I decided to get my hands on a 10 gallon SS Brewtech Infussion Mash Tun to start doing some 5 Gallon Batches that my 10 gallon Blichmann BrewEasy system simply can’t handle because of the placement of the electric element. After brewing all-grain with igloo coolers the first few years of my homebrew “career”, I wanted a step-up from those but with the same easy-to-use concept at heart.
Basically my requirements were a versatile vessel that I can integrate in with some of my existing equipment configurations without completely having to rework my setup. Furthermore, my expectations have become pretty high after using the BrewEasy system, it’s produced some of the best beer I’ve ever made and I highly recommend it as a turnkey hybrid alternative. On paper the SS Brewtech Infussion had some pretty key features that would either take a good amount of modification or just couldn’t be achieved with an igloo cooler; basically a built in thermometer/thermowell, false bottom, ball valve, and all stainless hardware/vessel.
After the positive experience I had with my 14 gallon Chronical, I had confidence that the SS Brewtech product would be quality; especially given the step-up in price from a highly modified igloo. After receiving the tun, I unboxed it and began putting everything together. Everything was packed tightly, and nothing was damaged, my initial impression of this product was that it looked amazing and that there isn’t really anything else out there like it for the price.
After examining it closer you can tell that it’s very high quality construction; super clean welds throughout and zero rough polishing/finishing spots. Furthermore, there are small inherent built-in design features and benefits that in my opinion put my Blichmann mash tun and prior igloos to shame. Here are a few I noticed right off the bat:
1. The slight conical bottom and integrated center drain point instead of a dip tube to stave off dead space; my Blichmann typically holds onto about a half-gallon of wort from every brew.
2. The included false bottom can be removed without removing a dip tube or the thermowell. I’m one of those people that can stand to leave water to air-dry or small grain particles behind after brewing so I disassemble the dip tube and sight glass on my Blichmann mash tun after every brew day to clean them, it’s a huge PITA. This design is far superior, and also beats the hell out of trying to disconnect a hose and remove a domed false bottom from an igloo. You just lift it straight out, done.
3. The thermowell comes with a nice sized o-ring, and can hold water with just being hand tightened, which is huge plus for tool-less removal. My Blichman had to be hogged down by wrenches and removed the same way. Plus the digital vs. analog thermometer provided slightly higher temp resolution. In my tests, the digital thermometer was right on point with my thermapen after 20-30 seconds of settling.
4. The handles are riveted and spot welded, so they feel way more stout compared to the Gen 1 Blichmann handles, plus they are silicone coated. This came in handy because I did need to lift if when it was full during my brew day. Last thing you ever want is a handle breaking loose on a roughly 80+ pound full vessel of hot liquid.
5. The silicone seal around the lid is great, basically the same air-tight seal the Chronical fermenter uses, and the weight of the lid seals the tun nicely. Obviously the heat retention abilities are important, but this also came in handy since during my first mash, my grain bill maxed out the vessel, and while carrying it I didn’t spill a drop. Although if you’re careful this is very similar to an igloo, but I always seemed to slosh a bit of wort and grain out since the igloo lids don’t have a water tight seal.
6. The sparge arm offered much better distribution of water over the grain bed then my floating ball Blichmann auto-sparge does.
My impressions during the first brew outing were great, although I did overshoot my volume and temp being it was my first time around and I haven’t gotten familiar with what to expect. I preheated the tun for a few minutes with about 3 gallons of water while my strike water reached full temp, or 163 degrees. We brewed a Belgian Dark Strong Ale, so my grain bill was roughly 20 lbs with a water volume of roughly 7.5 gallons at 1.5qt/lb. My initial temp readings were about 154.5 when I was shooting for 153. No big deal, I added a little bit of room temp water to adjust the temp lower.
During the 75 min mash, I stirred and checked temp every 15 mins. My heat loss during the first half hour wasn’t even measurable, maybe 0.2 degrees, but basically static. During the remaining temp readings, at 45 min, I had lost about 0.5 degrees, and at 60 mins, 1.1 degrees, and 75 mins 1.6 degrees. Ambient temp in Socal at the time was roughly 82 degrees, yet the outside of the tun stayed cool to the touch the entire time.
Going from memory, my igloo lost roughly 2-3 degrees over the same time period, so I would put the heat loss about half the rate of an igloo at relatively high ambient temps and with preheating the vessel. I largely attribute the improvement to the lid, since igloo lids are usually the weak link in the chain since those vessels are primarily designed for cold liquids, and don’t have the meat of their insulation in the lid. The heat loss on my Blichmann mash tun isn’t even in the same ballpark due to it not being insulated, so there is really no comparative data point there.
Once it was time to begin the first runnings, I planned to vorlauf a few pitchers to clear the wort and set the grain bed. The ball valve worked as expected, and the first runnings appeared relatively clear with just a small amount of grain-flour particles in tow. After only two vorlaufs the wort was completely clear. The rest of the fly-sparge went very smooth, without the slightest hint of reduced flow or getting stuck.
