Building a keg bottom draining mashtun

[RocketBrewer]

That looks incredible! Nice work.

 

[dmcman73]

Thanks RocketBrewer!

I did add one more thing to it, I put foam pipe insulation on the draining pipe under the Mash/tun. During my test run with hot water (test for leaks) I noticed the pipe giving off a lot of heat so I insulated it with that black foam pipe insulation from home depot.

 

[HoppyHeadFred]

Where did you get your false bottom for your keggle?

 

[dmcman73]

It's a Jaybird false bottom, I got the false bottom without a hole (since it's bottom draining) and the center support for like $140 off eBay from norcalbrewingsolutions.

EDIT: This is the one which comes with the level 3 filter stand: http://www.ebay.com/itm/15-JAYBIRD-...164?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4191ebfc84

They have cheaper ones, same false bottom but made with different filter stands.

 

[sasky7777]

FWIW I like the full colour logo you posted earlier, I think it looks really professional

 

[dmcman73]

Thanks sasky7777!

 

[fourfarthing]

Wow. Just wow.

 

[GaBrewZoo]

Nice. Awesome job. I am about to start on my hlt, and when I get to my mash tun, I want it to look like that.

 

[1fast636]

Omg well looks like my mash tun will be getting this treatment when I finally get around to it looks amazing man, how are your temps holding up with all that insulation? My guess is not a problem lol

 

[dmcman73]

Omg well looks like my mash tun will be getting this treatment when I finally get around to it looks amazing man, how are your temps holding up with all that insulation? My guess is not a problem lol

Temps are holding steady, no issues!

 

[1fast636]

Sweet if you don't mind I think I'm going to replicate what you did but use stainless banding around it I have always had the bottom drain on my next item up, but insulated and looking bad a$$ed makes it that much better lol. Can't wait and congrats on one beautiful brewery man

 

[dmcman73]

Sweet if you don't mind I think I'm going to replicate what you did but use stainless banding around it I have always had the bottom drain on my next item up, but insulated and looking bad a$$ed makes it that much better lol. Can't wait and congrats on one beautiful brewery man

Thanks! And go right ahead!

I used the copper for two reasons:
1. I already had copper flashing laying around so I just hammer into a strap.

2. It actually tied in better with the color stain I used on my MT and stand.

Good luck!

 

[AkBrew907]

This is beautiful. Nice work!

What kind of efficiency are you seeing?

 

[dmcman73]

This is beautiful. Nice work!

What kind of efficiency are you seeing?

Thanks! I'll let you know on my next brew, only brewed on it once so far and forgot to calculate efficiency. I have all my gravity measurements at home, I'll see if I can calculate the percentage from those. I know I hit my SG head on though.

 

[jcc4507fly]

Just amazing!!! Very nice setup!

 

[jcc4507fly]

How do you like the sparge ball? I'm experimenting with a couple different ideas for a better solution during recirculation and also for the sparge. I mostly use a spare piece of silicon tubing but find I have issues with wort pooling.

 

[dmcman73]

I like it a lot, there are quite a few people on here who just use a piece of silicone tubing and no float ball. I used to just use a piece of tubing as well but found that a times the tubing would find it way under the grains, the float eliminates that.

 

[Calfj60]

Can I bombard you with questions?

Thickness of insulation?

Thickness of wood?

Number of wood strips?

Height of recirc port?

Thanks going to embark on this project real soon ����

 

[TriggerHappy]

Wow, that is just a beautiful piece of equipment, great ingenuity too.

 

[sasky7777]

Saw your setup in BYO magazine. Is your control panel a Kal clone? What are the dimensions for your stand?

 

[dmcman73]

Just wanted to update this thread.

After countless brews through this MashTun, it has worked incredible. 74% Brewhouse efficiency (I've been playing around with the crush on my grain mill) and only looses about .5 to 1 degree F in 60 minutes.

Since the MashTun is high up and it is pretty heavy, to clean it out I connect a hose to the drain valve and place the other end into a 5 gallon bucket and drain it dry while I'm boiling my wort. I could possibly use any wort that I drain off the mashtun for a parti-gyle but brew days are long enough with a single brew. I then simply scoop out the grains with a large plastic grain scooper and then use a stainless steel shop vac I only use for the brewery cleaning to vacuum out any remaining grains. Use a high temp garden hose to clean the inside with PBW and I'm done, everything cleaned in place.

 

[RevKev]

Dude! I just ran across this after looking throughout this... awesome job. I'm also an avid woodworker and been looking for a mash tun (thinking of saving up the $ for an insulated SS Brewtech) but this is so much better and you should be so damned proud you get that amount of temperature security from a DIY. Two thumbs up 👍👍

 

[RevKev]

You've inspired me into pricing this out for myself hope you don't mind