DIY Insulated Mash Tun

[JuanMoore]

A 2" tri-clamp fits almost perfectly on a standard sanke neck.

 

[jimmayhugh]

Hey Jimmay, could you give me a break down of what you have on the bottom of the keg? Looks like a tri-clover 90 degree elbow with clamp on the sanky valve, then tri-clover ball valve clamped on that? I guess what i'm asking is..What size tri clover fits onto the old sanky valve with out leaking?

I want to make my keggle, and I think it makes since to cut off the bottom and make use of the sanky valve to drain if you are going electric or RIMS

It's all based around 2" Tri-clover fittings. I used a 90 degree elbow, 2 clamps, a 2"x 1/2" NPT, and 2" Silicone gaskets. I then used a 1/2" ball valve and a 1/2" hose barb. The gasket between the keg and 90 degree elbow needs to be shaved flat on the keg side to ensure a tight seal. I'm considering getting a 2" butterfly valve and 2" to 5/8" hose barb to replace the ball valve.

 

[clamskittles]

I'm considering getting a 2" butterfly valve and 2" to 5/8" hose barb to replace the ball valve.

Why is that? what do you not like about the ball valve?

 

[jimmayhugh]

Why is that? what do you not like about the ball valve?

I'm looking at lschiavo's Sanke Tippy Dump MLT and want to reduce the size of the drain area to clear any possible obstructions in my "Barney" Brew Stand. The butterfly valve is shorter, and the 5/8" hose barb provides a little more flow.

 

[conpewter]

Nice build! With the reflectix insulation have you done another water test? I kind of want to replace my cooler with a bottom drain keggle, but not if I have to build a heated RIMS system to do it. Thanks!

 

[jimmayhugh]

Haven't re-tested yet, I've been busy building Barney, but I'm off this week and hope to get some tests done. :rockin:

 

[JuanMoore]

Nice build! With the reflectix insulation have you done another water test? I kind of want to replace my cooler with a bottom drain keggle, but not if I have to build a heated RIMS system to do it. Thanks!

Once again, the water test won't really provide much useful info, since a mash performs much differently than plain water.

FWIW my bottom drain keggle MLT is insulated with 2 layers of reflectix, with the air gap sealed on top and bottom, an insulated lid, and no insulation underneath. I've done 2 mashes in it without recirculating or using my HEX coil. The first time it was filled pretty full with a relatively thick mash, and only lost 1.8F in an hour with ~85F ambient temps. The second time it was only filled ~3/4 full with an average thickness mash, and lost ~3F over the first 60 min, and another 1F after another 15 min, with ~80F ambient temps. I'd bet that it would perform quite a bit better if my keg was rubber coated like the OP's.

 

[jimmayhugh]

Once again, the water test won't really provide much useful info, since a mash performs much differently than plain water.

So if I see a reduction of heat loss over time using the same test as before, it doesn't provide any useful info??

Gotta disagree with you there.

I understand that the thermal mass of a mash is different than plain water, and the heat loss may be different, but a reduction in one should also result in a reduction of the other, just a different ratio. And this way, I don't risk a perfectly good mash.

BTW, I got the butterfly valve, but could not find a 2" x 1/2" or 5/8" tri-clamp:

 

[JuanMoore]

So if I see a reduction of heat loss over time using the same test as before, it doesn't provide any useful info??

Gotta disagree with you there.

I didn't say any, I said much, and it was in response to someone wanting to know if a reflectix wrapped keggle will hold heat well enough to not require any external heat source, which a water test won't determine. I thknk you should do a water test to see how much different it is, because it's cheap, easy, and as you mentioned it won't risk a mash. The results of that test however aren't going to be much help in answering the question I was responding to.

 

[jimmayhugh]

Was testing my electrical system and RIMS setup today, and after I was done I left the 125 degree water in the MLT. An hour later, the temp had dropped 5 degrees, two hours later, the temp had dropped 12 degrees.

So it looks like the reflectix was worthwhile. :rockin:

 

[jimmayhugh]

I've used my insulated mash tun multiple times now, and it works very well.

The only thing I haven't been happy with was the return. I finally settled on a stainless steel colander to help distribute the water evenly over the grain bed.

I had a keg lid left over from my last keggle build, so I trimmed it down to fit the Mash Tun, and secured it to the lid using two 6-32 stainless steel screws and nuts:

And then added the appropriate hardware to connect to the lid of the sparge return:

The Tee Connector will allow me to add a thermowell or sampling faucet.

We'll see how it works next time I brew.

 

[catdaddy66]

^^^^



Very true! Data collected for heat loss using just water is meaninglesss IMHO. A mash will behave very differently, and a large mash will behave differently than a small mash.

It has to do with thermal mass. The bigger the mass, the slower the heat exchange with the environment.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[wilserbrewer]

It has to do with thermal mass. The bigger the mass, the slower the heat exchange with the environment.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Yes, but I also feel that a mash is stagnant and will not thermally circulate inside the tun.

Sorry been a few years since I was schooled, so my terminology is lacking. Perhaps a mash acts more like a solid rather than a liquid?


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/