Using a catering urn as a mash tun/brew kettle

[jceg316]

Hello, I've just started brewing and had an idea to get a catering urn and turn it into a brew kettle. Has anyone done this before and would it be a good idea?

I know that the element would be exposed, but if I used a sieve/colander I could make a fake bottom so the grain doesn't touch the element and burn. Also if I do this I understand I wouldn't need to do the BIAB method, meaning I can make stronger beers (I read BIAB method isn't great for making stronger beers).

If it has temp control (as some do have basic control) this would be ideal for changing temperature between the boiling and mashing etc. If not I would have to turn it off and on when I wanted to raise/lower the temperature.

Also it might need a new tap which can fit those pipes so I can transfer from the urn to the fermenter.

Does this sound about right? Am I missing anything?

Thanks in advance!

 

[djfriesen]

I bet you could make it work. I don't know much about electric brewing, but it seems like this would be easy enough to do. I bet you could even find one with a sightglass and fit it with a thermowell.

To be clear, are you planning on getting two? Or are you planning to lauter into a bucket of some sort, clean the mash out of the urn, and then put the wort back into the urn for the boil?

 

[iijakii]

A lot of people use the urns as electric kettles. It's just not common in the US due to most being 120v.

 

[jceg316]

Thanks for your replies. I saw a second hand urn on eBay currently going for £10. It has a temperature control and is 20litres, making it almost perfect.

I'm going to use it for mashing, drain the wort into a bucket and as the urn will have a false bottom I'll sparge in there as well. I'll get rid of the grains and continue boiling in there.