keggle as mash and sparge/lauter tun

[knipeinator]

Hello brewers!
I recently purchased a keg from a liquor store and plan on building a keggle. I want to be able to use this one keg for mashing and as a sparge/lauter tun, however I can't find anyone else doing this. I am having no problem finding the parts I need to make the keggle, but am unsure if using it for both mashing and lautering is a good idea. If I install a false bottom, couldn't I just do my mash, drain the wort, then with the grains still in there do my lauter? I am trying to do things somewhat on the cheap, so by sticking to one keg for both would save money and time (especially cleaning)! Any help or info would be appreciated.

 

[eluterio]

To answer your question yes, you can do what ever you want. But its not the ideal way you want to make/brew beer.

Your best bet right now if you have 1 keg is to do brew in a bag. If you have a boiling kettle that would be able to hold 8 plus gallons of wort.

You can use the keg as a mash tun but you will need another vessel to hold the hot water to sparge with. I would spend another 50 to 60 bucks and you would be set and get a cooler and turn it into a HLT.

BUT LOOK INTO BREW IN A BAG very easy and it will satisfy and you can brew now until you have the rest of equipment.

 

[knipeinator]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Actually I must have not spoken. The keg is not the only equipment I have by a long shot. I have been brewing all grain for some time, i just want to eliminate some of my stuff and use the keggle. I have two 7 gallon stainless steel pots and I have been using a homemade lauter tun I made from two buckets, one with false bottom. I also have a good size cooler, but usually use that as a sanitation tub. I just don't like my lauter buckets, they loose heat and are too small for large batches. I also run the risk of aeration by going back and forth from pots to buckets, i don't have valves installed in them so I have to pour.., thats why I thought using a keggle for both mash and lautering/ sparing would be more efficient. I could easily use one of my pots for sparge water, and the other as my boiling pot.

 

[TheZymurgist]

I think you might be mixing up some terms, or I'm just completely missing what you want to do. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people use their mash tun for the lauter and sparge as well. Lautering is simply the act of draining wort from the mash. Sparging is rinsing the grain after the mash. Are you saying you want to use the keggle as both a mash tun and boil kettle? If so, you'll have to do brew-in-a-bag. If you're wanting to use the keggle as a mash tun, and drain into a separate boil kettle, people do that all the time.

Edit: answered my own questions...

 

[LordUlrich]

In home brewing most people mash and lauder in the same vessel. It really only makes sense to move the grist in BIG breweries (like 50+ bbl).

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Home Brew mobile app

 

[eluterio]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Actually I must have not spoken. The keg is not the only equipment I have by a long shot. I have been brewing all grain for some time, i just want to eliminate some of my stuff and use the keggle. I have two 7 gallon stainless steel pots and I have been using a homemade lauter tun I made from two buckets, one with false bottom. I also have a good size cooler, but usually use that as a sanitation tub. I just don't like my lauter buckets, they loose heat and are too small for large batches. I also run the risk of aeration by going back and forth from pots to buckets, i don't have valves installed in them so I have to pour.., thats why I thought using a keggle for both mash and lautering/ sparing would be more efficient. I could easily use one of my pots for sparge water, and the other as my boiling pot.

Ok, so with this info the answer is yes. You'll need to convert your keg with dip tube, false bottom, and valve. I have a converted keg and I lose about 1 degree an hour. Use one of the pots as your HLT and use a ladle or container to fly sparge or batch sparge.

I have 2 kegs one mash tun the other BK. I usually run about 7 gallons to make a 5.5 gallon batch with boil off and trub.

Do your pots have valves or do you pour the chilled down wort into a fermenter?

Good luck!