600g mash tun feasibility?

[Mojzis]

Hi everyone, I have a question for some pros or handy hobbyists. While at work I found a neat piece of equipment at a cheese factory. It appears to be 600g, as the plaque said size=600. Maybe it's in metric? Anyway it appears to have a SS paddle for mixing inside, but I'm not 100% yet. I asked the owner about the price if he wanted to sell it as it was siting outside the building. He said he would ask the scrap yard how much they would pay and that I may have it for the same price. When I get a call back I'm going to inspect it further and get some details.

Anyway my question is do you think it could be used as a micro mash tun? It is quite large and seems to be in good shape. The motor for the mixing paddle isn't there but for the price of scrap this would be hard to pass up. Anyway let me know what you guys think.

 

[SpentGrains]

If it doesn't work you can scrap it and break even? Wouldn't even give it a second thought.

 

[mbauer013]

looks like a milk tank, as long as it holds liquid, it could be modified to mash

 

[limulus]

Yeah, I have to agree. I think you could definitely use it as a mash tun if it does not leak. I've seen all kinds of modified tanks used for mashing. That photo does not really make it easy to tell how big it is. But not being any taller than the wild flowers around it, I'd say it is not 600 gallons. That would be close to 20BBL. But 600L or 5BBL looks more like it. Either way, you may be able to get an excellent deal on a commercial scale mash tun. BTW, if you have the dimensions of the tank, there are some online calculators that will help you estimate the volume if the owner does not know.

 

[chuckularone]

No way I'd use it as a pressure vessel, but if you can fit it with a false bottom, you're golden.

 

[eulipion2]

600 liters, maybe? About 5 barrels.

 

[ajwillys]

I agree, its probably 600 liters. I have some 150 gallon kettles and they look about that same size.

 

[Mojzis]

Thanks guys, you confirmed my own thoughts. Once I go to check it out I'll know more, like if it can hold liquids. Pretty important.

 

[smokinghole]

Even if it leaks, I'd take it. Leaks can be fixed if you are looking for a tun that size, you wont find anything near this price at that size and stainless any cheaper. Even if you need to get some welding done on it you will be way ahead. It probably has sanitary fitting already, but depending on age they might be bevel seat. They're fine kind of annoying for tanks and hoses. I'd only ever use them on a plumbing fence but would prefer DIN to bevel seat for panels still. Anyhow good find!

 

[Mojzis]

Finally got a call back. He'll take 500$ for it. Going to try and set up a time to check it out further. I'll get some more pics of it, including the fittings.

 

[Mojzis]

Another question. How would you go about cleaning this thing out if it were to be used as a mash tun? I believe the only openings are the valve and lid on the top that's about a foot wide.

 

[rvklein]

You're not going to want to use that as a Mash tun without a man way.

 

[Mojzis]

Anyway to install one?

 

[rvklein]

Sure but would require stainless metal working & welding skills. The manway itself would be about $400 at a minimum.

 

[ajwillys]

I say pass. As mentioned, you don't want to use it as a mash tun without a manway and also a false bottom/manifold. It would make a nice kettle or HLT but then you'd need a boiler, which racks up the cost pretty considerably. Unless you think you'll ever go pro with it, its probably more cost for very little benefit. Now, if he had said $200 or something... Nano brew equipment is becoming cheaper all the time due to scale so its becoming less desirable to re-purpose stuff.

 

[Jaybird]

Offer him $400 play with it and if it doesn't work out. Sell it on Pro Brewer and get your $$ back out of it. Heck even for $500 an insulated 5BBL kettle is worth $1000 to $1500 used all day long...
You can get a manway bought and installed for about $500. Cut the top off for $50 save it for a lid and your golden... If this was in my back yard I wouldn't pass it up!

A new 5 BBL mash tun is going to run about $5K or more depending on the quality of welding and material used..

Good luck... Keep us posted if you buy it and what your plans are for it...

I love to see a good project in action!

Cheers
Jay

 

[ajwillys]

Yes but where do you put the manway in a jacketed tank? There's coils all around the whole thing and no place to cut a giant hole in the side of it.

 

[Mojzis]

So I went to check it out today. 1 hour drive from home. One of the owners was very kind and came out to tell me about it. It is about 6ft wide and 5ft tall up to the shoulder of the tank. The guy is convinced it is 600g. How would I know for sure what the size is? Anyway it does have a SS paddle inside but no motor. However I was thinking it could be a great kettle. Steam jacketed, has a few thermowells, side ports, CIP ball, ~2" ball valve, etc. The hole on top is large enough for me to climb in if I had to. I was wondering if it would be possible to boil with this thing. What does everyone think? I'll put up pictures of the pressure ratings for the steam.

Btw the guy said its been sitting out in the driveway to the factory for a few years. Looks like its in great shape still. It was used to mix sour cream and onion dip. they merged with another company and cut productions for the dip and tossed this outside. They don't have an outdoor forklift so they haven't touched it. He said it was perfectly fine, just don't need it anymore.

 

[Mojzis]

Oh and they had a small jacketed piece there also. Appears to be around 100g? Anyway it has a motor and paddle inside. Too small for myself, but still a neat find.

Oh and we got some damn good cheese while we were there. The owner wanted to give us a tour of the cheese factory but we didn't have boots and pants!

 

[Brad2287]

I get 1057 Gallons based in the outside dimensions given. This does not account for the jacketing etc... If you measue the inside radius and the height it would be really easy to calculate.

 

[FermentNEthinG]

damn man that thing is bad ass! Now all you need is a boiler, and a few pallets of grain!

 

[smokinghole]

I still say get it and figure out what to do with I later. I have been quoted over $300 for a used 30gal unjacketed kettle. So considering you have a much larger jacketed mixing tank, you have significant value even if you cannot make it useful. Of course this depends on whether or not you have space to keep the tank until you use it or flip it.

