With my purchase of the Brewer's Edge Mash and Boil in the Spring, I knew I'd want to create another insulation jacket, but I also decided to test various methods to see what was most effective. There are plenty of configurations I've seen here and elsewhere.
After my first post (part I) there was some discussion here and on Reddit surrounding the lack of air gap between the outer layer of Reflectix and the kettle in my testing. I then ran variations of the Reflectix configuration only and posted them in (part II).
The final post (http://fermware.com/mash-tun-insulation-comparisons-complete/) is a combination of (part I) and (part II) so that one can get all the information at once. If you wish to read them as well, go ahead, but ALL the information from both posts has been combined there. If future testing is taken on, the post will be updated and serve as the master record. There is also more discussion of all methods and then more discussion of differences in Reflectix methods.
These results are relevant to a mash because the only thing that will change will be the specific heat of the mixture. So the best insulation with water will still be the best with grain in the mash. There could be some slight differences in results due to kettle geometry, but I feel pretty confident that the rankings will stay the same if constructed in a similar manner to my experiments.
Here are the numerical results:
Here is a graph of temps through a simulated mash range (water only):
If you want the full run down and more graphs and info, check out the post:
http://fermware.com/mash-tun-insulation-comparisons-complete/
My original HBT thread is here, but it was old enough that I couldn't edit
After my first post (part I) there was some discussion here and on Reddit surrounding the lack of air gap between the outer layer of Reflectix and the kettle in my testing. I then ran variations of the Reflectix configuration only and posted them in (part II).
The final post (http://fermware.com/mash-tun-insulation-comparisons-complete/) is a combination of (part I) and (part II) so that one can get all the information at once. If you wish to read them as well, go ahead, but ALL the information from both posts has been combined there. If future testing is taken on, the post will be updated and serve as the master record. There is also more discussion of all methods and then more discussion of differences in Reflectix methods.
These results are relevant to a mash because the only thing that will change will be the specific heat of the mixture. So the best insulation with water will still be the best with grain in the mash. There could be some slight differences in results due to kettle geometry, but I feel pretty confident that the rankings will stay the same if constructed in a similar manner to my experiments.
Here are the numerical results:
Here is a graph of temps through a simulated mash range (water only):
If you want the full run down and more graphs and info, check out the post:
http://fermware.com/mash-tun-insulation-comparisons-complete/
My original HBT thread is here, but it was old enough that I couldn't edit
