Thoughts on a potential mash tun?

[nemazero]

Hi all. I've been brewing AG happily for a while now and am looking at upgrading to a small commercial set up. I love the look of the breweries PBC et al supply but can't justify that kind of outlay - plus I'm much happier tinkering and making it myself.

I'm looking at a 1000L HLT and 800L Copper from Brouwland (not sure if I'm allowed to post the link or not but its the tall thin ones) but I think these same pots would be unsuitable for a mash tun due to how deep the malt would sit.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the idea or alternatives in the 500L - 600L range that wont break the bank?

Thanks in advance.

Dan

 

[adomant]

tall and thin is not good for run off

 

[nemazero]

Yeah that's what I thought. I'm struggling to find any short and squat vessels for a decent price though.

I guess I'll just have to keep scouring Ebay.

 

[Shrek]

What about a 1000l IBC tank? Square with a tap already fitted. Easy to move around with a pallet truck too. You would have to insulate it and fit a suitable lid but would be good for a large herms.

 

[nemazero]

I did think about the IBC tanks - what are they like with continued exposure to heat? I did want to stay stainless but I guess I could always upgrade at a later date.

 

[Shrek]

If you get a food safe one there should be no problems. If you are using it as a mash tun it will not be getting too hot. They are pretty cheap too so you can always upgrade it later. I think they have rounded internal corners which should make cleaning it fairly simple.

 

[Baldbrewer]

+1to IBC they are about 1100L from memory so plenty of head space!
I also thought about using one as a fermenter?
Because the yeast cake would stay below the outlet ?

I wonder if you could boil in an adapted one? Kinda like a big mango chutney boiler lol! :hmm:

 

[Vossy1]

'm looking at a 1000L HLT and 800L Copper from Brouwland (not sure if I'm allowed to post the link or not but its the tall thin ones) but I think these same pots would be unsuitable for a mash tun due to how deep the malt would sit.

Feel free to post Dan, it's not something our sponsors supply :thumb:
I'm not sure a lot of self buit 'micros' give a thought to technicalities when setting up (apologies if that offends, comment based on experience) but IIRC there is an optimum ratio between height v width of vessel, you don't want to shallow/deep a mash depth. It might be worth pm'ing Aleman or unclepumple for their opinion.

 

[Baldbrewer]

Just looked at IBC at work and the outlet looks a little too low to allow running wort off the yeast cake if used as a fermenter.
Unless you syphon through the top inlet? :thumb:

 

[nemazero]

That settles it then - Time to find myself a tank to play with.

For the fermenters it's easy enough to fit an extra outlet but I was actually thinking something along these lines :

 

[nemazero]

Just a quick thought: Has anyone converted a freezer into a mash tun? It maybe a crazy thought but the commercial chest freezers are petty big and already have some insulation in place.