Black rubber coated keg for Mash Tun?

[Huaco]

Anybody ever done this? Does the rubber insulate well enough not to need any extra insulation?
I planed on making my MT out of a keg anyway, and have access to a rubber coated one. If you have done this, what kind of temps are you holding? I plan to use a HERMS coil built on the E-Brewery plans.

 

[krazydave]

I'd be interested to know some details on this also! I have one that I was planning on converting at some point as well. I've heard of people doing it, but never really read anything about how well they hold temps, etc.
I would imagine sticking on some insulation would help even more though, but I do like the cleaner look of no insulation.

 

[tdogg]

I'm also looking into building one of these. Subscribed.

 

[Huaco]

Decided to not go with the rubberized keg this time around. It would probably work, but I didn't want to mess with cutting through the rubber AND the Keg.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I have one, and it works very well. Not much to it.

 

[tdogg]

I have one, and it works very well. Not much to it.

pics?

 

[jimmayhugh]

pics?

Here and here...

 

[krazydave]

Nice, thanks for the good write-up and pics!

So, quoting you here...
"OK, yesterday I filled the tun with about 13gal of 180 degree water, put a lid on top, and took temperature readings every 10 minutes for an hour and a half. The results were not good. Ambient temp was 68, with gusty winds. There was an almost linear 3 degree drop at every reading"

You didn't by chance test it with an actual mash before you wrapped it with reflectix, did you? Just curious since I know temps are more stable when there's a grainbed in there rather than water alone.

Also, have you tested it with water alone after you wrapped it to see if it's any more stable?

I like the tri-clover setup also, I've subscribed to your thread so I can continue to watch your progress and see how it performs with the FB and bottom drain configuration you're using.

I can say one thing, I didn't think that the rubber on these things was so thick! That looks like almost 3/4" of rubber on the bottom of that thing!

 

[jimmayhugh]

Haven't re-tested it yet, I'm in the process of building My Barney Brewstand, and am working on the RIMS and pump placement.

I'm sure that the increased thermal mass of a real mash will help mitigate some of the thermal drop, but I had planned on using reflectix in either case.

Just changed over to a 2" butterfly valve. Couldn't find a 2" TC x 1/2" or 3/4" hose barb, so until I can fabricate one, I have to use a threaded TC.

 

[tdogg]

Here and here...

Thanks! that wooden stand is almost EXACTLY what I had envisioned. I should have my hands on a rubber keg in the near future.

 

[Bart Diamond]

I'd be interested to know some details on this also! I have one that I was planning on converting at some point as well. I've heard of people doing it, but never really read anything about how well they hold temps, etc.
I would imagine sticking on some insulation would help even more though, but I do like the cleaner look of no insulation.

Nice, thanks for the good write-up and pics!

So, quoting you here...
"OK, yesterday I filled the tun with about 13gal of 180 degree water, put a lid on top, and took temperature readings every 10 minutes for an hour and a half. The results were not good. Ambient temp was 68, with gusty winds. There was an almost linear 3 degree drop at every reading"

You didn't by chance test it with an actual mash before you wrapped it with reflectix, did you? Just curious since I know temps are more stable when there's a grainbed in there rather than water alone.

Also, have you tested it with water alone after you wrapped it to see if it's any more stable?

I like the tri-clover setup also, I've subscribed to your thread so I can continue to watch your progress and see how it performs with the FB and bottom drain configuration you're using.

I can say one thing, I didn't think that the rubber on these things was so thick! That looks like almost 3/4" of rubber on the bottom of that thing!

KrazyDave, I just acquired some kegs at a steal of a price and two of them are rubber. My question is, what is under the rubber? I wanted to use one as a mash tun and the other as a HLT or boil kettle if I could get all the rubber off. Thanks

 

[krazydave]

KrazyDave, I just acquired some kegs at a steal of a price and two of them are rubber. My question is, what is under the rubber? I wanted to use one as a mash tun and the other as a HLT or boil kettle if I could get all the rubber off. Thanks

There is a typical stainless keg under all of that rubber. However, I doubt you ever get it all off of there.

This was some time ago, but I actually gave the one I had away to someone that wanted to use it as a fermenter/brite tank. I ended up sourcing some non-rubber ones and determine that this one wasn’t worth the amount of work required to convert it.

 

[Gonefishin]

This is my MLT. It is bottom drain and it's pretty efficient. Our winters gets pretty cold and I brew in my barn so I wrap the tun in a foam camping pad and put a foam pad on top of the mash when I begin to mash. In the dead of winter I loose 1-degree in the course of the mash. I do 10-gal. brews so 20+ lbs. of grain fills the tun to about 2/3 full. I replaced a 10-gal. igloo with this tun. I didn't like using plastic.