My new stainless BIAB kit

[foxbat]

A while ago I decided to replace my old Peco BIAB pot with something stainless steel. After checking out literally every stainless option on the market I went for a 38 litre thermos pot with a ball valve and electric element conversion all done by Paul at Angel Homebrew.

First brew was last weekend and everything went very well. Because this is a thermos pot no additional insulation is required. The outer metal skin remains cool throughout the whole mash and boil which says something about the quality of the insulation. I mashed in at 65.6C and after 60 minutes it was 65.2C. Bringing to the boil seemed a bit quicker than usual as well due to almost zero heat loss from the pot. Once boiling I could keep it rolling at just 1.5kW using my power regulator.

All in all, very impressed and I can see this pot lasting indefinitely. Total cost with all the parts, delivery and Paul's time and considerable skills on the conversion was about £210.

 

[foxbat]

Added a couple of shots from brew day. Got a lot of hot-break on this boil. No need for a hose barb with this kit, a right angle elbow is enough for draining into the fermenter with lots of splashing for oxygenation.

 

[AdeDunn]

All I can say is, that is a thing of beauty! An absolutely gorgeous bit of equipment for sure!

 

[nigelnorris]

Well I now know where I'm going when my ACE finally packs up. After some recent minor trouble with it I wish I had £200 to replace it right now.

 

[Spapro]

Looks like a very neat job - lovely.

Always a pleasure using decent kit !

I have a Thermopot for mashing (not boiling) and have found it very well insulated over a 1 hour mash drops next to nothing temperature wise.

 

[foxbat]

Looks like a very neat job - lovely.

Always a pleasure using decent kit !

I have a Thermopot for mashing (not boiling) and have found it very well insulated over a 1 hour mash drops next to nothing temperature wise.

It certainly is a pleasure. I knew the insulation was going to be a good performer - they say "1 degree over an hour" so I was very pleasantly suprised to see less than half a degree of loss. My old Peco hadn't packed up or anything but I'd put a lot of brews through it so it was time to make it my backup boiler rather than wait for a brew day failure and a possible total loss of a brew.

I nearly went for a Braumeister/Grainfather/Bulldog after watching them in every YouTube video available but decided I didn't want the extra automation that you're paying for. BIAB is such an easy process that I actually enjoy doing.

PS. Wetherby huh? I grew up there. Still a nice place, changed a lot over the years though with all the house building and some of the pubs aren't as good as they were but the beer in The Mews is always good when I come up to visit.

 

[BeerCat]

Looks like an excellent pot. What are you going to use to keep the bag of the element?

 

[foxbat]

Looks like an excellent pot. What are you going to use to keep the bag of the element?

I do single-infusion mashes so the element's off when the bag's in.

 

[Spapro]

It certainly is a pleasure. I knew the insulation was going to be a good performer - they say "1 degree over an hour" so I was very pleasantly suprised to see less than half a degree of loss. My old Peco hadn't packed up or anything but I'd put a lot of brews through it so it was time to make it my backup boiler rather than wait for a brew day failure and a possible total loss of a brew.

I nearly went for a Braumeister/Grainfather/Bulldog after watching them in every YouTube video available but decided I didn't want the extra automation that you're paying for. BIAB is such an easy process that I actually enjoy doing.

PS. Wetherby huh? I grew up there. Still a nice place, changed a lot over the years though with all the house building and some of the pubs aren't as good as they were but the beer in The Mews is always good when I come up to visit.

Yes Mews is good, you may not have heard but Wetherby has recently got a new brewery, with taps - you must try it when you are next back here - the beer is rather good:
http://wetherbybrewco.com/
https://www.facebook.com/wetherbybrewco/

Its near the Engine Shed and currently is opening Saturday and Sunday, they are still finishing off some building works off for the toilets and other bits here and there but its nice now and nearly finished anyway.

 

[photek1000]

That looks lovely, and already have a thermo pot on my wish list for Mash Tun upgrade in the future.

 

[Spapro]

That looks lovely, and already have a thermo pot on my wish list for Mash Tun upgrade in the future.

You do need to 'warm' the thermopot through before mashing in to avoid losing temp during the mash.

I do the following after a bit of trial and error:
1. pop the water for mashing into the thermopot (water at 80°C)
2. leave for 15-20 minutes - water temp in the pot drops to 72°C as the pot insulation warms through.
3. add the crushed grain in, which drops the temp to 66-67°C for the start of the mash.

Obviously if mashing at 65°C or brewing in the depth of winter at colder ambient temps I adjust the starting temp of the water a little to compensate.

Mine loses about a degree over a 1 hour mash if I do the above to start.

 

[foxbat]

2. leave for 15-20 minutes - water temp in the pot drops to 72°C as the pot insulation warms through.
3. add the crushed grain in, which drops the temp to 66-67°C for the start of the mash.

Yep, Beersmith always calculates me a strike temp of 72-ish for a mash temp of 66-67C. It has a checkbox to tell it my pot is already pre-heated since I'm doing single-vessel BIAB and heating with the fitted element.

 

[photek1000]

You do need to 'warm' the thermopot through before mashing in to avoid losing temp during the mash.

Yep, no different than any other brew day, my current tun is a home made insulated plastic bucket, it gets a good pre-heat before use.