Stainless, insulated, bottom draining mash tun with top

[glennmartyn]

Is there something like foam insulation between the outer and inner skin, or is it truly a vacuum? If the later, then making modifications like a thermometer port will destroy the vacuum.

I have one of these. A 70l , shipped from ebay.de to me in the UK. On ebay Germany you can search the name 'thermoport' for them. It's not a vacuum between the pot skins, it's actually insulating expanding foam and keeps the heat well. I used a 20gallon blichmann false bottom on it with my own dip tube and replaced part of the inbuilt tap with a SS ball valve. Works great.

 

[Freya235]

Hi,

I live in China, and use one exactly like the one pictured. It seems there is interest, and I have been thinking about finding a part time job, so - PM me if your interested - my tun is 40L and looses about 15 celcius over a 12 hour mash (I do overnight mashes.)

Other sizes are available (60, 70, 100, 500.....50,000L) But I will probably limit the ones I can send to 100L (shipping a 50,000L mash tun would not be easy!) Depending on the interest, the price will change - if there are 100 people interested in buying, I would be able to negotiate a good price, if fewer, the price will increase.

I will be up-front, I would like to make some money from this. BUT, I know for a fact, I will be able to make some money, and offer these at a very reasonable price. If you have questions, get in touch - I am not an agent for a factory, or a supplier - just a homebrewer who lives in the right place to buy this kit cheap - and who would like to take advantage of that fact!

 

[funtourist]

I purchased a complete mashtun from hop and grape in the UK, and they were very helpful in sending me one to the U.S.

http://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/public/detailv1.asp?itemcode=STA20292446


This is a plug and play mashtun - works great right out of the box.
I bought the 30 liter ~ 8 gallons - works great for 5 gallon batches up to 1.080 original gravity. Any bigger recipes you'd have to use a larger version of this mashtun which they sell.

I would ask that anyone buying from them be very polite and not be demanding as this is the only shop selling to the U.S. and we would hate to lose this awesome resource.

The tun I received had a little bit of damage to one of the lid straps but it's functional. These get shipped a long way so don't expect it to arrive 100% in perfect aesthetic condition, but mine was probably 95% perfect.

I will see what I can to post pics of a brew day with the mashtun.

They use a piece of poly tubing around the screen which works well in filling the gap between the wall and screen, and allows the screen to slide down easily into the mashtun. The poly tubing isn't rated for as high as mash temp so I swapped out a piece of silicone tubing, which doesn't slide and is a PITA to get the screen in there, but it's foodsafe. I wish I had a silicone gasket to go around the screen.

The screen has a handle and there is a dip tube/valve assembly. Legs are stainless bolts. So, you have to stir the mash with a dowel and try to avoid some of those obstacles, but you could replace the handle with a stainless hinged pull ring if you wanted.

I used to make mashtuns from converting kegs and adding insulation, but this is the best solution I have ever found.

It's a heck of a lot cheaper than many alternatives out there even with shipping, and step mashes aren't necessary these days so why pay for alot of tech you don't need.

There's my plug - I am extremely satisfied with this mashtun.

I have beersmith equipment 'dead space' amount which I will try to post sooner than later. I think it's about 1.10 liters. That will help you dial it in for your next brew. Deadspace meaning all water lost through condensation on the equip. Under the screen it's only about 1/2 liter that gets lost of wort. But for beersmith, use the 1.10 liter amount to get your water amounts correct.

 

[biertourist]

I ordered one of these from the Ebay.de folks while I lived in Ireland and had it moved back to the US with me.

I use this as my mashtun today; they are FANTASTIC for mashtuns and fantastic for electric breweries.
An electric brewery made with these is about as efficient as you can get at homebrew levels (directly heating the water / wort AND VERY well insulated).

I had a 1 1/2" triclamp ferrule welded into mine as a bottom drain and then just purchased some perforated stainless sheet and cut it into a circle with a plasma cutter and then used stainless bolts from HomeDepot to set it off of the bottom and create a great stainless false bottom that is SUPER clog resistent.

The height to width ratio is 1:1 so it's awesome for recirculation mashing ala HERMS or RIMS and if you only do 5 gallon batches in the 50L version you've got a height to width ratio of 1:2 so an even thinner grain bed that's even less likely to stick. The insultation also means that HERMS temp ramps happen much faster as you're not losing any heat.

They ARE a pain to cut and then reseal and they're a HUGE HUGE pain to weld (I'd recommend silver solder, honestly); don't try to weld it like I did -the insulation inside caught on fire. These things also have an air tight seal on them and if you are using them as an HLT or a kettle and you silver solder or weld a large triclamp on the top you could have a dual-use kettle AND column still (just attach a column to the top tri clamp); of course this would only be used for bio fuel purposes....


There are companies that will allow you to drop ship to a UK address and then have the order forwarded to a US address although you will have to pay shipping twice this way AND because they're MFGRed in China you might run into US Customs issues... (although they do look like a German/French company and when you're shipping them from China to Germany to the UK to the US like this you'll probably get away with it).


If anyone ends up finding this thread and buys one for a mashtun I have a professionally made SUPER heavy duty stainless false bottom I'll make you an incredible deal on (it came with my brew kettle after I had already built my own for my mash tun) -it fits PERFECTLY into the 50L thermobox but obviously I can't use 2 false bottoms at the same time. (I've only been keeping it because I've considered trying a simultaneous dual batch brew day where my kettle doubled as a second mashtun.) -My brewhouse capacity is WAY larger than my kegging capacity if I were to do that though so it's kind of a pointless experiment.


