Mash Tun advice

[will_raymo2000]

Hello all,

Have recently acquired a few 11G stainless kegs and have been busy converting one into a boiler. Now that's done I still haven't satisfied the DIY urge and want to a bigger mashtun. I have another available keg and was wondering if its worth the effort of converting that, insulating etc and using it in a HERMS setup. Or to go with a thermo tun from France and stick with single infusion?

I am still a newbie but quite fancy the challenge of jumping in at the deep end and getting HERMS set up. But if it works out better/cheaper sticking with single infusion I may well do that.

Any thoughts?
Cheers!

 

[Vossy1]

Using a HERMS system is just another way of making beer, it does not make the beer any better :grin: If you have the urge and are a born tinkerer (I am, self confessed :lol: ) then making a HERMS is a great way of passing the time It will work out cheaper not making one, but then you don't get the pleasure (sometimes pain) of making one and getting it to work :geek:
A HERMS does make certain things easier(step mashes), and you can also use it to ramp the temp up at mash out. It also makes recircing after the second liquor addition on a batch sparge very easy.
The thermo boxes are nice, and do the job well, but your keg when well insulated will do the job just as well.
The type of mash isn't controlled by the equipment, that's down to you

 

[Springer]

Vossy knows his stuff, spot on could not have put it better myself...........not even as well. :clap: :lol:
Have fun which ever way you go.
Must say there is quite a bit of expense,pid,pump and false floor, etc, etc., but I also enjoy the tinkering and its satisfying to get the temp. to whatever you want to help produce consistent beer, not necessarily better as V said. :)
S
:drink:

 

[will_raymo2000]

Maybe I should have mentioned that I have quite a few of the bits needed already! I have roughly 5m of 8mm copper, a suitable bucket for the heat exchanger and enough plumbing fittings to sink a ship. Oh, and a pump (that might or might not be capable of the job - as of yet untested).

Now left on the shopping list is a temp controller and a qmax for a tesco element. Don't much fancy shelling out another 25quid for a pigtail element. And a false bottom.

I have fitted a bottom drain to the boiler conversion. Is it better to fit a false bottom to the boiler or use some mesh over the bottom in a dome shape? Is anyone on the forum still making false bottoms?

Thanks!

 

[Springer]

You will certainly need a false bottom to stop grain getting into the pump, I made one out of polycarbonate which was free and worked........... ish. I am in contact with muddydisco for a proper stainless one, not like me to spend if it can be avoided.
If you want to save the price of qmax cutter, have a look down this thread for making holes in stainless with a bit of effort and not much expense.
One I made earlier
S

 

[Vossy1]

Maybe I should have mentioned that I have quite a few of the bits needed already!

Now left on the shopping list is a temp controller and a qmax for a tesco element

You knew all along where you were heading :P

Is it better to fit a false bottom to the boiler

It depends. Do you intend to cool in the copper and let the break material settle out in the copper? Assuming you do, and use whole hops, it can be of detriment to use a full coverage false bottom in your copper. The hops need to be able to form a decent filter bed so they can hold back the break material, so if you have a wide copper v height you'd be better off with a smaller screen so the hops can pack around, and on top of the screen. You might also wish to consider the screen material. If you intend to use pellets at some point, you will most likely need a far smaller hole aperture than if using whole hops.
There are also other options, not using a screen at all and whirlpooling on cooling, cooling the wort en-route to fv then dropping the break when settled (before pitching the yeast)....decisions decisions :P

 

[Springer]

Sorry mis read, I was talking of a false bottom in the mash tun, for the boiler I use a simple holed copper tube, which works well for me with normal hops.