mash tun converting

[toxicelt]

Hi

i'm new to this forum and brewing, i want to jump in and try the whole process. This said i'm on a budget (no surprise) and i have a bought a used 20 litre swan water heater which i am hoping to use for heating the mash-so my question is one of temperature control-as the heater i have has no temperature control dial just boil and reheat. could i fit a thermostatic control- can i just keep turning it off and on-or is it no use?
any help would be great and many thanks

 

[BrotherMalice]

Welcome to the forum :)

I cant help with your questions but will be reading the replies with interest :)

 

[31bb3]

What capacity is the heater you have ?
You may be aswell to use that as a boiler/ hlt that way you can heat the water to strike temp then transfer the liquor into a mash tun to mash then sparge from the water heater into an fv and transfer back into the heater to boil the wort
Alternitavly you could go down the boil in a bag route but can't advise you on that as I've never done it

 

[tazuk]

20 ltr water heater may be a little small i think also you dont use a heater to heat mash
you need a cool box for a mash tun i would say a min of 25 ltr if you can get some thing like a 32 ltr would be better
have a look on a local car boot for a cool box :thumb:

or are you doing boil in the bag ????? also when on a rolling boil you need space on top :thumb:

most people use some thing like this to controll water temp ie for mash and sparge
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=24125

 

[31bb3]

Missed the 20 litre bit yes it's a bit small not bad for test brews though

 

[tazuk]

most people use tesco kettle elements for water heaters and wort boilers its cheap and easy :thumb:

here is my mash tun
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=23594

boiler with hop filter

water heater

 

[bomberns127]

Why have elements in a mash tun? I posted a similar question and was advised not to use a boiler with elements because it could taint the mash grains because of the direct contact with the elements

 

[tazuk]

+1 :thumb:

Why have elements in a mash tun? I posted a similar question and was advised not to use a boiler with elements because it could taint the mash grains because of the direct contact with the elements

 

[jonnymorris]

Correct me if I'm wrong but.. there are no elements in the mash tun but only in the boiler (with hops filter) and water heater.

Can I ask why you have a seperate water heater? Heating water, obvoiusly, but is this just more conveinient than using your boiler with filter?

 

[tazuk]

yes m8 just in water heater and wort boiler ie in my post :thumb: a bigg no in mash tun :thumb:

Correct me if I'm wrong but.. there are no elements in the mash tun but only in the boiler (with hops filter) and water heater.

Can I ask why you have a seperate water heater? Heating water, obvoiusly, but is this just more conveinient than using your boiler with filter?