Mast tun questions

[noobrich]

I have been using my mash tun for many years but think it is time to treat myself to a new one. So…
Why don't the igloo 10 gallon mash tuns come with thermometers. I do not know why all the kettles come with thermometers already attached. (at that point you would just be boiling the wort so who cares about the temperature. You need temperature control in the mash tun.)

The bazooka set up is quite a bit cheaper than the false bottom. What is the advantage of one or the other.

I make pretty large batches. I use a large cooler now about 100 quarts. This igloo is 40 quarts that would reduce my capacity tremendously. Has that been a concern for anyone who uses this product?

 

[brick]

With my Igloo I don't lose enough heat to care what the temperature is in real time. I barely see a degree F loss over the course of an hour if appropriately pre-heated. If I were mashing in an uninsulated, actively heated vessel then I would definitely want a thermometer. That should answer your first question.

Braids are perfectly adequate for batch sparging since you just need a way to keep grain in while wort gets out, and nothing more. Braids don't work for fly sparging because very even flow is important in that case. Fly spargers need to trickle sparge water evenly through all of the grains (and hence need relatively uniform application and drainage) in order to get at all of the sugar. That's where you need a false bottom or a well-designed and executed manifold.

I can't tell you about capacity other than 40qt is more than enough for my 5gal batches. I like having enough head space that I can stir vigorously without getting sticky mash water all over my kitchen, which would almost certainly result in death by SWMBO.