self stirring MashTun

[bioreactor]

I've been following posts on this site for sometime now. Finally joined officially and going to post an idea. If anyone has a minute to offer feedback I would appreciate it as I try to move forward with getting this idea on the market. https://youtu.be/Dh6dYVkNN0Q


I don't think being honest has ever been an issue on these forums. Positive or negative feedback to the survey is appreciated!

 

[swimIan]

Interesting idea

 

[Jaybird]

I have seen videos of people using an old washing machine to mash in and be able to spin the grain like a centrifuge kind of thing.

Good luck on that! Looks like a cool idea. My question would be, at what cost and what advantage? If its just for "FUN" then thats cool! If its for liquid recovery and efficiency increase then might be at to high of a cost. But very cool idea!

Cheers
Jay

 

[stpug]

My guess is that you would have highly variable mixing taking place based on the grist:water ratio. At lower ratios, the grain would remain fairly dense and "stuck" to the basket so some mixing would take place, but at high ratios the mash would be thin enough that once the grain was "floating" in the solution then the basket action would only affect the part of the mash near the basket walls. I almost feel like you should have some kind of paddle/bar/something affixed to the basket sides so that when the basket rotates, then the paddle/bar rotates with the basket causing a more thorough mixing of the mash. With a scenario like this, speed could be very minimal as any form of agitation would suffice for reasonable mash mixing.

The "spin cycle" at the end I'm not a fan of, but if it's feature that can be disabled or not used then it's not a disadvantage either. I just feel that after a mash full of mixing, if a person wants to then recirc through the grainbed to catch the coagulated proteins/lipids, then the spin cycle would negate much of that effort. But, again, if the "spin cycle" can simply be disabled then those that want to use it can, and those that don't won't have to.

I've experienced issues (cracking, pitting, denting, etc) with pressure points in coolers containing hot mash and would pay extra attention to how this device could avoid those kinds of issues on hot plastic.

Fun idea - I like it!!

 

[MidAtlanticBrew]

Advice ... a mash temperature of 140 is too low

 

[Inspire]

Q1. How is the cleaning done? Does that grain basket get pulled out to remove the grains? If so, how does it lock/unlock; get pulled out etc.

Q2. What type of motor is required to move it like that. What size motor will it need? How long will that motor last? Is it easy to install?

Q3. Cost of the grain basket, mounting equipment, cost of motor, cost of electricity to turn it?

Q4. Is this a HERMS? If not, how does the temperature get controlled?

It shows you're mashing for 6 hours, is that the idea of duration to get the max efficiency of all the sugars out?

Before building, you should do a prototype - then test it. Do 1 test with your design idea, and do another with a standard HERMS with a false bottom with recirculation and check the difference of efficiency. Then you can can get the cost savings with the higher efficiency and times it out with how many brews you need to do in order to cover the cost of the extra equipment (rotation motor; and grain basket, and electricity used during rotation).
Test the efficiency of how long you need to rotate it. Then graph it out. So you have to do maybe standardise to tests of each brew with 1 hr increments. So each test is 1 hr, then another test 2 hrs, 3hrs etc and plot it on a graph.

To market your design, you'll need to do a lot of testing and cost analysis and see if its worth it.

 

[mojonojo]

Have a look at the german/lager mash stirrers that the german home-brew community build. To my mind the reason why the ale brewers don't have a stirring tradition is because of 2 factors
1: traditionally non ramped mashes (ie only at one temperature) in ales vs multi temperature mashes (and trying to remove stratification of grain bed temperatures) 2: the better historical diastatic conversion of british/ale malts vs german pilsen malts - leading to no requirement to agitate the mash.

 

[kladue]

Interesting concept but not practical for brewing as sparging is needed to remove the extract from the grains. A simple spin cycle will give a higher gravity extract, but efficiency will be poor as a significant amount will remain behind. This is essentially the no sparge brewing method with a mechanical assist to remove some of the liquid by spinning.

 

[kh54s10]

I don't see much of a market for a twisting basket. That is not going to stir the grains much, the whole grainbed is just going to rotate.
I think most will make a choice of going with a closed mash tun and not stirring at all, stirring once or twice during the mash time, or having a re-circulation system.

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

leaving the technical details of the manufacturing aside, I'm not sure why I'd want something like that to extract another, say 10% more liquid from the grain (which after sparging is almost water) ...the stirring benefit is also negated by the current use of mash recirculation pumps.

Does it have a place in a single-vessel All-in-one brewing system? Perhaps.
Good luck

 

[bioreactor]

Wow, I wasn't sure what kind of feedback I would get. Thanks for the feedback positive and negative, this continues to be a really good community.

 

[bioreactor]

Hello Jaybird, I wasn't picturing too high a cost. Stirring and extracting at the lowest price possible was the goal.
Looking at a lot of the posts, the cost seems to be important as it always is. My friend and I spoke about this a lot, self heating and, extra stir bars etc. All of these things would be great, but then the price starts getting up there and I'm not at the point of wanting or competing with a Grainfather for example.

I think having thin vertical bars at the base of the basket would move and stir the grain. The basket sides are ideal but good screens are expensive enough...
Basket would be removable, (screw down and a cotter pin is what I'm imagining)
Sparging is definitely and option, this would not be fully automated (costs) so you would have a lot of control.


One question: Sparging is a bigger concern than I expected. I have done a trial just of the spin. I usually do a brew in a bag so I transfered it to one of these mini spin dryers.
I thought the beer was fine, but it sounds like it can be a lot better and I am not truly appreciating the value of sparging.

Any thoughts are welcome, not just for the idea. but because I may be making sub par beer in general and would want to do better

 

[Inspire]

I thought sparging was only to increase your efficiency, so you save money on grains? I don't think it has any value in regards to taste.

 

[BrunDog]

Interesting idea. Since grain is heavy when wet, I am not sure that just rotating the grain back and forth will do much to increase wort exposure. But maybe it is enough. I certainly think recirculating might help increase the exposure.

Definitely need to sparge. Might work amazingly well if you spin, then stop, sparge, spin again, and repeat as many times as needed before pH or SG reaches their limits.

What if the basket had an inner screen too which made the basket like a cylindrical donut. Then you recirculate/sparge with a vertical dispersion tube down the center. That would guarantee good exposure. Just a thought.