Metal mash tun

[RNBEERGUY]

I just bought a bayou classic brew kettle with false bottom I plan to use as a mash tun if I use this do I pour in water at strike temp then use direct flame to maintain during mash ? I heard that’s the main difference between this and the cooler.


Also I’m nervous about boil overs the bayou classic is 10 gallons I have a 7 gallon kettle for extract so if I mash in the 10 gallon then transfer wort to the 7 gallon kettle clean out the 10 gallon kettle quickly then pour back the wort into the 10 gallon kettle for the boil will there be any issues ? Thanks

 

[IslandLizard]

Have you considered BIAB in your 10 gallon kettle?

 

[ancientmariner52]

Your strike water needs to be hotter than mash temp, because the kettle and grist will absorb a lot of heat energy. I usually heat 12°F high, but I use a converted plastic ice chest, you'll have to experiment with your own gear. I've only direct fired when doing a decoction mash. Constant stirring is essential to prevent scorching. I think a false bottom would make scorching very likely regardless of how much you stir.

So, I'd suggest starting with 10-12°F overheated strike water, dough in and check temp. Will probably be too cool, so stir in boiling water to raise the temp. There are android apps to calculate how much boiling water to add, bound to be available for other platforms. When you get the temp right, put on a lid and wrap it up in a blanket or sleeping bag. The temp will fall over an hour or so, don't worry about it.

As for transferring from kettle to kettle, that'll work fine. Try not to splash it around and oxidize it more than neccesary. You don't need to hurry, the boil will kill any potential infection organisms.

In case you don't know, DO NOT pour hot wort into a glass or plastic container. Glass may shatter, plastic will warp, and worst of all, you'll be wasting beer! Good luck!

 

[IslandLizard]

This ^

Or use a mash/sparge water calculator like Brew365.com.
Now you're going to lose some quite some heat if your kettle is cold and empty, and while stirring with the lid off. So depending on your setup, add a few degrees (anywhere from 4-12F) to the strike water temp it calculates.

Hint: It is way easier to lower the mash temps than raising it. So if you overshoot by 5 degrees, stir a little longer and you're right where you had planned to be. If you undershoot, and add boiling water, you keep losing heat while stirring with the lid off. Chances are you'll keep chasing that elusive target temp forever. And that's my experience in an insulated cooler mash tun. Your metal kettle loses heat much faster through the sides.

 

[RNBEERGUY]

Have you considered BIAB in your 10 gallon kettle?

I’m debating about that actually are there any shortcomings between that and all grain ?

 

[IslandLizard]

BIAB is all-grain. You mash close to the full volume in your boil kettle. At the end of the mash, you pull out the bag, squeeze it well. If you want, you can do a small dunk sparge in a large bucket to get a few more points out.
The voile bag is the filter, so you can crush very fine, getting great efficiency, 80-85%, or even higher.

No real shortcomings to mashing in a separate vessel, AFAIK, except for the wet, hot, dripping bag. Some device a pulley lift for it, if it's too heavy (for larger batches).