet, something to be concerned about.

 

[kestrelbrewing]

The distance from the bottom of my sous vide to the min mark is 2.5" and just over 6" to the max mark or 3.5" between the two.

I never thought about evaporation before, most of my sous vide cooks are less than 2 hours. I suppose for a 24 hour cook you can add hot water occasionally.

For my brews I didn't have any issues with build up on the heating elements, however I haven't brew any high gravity beers with it yet, something to be concerned about.

Interesting …

If you haven't tried a sous vide pork shoulder, I highly recommend it. Stick it in the bag with pork spices (I have a mix, I'll drop the recipe in here but I'm in the man cave right now, not the kitchen). 36 hours at 62ºC and it's awesome. If you have a smoker, pull it out after 24 hours, coat it in brown sugar and smoke for 4 hours at 200º using the melted fat from the sous vide bag as your mop. Spectacular. Even my mother in law said it was the best pulled pork she'd ever had.

 

[ITV]

Interesting …

If you haven't tried a sous vide pork shoulder, I highly recommend it. Stick it in the bag with pork spices (I have a mix, I'll drop the recipe in here but I'm in the man cave right now, not the kitchen). 36 hours at 62ºC and it's awesome. If you have a smoker, pull it out after 24 hours, coat it in brown sugar and smoke for 4 hours at 200º using the melted fat from the sous vide bag as your mop. Spectacular. Even my mother in law said it was the best pulled pork she'd ever had.

Beer & BBQ, can't have one without the other. All of my grills/smokers are charcoal fired, my favorite is my Weber Smokey Mountain.
I havn't considered a pork shoulder in the sous vide and finishing on the smoker before, sounds great. I noticed that you mixed the temps (sous vide in deg. C and grill in deg. F). I am intereted in your spice receipe.
I have reversed steaks before with great results.
Below pic of my pork shoulder on my smoker.

 

[kestrelbrewing]

Beer & BBQ, can't have one without the other. All of my grills/smokers are charcoal fired, my favorite is my Weber Smokey Mountain.
I havn't considered a pork shoulder in the sous vide and finishing on the smoker before, sounds great. I noticed that you mixed the temps (sous vide in deg. C and grill in deg. F). I am intereted in your spice receipe.
I have reversed steaks before with great results.
Below pic of my pork shoulder on my smoker.

I don't know why I mix standards … the instructions with the sous vide came in ºC and they've stuck in my head. The smoker (offset charcoal) has a dial that shows ºF. I suppose its a consequence of having grown up an ex pat in Europe: born into American standard measurements, brought up on the metric system.

Spice mix (nothing fancy, but it does the job):
1/2 cup dried oregano
1/2 cup ground cumin
1/4 cup smoked paprika
1/4 cup smoked salt

If my daughter wasn't anti spicy food, I'd probably put a bunch of ground up chipotle in there as well.

The beauty of starting in the sous vide is that it marinades in its own melted fat which absorbs the spices. It's almost impossible to dry it out at that point. 4 hours in the smoker will caramelize the brown sugar and add a good amount of smoke. I use hickory.

And if you haven't smoked salt, that's another trick you should try. Find a heat tolerant bowl. Make sure it's something that no one will be pissed when it is destroyed (I use a ceramic bowl from an annual beer/chili festival here) because it is going to be ugly after this. Fill it half way with coarse sea salt and just stick it in the corner of the smoker while you're smoking something else. give it a stir now and again when you think about it.

 

[Bigdaddyale]

I use an STC1000+ and an old crockpot - not my rig but you get the idea

 

[ITV]

I don't know why I mix standards … the instructions with the sous vide came in ºC and they've stuck in my head. The smoker (offset charcoal) has a dial that shows ºF. I suppose its a consequence of having grown up an ex pat in Europe: born into American standard measurements, brought up on the metric system.

Spice mix (nothing fancy, but it does the job):
1/2 cup dried oregano
1/2 cup ground cumin
1/4 cup smoked paprika
1/4 cup smoked salt

If my daughter wasn't anti spicy food, I'd probably put a bunch of ground up chipotle in there as well.

The beauty of starting in the sous vide is that it marinades in its own melted fat which absorbs the spices. It's almost impossible to dry it out at that point. 4 hours in the smoker will caramelize the brown sugar and add a good amount of smoke. I use hickory.

And if you haven't smoked salt, that's another trick you should try. Find a heat tolerant bowl. Make sure it's something that no one will be pissed when it is destroyed (I use a ceramic bowl from an annual beer/chili festival here) because it is going to be ugly after this. Fill it half way with coarse sea salt and just stick it in the corner of the smoker while you're smoking something else. give it a stir now and again when you think about it.

Thanks for the receipe.
Below is my rib rub, *cut in 1/2 if you don't like it really hot:
1/2 cup Hungarian Paprika
*1/2 cup Cayenne Pepper (ground)
1/2 cup Yellow Corn Meal
1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Granulated Garlic
*1 Tbsp crushed Red Pepper
1 Tbsp Celery Seed
1 Tbsp Smoked Salt
3/4 Tbsp Coriander (ground)
1/2 Tsp Clove (ground)
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg (ground)

I use a makeshift pan out of aluminum foil when I make smoked salt.

 

[kestrelbrewing]

Thanks for the receipe.
Below is my rib rub, *cut in 1/2 if you don't like it really hot:
1/2 cup Hungarian Paprika
*1/2 cup Cayenne Pepper (ground)
1/2 cup Yellow Corn Meal
1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Granulated Garlic
*1 Tbsp crushed Red Pepper
1 Tbsp Celery Seed
1 Tbsp Smoked Salt
3/4 Tbsp Coriander (ground)
1/2 Tsp Clove (ground)
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg (ground)

I use a makeshift pan out of aluminum foil when I make smoked salt.

Curious: what does the cornmeal do for you?

If you're doing the sous vide/smoker method, just leave the brown sugar out for the sous vide step and then pat it on before you go into the smoker. I think I'd recommend doing the same with the cornmeal since 24 hours soaking in pork fat will probably make a lovely cornmeal/pork fat mush …

 

[ITV]

Curious: what does the cornmeal do for you?

If you're doing the sous vide/smoker method, just leave the brown sugar out for the sous vide step and then pat it on before you go into the smoker. I think I'd recommend doing the same with the cornmeal since 24 hours soaking in pork fat will probably make a lovely cornmeal/pork fat mush …

This is my non sous vide rib rub receipe (smoker only) that I have been using for years, sorry for the confusion.
I am fairly new to sous vide and I have done pork chops and steak. I need to try a pork shoulder.

 

[kestrelbrewing]

Brewing today and thought I’d share my current sous vide strike water heating setup. It ain’t fancy, but it does the trick.

 

[reinbrew]

Great idea to do a step mash.