What's the point of a mash tun?

[NOISEpollution]

I apologize if this seems like a ridiculous question lol. I'm thinking about switching to AG. I've brewed several PM batches by mashing in one pot, straining through a colander/filter into a bucket, sparging with another pot of water, then returning the wort to my brew kettle. It's my understanding that the only difference between AG and partial is the extract. I have no idea how a mash tun works. I see pictures of coolers with metal tubing going through them and I have no idea what it's for. Wouldn't I just be able to mash as I do now in a pot, just with more grains?

 

[Calichusetts]

Unlike extract, your using grains which must be removed from the wort before you boil. A mash tun (the coolers you see) is an easy way to drain the wort without the grains getting it. Do some more research or find a homebrewer who does AG to get a sense of what you want to use

 

[helibrewer]

Brew-in-a-bag (BIAB) also eliminates the need for a dedicated mash tun for doing AG.

 

[SittingDuck]

Yes, you can continue to mash in the pot. Do a search for BIAB. Stands for brew in a bag.

 

[nebben]

The mash tun is merely a vessel that allows you to put in crushed grain and water into it for mashing purposes. Often times, they have metal mesh braids, slotted manifolds, or false bottoms covered in holes. The purpose of these different elements is to allow the wort to drain while keeping grain from pouring out. Often times, when you drain the wort, small grain particles will get through the false bottom or whatever tubing you have, and wind up in your wort. It is common to vorlauf (to recirculate/return to the mash) so that these particles don't wind up in the beer. Once you vorlauf enough that the grainbed is acting like a filter, the wort that comes out is somewhat clear. You can just drain the wort from the mash tun into your boil kettle and be off and running.

A mash tun makes sparging (rinsing the grain) very easy as well.

 

[Golddiggie]

Using the method you have been will be ok up to a point. Same for BIAB. Up to a point, you'll be able to lift the pot (or saturated grain bag) to drain/rinse the grains of their sugary goodness. After that, you'll start to see the point of having a mash tun, with a ball valve and such.

Personally, I started my all grain brewing using the BIAB method. Problems I hit early on was limitations due to pot sizes to mash and sparge the grains. I then converted a cooler I already owned into my first mash tun (now owned by another brewer). That worked much better, but I needed something sized a bit smaller (the first was a 70qt Coleman Xtreme [green] cooler). I went with one of the 10 gallon RubberMaid coolers. That worked well for a time too, until I wanted to have the ability to increase the mash temp without having to try adding boiling hot water. So, I built up my current mash tun out of a keg and it does a great job. I can mash up to about 30-32 pounds of grain in it (good for most of my brews). I can direct fire it on my propane burner to maintain the temperature (as needed). I have it insulated too, so that's not really much of an issue (except in the deep cold of winter).

Try mashing 20+ pounds of grain with the BIAB method, without having another way to get the grain bag out of the pot/kettle (if you have a kettle, you should be able to drain it, but make sure the bag doesn't get sucked into the ball valve). See how long you can hold the bag up to get it to drain, or try squeezing that extra bit of wort from it.

IME/IMO, you'll hit a grain bill that will make you regret using the BIAB method for the batch.

BTW, I've never had really good luck with my vorlauf. So, I simply fit my boil kettle with the nylon grain bag I once used for BIAB and let the wort run through that. It catches all the grain particles that slip through the false bottom and keeps it out of the boil. I also get a really nice grain bed set this way (draining as far as the dip tube can).

 

[aiptasia]

Yep, the main reason why brewers step up to all grain using a mash tun is so that they have greater control and flexibility using all grain recipes. The mash tun is simply a big filter that uses the grains themselves as the filter bed. Steeped mash grains and the water (wort) they were steeping in are poured in and the wort is allowed to slowly drain out.

Then, sparge water can be trickled over the grains (sparge literally means "trickle" in German) and to extract even more malt sugars which is then combined with the main wort. Search for fly sparging and batch sparging for more details on that process.

 

[CPFITNESS]

Im a newb as well and made a bunch of short youtube videos of my 2nd 5 gallon batch which was the first one I did using a cooler as a mash tun. My first batch i had drilled a bunch of holes in a bucket and did the bucket in bucket method. The benefit to using a cooler is that it's insulated. it will keep your mash at the proper temp the whole time, you don't need to be standing over it constantly. check out my videos here [ame]http://youtu.be/MsqqoLkzeGY[/ame]

 

[daveb123]

I like the sound of Peach Cobbler Ale ......the videos were very interesting thanks for uploading them...i too wish soon to attempt AG and the main thing that worries me is the temp of the mash.....i have looked at lots of info on how it effects the amount of non fermentable verses fermentable sugars which in turn effect the body and mouth feel etc...its still a bit like rocket science at the moment but i feel like am cheating using LME plus i don't have the fine tuning ability to re-create commercial recipes using only LME...

I think the mashing process seems the most confusing....some use cooler boxes whilst uses use kegs which i can only assume need a constant heat to maintain the correct temp as they are not insulated...

 

[Piratwolf]

I like the sound of Peach Cobbler Ale ......the videos were very interesting thanks for uploading them...i too wish soon to attempt AG and the main thing that worries me is the temp of the mash.....i have looked at lots of info on how it effects the amount of non fermentable verses fermentable sugars which in turn effect the body and mouth feel etc...its still a bit like rocket science at the moment but i feel like am cheating using LME plus i don't have the fine tuning ability to re-create commercial recipes using only LME...

I think the mashing process seems the most confusing....some use cooler boxes whilst uses use kegs which i can only assume need a constant heat to maintain the correct temp as they are not insulated...

I felt the same way before I tried AG. My biggest recommendation would be to get some brewing software to help you with calculating the amount and the temps of your water additions. But it's not really any harder than extract brewing. Furthermore, missing your mash temps by a degree or two really isn't that huge a deal. You'll wish you'd done it sooner!