Adam

 

[biertourist]

Here's a pic of my false bottom design; there are some other pics of the brewery there but not the mashtun unfortunately. (The bottom weld is so ugly I've been embarassed to upload photos.)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...1336290566929.536472.776771928&type=3&theater

Adam

 

[kickflip_mj]

Does anyone know where in Germany they manufacture these?

 

[biertourist]

The built in taps aren't that great but they DO make it very easy to remove the tap and convert it over to a ball valve... (if you want a bottom drain mashtun you'll want a size that does NOT come with the tap)

Personally I would recommend one for an HLT and a mashtun (amazing mashtuns, REALLY) but not a kettle.

As someone else mentioned bottom firing is OUT with these; they're for electric brewing, infusion mashtuns, or HERMS/ RIMS systems ONLY but they are AWESOME when used in these applications.

Also if you want a dual purpose HLT + Column still these kettles and the clamped Glacier Tank kettles are good options.


Adam

 

[biertourist]

Does anyone know where in Germany they manufacture these?

The company has operations in German and in France but I believe most of the MFGRing is in China. There was someone on HBT a few years ago who lived near the German location and offered to ship a pallet of them to the US if there was enough interest but there weren't enough orders for it to go through. (If you could find an American living on a military base in German near their German location you could probably get them shipped to the US on the cheap AND avoid customs and questions about Chinese MFGR...)

I really don't think that there's a better mashtun for infusion mashing out there... -If they'd make 1 BBL size, you could build a great and energy efficient electric nanobrewery that works with the ECS 2 element kits quite well.

I called them and talked to the French contingent of the company and they were super nice until you asked them to ship to the US; then they became irate ********. I'm not quite sure what their issues are but it's a true tragedy that they don't ship to the US as dealing with Chinese intermediates is frought with all sorts of risk a huge setup costs and hidden fees and "gotchas".

I wish an established homebrew-focused Chinese importer would start focusing on these insulated options. There's definitely a market for it with all the people jumping to electric.

Adam

 

[dtfeld]

Been a while!! Moved, changed jobs, trying to get the brewery set back up. New space doesn't have a drain/water /electricity.

However I think I have found a way to get several of the Stainless Steel Thermopots to my door step. I had a list over a year ago, but I'm interested in seeing if this is worth pursuing still. Thinking about calling the business Tuns-O-Stainless.

Right now I'm thinking about only the following sizes as I think this is the majority of US brewers will want. I might consider the 80l if there is enough interest, but shipping does get to be a big cost (about as much or more as the product itself). They are not overly heavy, but they are bulky.

38.5l (10 Gal) w/ tap Target Price $259.00 + Shipping
60l (15 Gal) No Tap Target Price $299.00 + Shipping

Shipping the 60l from Atlanta to Seattle WA was about $40, the 38.5 would be a little less.

One other thing to consider. These will have been shipped multiple times half way around the world, so I can not guarantee a perfect product. I think there might be a few dings and small dents on most of them, but certainly functional and able to make a sweet MLT or HLT.

Not for certain, but Its looking good!

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Whereabouts in Atlanta are ya'?

 

[dtfeld]

Alpharetta/Milton...stumbling distance to the Olde Blind Dog!

 

[edmondsonm]

I would take an 80L right now. Where do I sign up??
Many thanks for reviving this!

 

[Carlscan26]

How does that work as a mash tun if there's no drain? The 80L one that is


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[dtfeld]

How does that work as a mash tun if there's no drain? The 80L one that is


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

You have to convert them, hence the reason this is in the DIY section.

There are several threads on home brewing sites in the UK and Europe, as these are readily available there from several home brew shops and also amazon Germany. Go to www.amazon.de and search for Schengler Thermoport. Unfortunately, no one is willing to ship to the US, and if they are it gets prohibitively expensive. I was quoted 180 Euro or about $245 just for shipping and wasn't sure if I could get it in the country legally.

There are several posts in this thread on how to convert these and here is another ...http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42132 Look at the threads and let me know if you have any questions. Putting a drain in these really is easy. There is a sticky on how to solder stainless steel, I need to pull out the important parts as it a couple hundred pages long. But once you do it, you'll wonder why you didn't do it from the start, it really is that easy and gives a strong beautiful finish.

The 38.5l has a tap in the front and a lot of guys were using this, very similar setup to the Rubbermaid coolers. In this case you'll have a riser coming up and out.

I was looking for a larger insulated mash tun and I came across these, but it isn't easy for us in the U.S. to get them.. These go up to over 100 liters or about 25 gallons so they could be used for multiple barrel systems too.

My plan is to follow the threads from the UK and solder a fitting into the bottom, and run a valve out the front. I'll cut a new false bottom if one if the ones I already have won't fit.

Longer term, I'd like to get the volume up to where I could have the manufactured with the drain installed, but that's an expensive proposition.

Cheers

David

 

[uberg33k]

I don't suppose you know a welder in the area that could work on one of these.

 

[dtfeld]

Soldering in a fitting is pretty easy. You have to make a tool to pull a reduction fitting through a punched or drilled hole. Usually that's about $20. Then you pull your coupling through the same way.

Soldering you will need a standard propane or MAPP torch some Harris stay clean liquid flux (ebay or amazon)and basic 60/40 solder. Wrap the solder around the coupling 2 times and put on top where you pulled coupling through and heat just until the solder flows. Let cool.

Here is a picture of my bottom draining HLT. When I get home, I'll post a pict of the tool to pull fittings.

The Sticky thread in the DIY forum has all the info, but it is really long.