I overshot our volume measurements as a result of the zero-deadspace, but that ended up working out alright since the prevalence of Belgian Pilsen malt necessitated a 90 minute boil. All-in-all my BrewEasy system swallows up 17.5ish gallons to produce 10 gallons into the fermenter. This system swallowed up about only about 10 gallons to get 6 into the fermenter, I discarded some sparge water due to the final runnings coming out so clear and already achieving our desired kettle volume. All in all, after the brew day was said and done I ended up with an efficiency of 85.2%, which is very impressive for the first go around. My 70%ish efficiencies with the BrewEasy isn’t applicable for comparison here since I went back to a standard three vessel system for this brew.
Although, one slight negative I discovered is that the rubber feet are very easily removed, which is probably why they even give you a few extra. They did fall off once or twice while moving the vessel into position, but they are super easy to reinstall. They just pop back into the holes in the bottom cladding. You don’t necessarily even need them, but they are there to keep the bottom from getting scratched up or damaging the surface you are brewing on. The interesting part is that when the feet are removed you can visually see the injected foam insulation, which is similar to what is found in refrigerator cabinets. The unit is heavy at roughly 35 lbs with nothing in it, so the foam is obviously very dense; which is likely the cause for minimal heat loss.
To bottom line the purchase, for the price point there is nothing better that I have experienced. A highly upgraded igloo can run you $200ish after all SS hardware, high quality SS false bottom, thermometer, sparge arm etc. I would easily say this solution is about three times as good, and will last a lot longer. Plus, an igloo will never be a SS vessel, and a step-up to the Infussion tun from the get-go probably wouldn’t have resulted in constant upgrades to my system over time.
Plus, for a non-insulated 10 gallon Blichmann solution, you’re still looking at roughly $440, or $510 with auto sparge. So for the Infussion insulated tun at $395, and $450 with the sparge arm adds a lot of value and features over the Blichmann with similar build quality. Overall I’m very pleased with the purchase and would buy it again in a heartbeat. I look forward to my next brew day where I can take into account some of the things I’ve learned from this first test. I am actually interested in using it in place of my 15 gallon Blichmann mash tun in the Brew Easy system to see how it affects my efficiency and the number of times the electric element has to fire.
If anyone is on the fence for a mash tun upgrade, that doesn’t want to mess around with a direct fired non-insulated kettle or step mashes this is the solution. By the time they roll out the RIMS addition to allow step mashes, I’m sure I will have mastered it a bit more and will be ready for a new project! Cheers!
Basically my requirements were a versatile vessel that I can integrate in with some of my existing equipment configurations without completely having to rework my setup. Furthermore, my expectations have become pretty high after using the BrewEasy system, it’s produced some of the best beer I’ve ever made and I highly recommend it as a turnkey hybrid alternative. On paper the SS Brewtech Infussion had some pretty key features that would either take a good amount of modification or just couldn’t be achieved with an igloo cooler; basically a built in thermometer/thermowell, false bottom, ball valve, and all stainless hardware/vessel.
After the positive experience I had with my 14 gallon Chronical, I had confidence that the SS Brewtech product would be quality; especially given the step-up in price from a highly modified igloo. After receiving the tun, I unboxed it and began putting everything together. Everything was packed tightly, and nothing was damaged, my initial impression of this product was that it looked amazing and that there isn’t really anything else out there like it for the price.
After examining it closer you can tell that it’s very high quality construction; super clean welds throughout and zero rough polishing/finishing spots. Furthermore, there are small inherent built-in design features and benefits that in my opinion put my Blichmann mash tun and prior igloos to shame. Here are a few I noticed right off the bat:
1. The slight conical bottom and integrated center drain point instead of a dip tube to stave off dead space; my Blichmann typically holds onto about a half-gallon of wort from every brew.
2. The included false bottom can be removed without removing a dip tube or the thermowell. I’m one of those people that can stand to leave water to air-dry or small grain particles behind after brewing so I disassemble the dip tube and sight glass on my Blichmann mash tun after every brew day to clean them, it’s a huge PITA. This design is far superior, and also beats the hell out of trying to disconnect a hose and remove a domed false bottom from an igloo. You just lift it straight out, done.
3. The thermowell comes with a nice sized o-ring, and can hold water with just being hand tightened, which is huge plus for tool-less removal. My Blichman had to be hogged down by wrenches and removed the same way. Plus the digital vs. analog thermometer provided slightly higher temp resolution. In my tests, the digital thermometer was right on point with my thermapen after 20-30 seconds of settling.
4. The handles are riveted and spot welded, so they feel way more stout compared to the Gen 1 Blichmann handles, plus they are silicone coated. This came in handy because I did need to lift if when it was full during my brew day. Last thing you ever want is a handle breaking loose on a roughly 80+ pound full vessel of hot liquid.