 

[ShinyBuddha]

...The owner wanted to give us a tour of the cheese factory but we didn't have boots and pants!

No pants? Must be an interesting story.

Oh, and nice find too. If you get it, I'd be interesting to see how you end up heating it....hot water pumped through the jacketed area?

 

[limulus]

It is a no brainer. If you think you may be interested in commercial scale brewing, you have to buy that tank. If not, you could still buy it and flip it. It looks way too nice to pass now that you've posted photos. I have to change my previous assessment and say that it is definitely a much bigger tank than 600L and 600 gallons is probably more like it based on the dimensions.

 

[ajwillys]

It looks much bigger with the scale (the guy next to it). You should definitely get it for $600 regardless of what you decide to do with it. I'd still be hesitant to try and hack it into a MLT but it would be an awesome brew kettle. It might be tough to direct fire it... you might still have to get a boiler.

As an alternative, you could use it for mashing and have a separate lauter tun, but that would kinda ruin the point.

 

[nhwrecker]

"How would I know for sure what the size is?"

volume, V, of a cylinder is height(H) times area of circle, H x pi x R^2 (that's radius squared), and there's app. 7.5 gallons of water/c.f. If the top and bottom are concave, convex, ignore them in the basic calculation, as they'd be probably considered as dead space anyway.

Based on your ballpark numbers, with Height H=5', Diameter, D=6', radius, R = 3', so V=5'x3.14x3^2=141.4 cubic feet (c.f.)

141.4x7.5 = 1060ish gallons.

However, you really need to use the inside dimensions, which may be quite different from the 5' high and 6' wide.

 

[ClaudiusB]

The guy is convinced it is 600g. How would I know for sure what the size is? Anyway it does have a SS paddle inside but no motor.

Buy it if you have storage space, sell it later if you have no use for it.

Use it as a mashtun, with a false bottom as a combination mash/lauter tun or as a lauter tun only.
Can be used as a brewing water storage tank too, so many options.

This is my largest one with a 15 HP mixer.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

 

[Thundercougarfalconbird]

Small tank looks nice too. All the fittings look like DIN rather than triclover.
Paddles may keep you from putting a false bottom in it (doesn't mean you can't have a separate lauter tun)
It isn't built to whirlpool, though perhaps you can slap a motor on top with enough horses to whirlpool w/ the paddle. Consider a whirlpool tank if you use this tank as a BK.
Be aware boiler and install isn't cheap.
Looks like a great a HLT at the very least.
I say buy. Resale will be easy.

 

[Mojzis]

Commercial brewing may be in the future, which is why we are interested in it. The only issue is getting it to the 175 acres we have 2 hours away. It can sit in a barn or field there until/if we need it. I drive a small car. Trying to get my father to ride up to get it though.

And the volume im sure is 600g then. I measured the outside since I didn't want to climb in this thing and spend an hour of the guys time. However the walls are around 6" thick, so 600 makes sense especially since the plaque says so.

I'm not too familiar with commercial equipment. Can't it be used as a boil kettle with the steam input?

 

[ClaudiusB]

I'm not too familiar with commercial equipment. Can't it be used as a boil kettle with the steam input?

The rating is 50 psi for the steam jacket.
Always better to contact the manufacturer and ask if the tank can be used with 15 psi steam or what is the recommended pressure.

Cheeers,
ClaudiusB

 

[Thundercougarfalconbird]

I don't see why you couldn't use it as a BK. The only trouble I see with it is separating the hops (and I'm not a fan of DIN). I am unsure of the size of the brewery you are shooting for (brewpub or production facility) if you have the space in the building for a whirlpool tank it seems like an acceptable BK.
It may be a high pressure steam vessel if its rated at 50psi. I'm unfamiliar with high pressure applications. My jacketed kettles operate at 15psi.

 

[smokinghole]

Hop separation would be easy if he's not opposed to whole hops he can just use a hop back to separate the hops out. DIN fittings are fine but I've only ever used them on a fixed pipe fence panel, I've never really used them for CIP connections and drains/other ports on a tank. I did use a lot of beveled seat for a short time which is essentially DIN but the gasket is not retained by the male connection. Threaded fittings for anything but a stationary pipe panel are a *****. If you have to reduce it's a pain, if you have to adapt to something else it's a pain. TC is nice because there are so many standard adapters for one size to another that you can buy right off a shelf. You typically have to do custom built for threaded to TC in some instances depending on what you're trying to do. If he's going to modify it in any way already then cutting the DIN off and having some TC ferrules welded on would be a minor additional cost.

 

[Thundercougarfalconbird]

Truthiness. All things to be considered for sure.
Is the smaller tank steam jacketed? If only it was glycol jacketed, it looks like a great yeast-brink.
That looks like floor drain grates beside it. Perhaps another little score.

 

[Mojzis]

I was thinking of something between 7 and 15 barrel system. Currently I'm siding on production. Down the road anyway. As far as the pressure rating on the tank, I still need to call the manufacturer to get an idea of what it can be used for. I'm really hoping to make a kettle out of it.

I don't know much about the fittings. Any links for the TC ferrules? My brother has a welding friend that may be able to assist in that area. Any pages I can read about how commercial breweries filter out the hops/proteins? Couldn't I drop a huge hop spider in there?

I believe the smaller tank was also steam jacketed. I'll have to double check, that tank could make a nice cheap yeast-brink.

It looks like we might be picking this thing up around labor day weekend. I have to give the guy a call and tell him I want it still, now that I have a way for pickup.

 

[smokinghole]

Check stpats.com for easy to browse tc stuff. Plus they have decent prices for small purchases.