5. The silicone seal around the lid is great, basically the same air-tight seal the Chronical fermenter uses, and the weight of the lid seals the tun nicely. Obviously the heat retention abilities are important, but this also came in handy since during my first mash, my grain bill maxed out the vessel, and while carrying it I didn’t spill a drop. Although if you’re careful this is very similar to an igloo, but I always seemed to slosh a bit of wort and grain out since the igloo lids don’t have a water tight seal.
6. The sparge arm offered much better distribution of water over the grain bed then my floating ball Blichmann auto-sparge does.
My impressions during the first brew outing were great, although I did overshoot my volume and temp being it was my first time around and I haven’t gotten familiar with what to expect. I preheated the tun for a few minutes with about 3 gallons of water while my strike water reached full temp, or 163 degrees. We brewed a Belgian Dark Strong Ale, so my grain bill was roughly 20 lbs with a water volume of roughly 7.5 gallons at 1.5qt/lb. My initial temp readings were about 154.5 when I was shooting for 153. No big deal, I added a little bit of room temp water to adjust the temp lower.
During the 75 min mash, I stirred and checked temp every 15 mins. My heat loss during the first half hour wasn’t even measurable, maybe 0.2 degrees, but basically static. During the remaining temp readings, at 45 min, I had lost about 0.5 degrees, and at 60 mins, 1.1 degrees, and 75 mins 1.6 degrees. Ambient temp in Socal at the time was roughly 82 degrees, yet the outside of the tun stayed cool to the touch the entire time.
Going from memory, my igloo lost roughly 2-3 degrees over the same time period, so I would put the heat loss about half the rate of an igloo at relatively high ambient temps and with preheating the vessel. I largely attribute the improvement to the lid, since igloo lids are usually the weak link in the chain since those vessels are primarily designed for cold liquids, and don’t have the meat of their insulation in the lid. The heat loss on my Blichmann mash tun isn’t even in the same ballpark due to it not being insulated, so there is really no comparative data point there.
Once it was time to begin the first runnings, I planned to vorlauf a few pitchers to clear the wort and set the grain bed. The ball valve worked as expected, and the first runnings appeared relatively clear with just a small amount of grain-flour particles in tow. After only two vorlaufs the wort was completely clear. The rest of the fly-sparge went very smooth, without the slightest hint of reduced flow or getting stuck.
I overshot our volume measurements as a result of the zero-deadspace, but that ended up working out alright since the prevalence of Belgian Pilsen malt necessitated a 90 minute boil. All-in-all my BrewEasy system swallows up 17.5ish gallons to produce 10 gallons into the fermenter. This system swallowed up about only about 10 gallons to get 6 into the fermenter, I discarded some sparge water due to the final runnings coming out so clear and already achieving our desired kettle volume. All in all, after the brew day was said and done I ended up with an efficiency of 85.2%, which is very impressive for the first go around. My 70%ish efficiencies with the BrewEasy isn’t applicable for comparison here since I went back to a standard three vessel system for this brew.
Although, one slight negative I discovered is that the rubber feet are very easily removed, which is probably why they even give you a few extra. They did fall off once or twice while moving the vessel into position, but they are super easy to reinstall. They just pop back into the holes in the bottom cladding. You don’t necessarily even need them, but they are there to keep the bottom from getting scratched up or damaging the surface you are brewing on. The interesting part is that when the feet are removed you can visually see the injected foam insulation, which is similar to what is found in refrigerator cabinets. The unit is heavy at roughly 35 lbs with nothing in it, so the foam is obviously very dense; which is likely the cause for minimal heat loss.
To bottom line the purchase, for the price point there is nothing better that I have experienced. A highly upgraded igloo can run you $200ish after all SS hardware, high quality SS false bottom, thermometer, sparge arm etc. I would easily say this solution is about three times as good, and will last a lot longer. Plus, an igloo will never be a SS vessel, and a step-up to the Infussion tun from the get-go probably wouldn’t have resulted in constant upgrades to my system over time.
Plus, for a non-insulated 10 gallon Blichmann solution, you’re still looking at roughly $440, or $510 with auto sparge. So for the Infussion insulated tun at $395, and $450 with the sparge arm adds a lot of value and features over the Blichmann with similar build quality. Overall I’m very pleased with the purchase and would buy it again in a heartbeat. I look forward to my next brew day where I can take into account some of the things I’ve learned from this first test. I am actually interested in using it in place of my 15 gallon Blichmann mash tun in the Brew Easy system to see how it affects my efficiency and the number of times the electric element has to fire.
If anyone is on the fence for a mash tun upgrade, that doesn’t want to mess around with a direct fired non-insulated kettle or step mashes this is the solution. By the time they roll out the RIMS addition to allow step mashes, I’m sure I will have mastered it a bit more and will be ready for a new project! Cheers!