Instructables Mash Tun Build - Anyone Done It?

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-Your-Own-Brewery-for-Under-100-STEP-1-/?ALLSTEPS

TLDR: Use a drilled FV as a grain basket inside of another insulated FV to create a mash tun. Grain basket can be lifted and propped up to sparge.

The reasons my attention was drawn to this, was that I have an older FV that is getting a bit too knocked about for use in fermentation - however, I can't see any problems in using it pre-boil.

Anyone do anything like this?

Cheers

Martin
 
Getting wiring sorted for 16A & 32A sockets in the Garage soon for a big boiler (& welders for an unrelated project) and was thinking of doing something similar with my recently retired fermentors. Still on kit brews at the moment but hope to be trying a partial boil extract soon and then moving into all grain in the back half of this year.

Really enjoying the brewing so far but as always it is far to easy to spend loads of money. Trying to gauge appropriate kit for my skill level and avoiding buying stuff that will be replaced all too soon is very tricky.
 
I read this as Indestructible mash tun for some reason.. so basically your spare FV is like the bag in a BIAB.. not a bad idea.. you will need a lot of patience though to drill loads of tiny holes in.
 
Could you not drill less, bigger holes and line that bucket with muslin?
 
You wont need to go mad with the drilling, i used an off the shelf cold bx mod with a FB which was drilled with small 1mm holes in a widely spaced grid pattern, Not the best pic, and yes its a 22mm pipe clip used for a leg ;)

7936441674_245805fa37_c.jpg


I only ever had 1 stuck mash and that was because i didnt mix the grain and strike liquor properly..

spend 20 mins marking up where to drill and 10 mins drilling 1 to 2 mm holes and be done with it..

You could use a grain bag over larger holes but i bet you would spend longer cleaning and drying the bag after your first brew than a proper drilling job ;)
 
A similar method is also covered in The Complete Joy of Home Brew by Charlie Papazian. It's in the Advanced Homebrewing for the Practical Homebrewer section.
 
I got the 4th edition a couple of months ago. Full of loads of information. Reading it in small chunks!
 
You wont need to go mad with the drilling, i used an off the shelf cold bx mod with a FB which was drilled with small 1mm holes in a widely spaced grid pattern, Not the best pic, and yes its a 22mm pipe clip used for a leg ;)

7936441674_245805fa37_c.jpg


I only ever had 1 stuck mash and that was because i didnt mix the grain and strike liquor properly..

spend 20 mins marking up where to drill and 10 mins drilling 1 to 2 mm holes and be done with it..

You could use a grain bag over larger holes but i bet you would spend longer cleaning and drying the bag after your first brew than a proper drilling job ;)

To be fair its a pain cleaning the bag. I generally forget to wash it and have to shake it every time i use it to remove the dried in grains. I really like the idea of this, i bet you get a lovely clean wort which is the main drawback i find with BIAB.
 
To be fair its a pain cleaning the bag. I generally forget to wash it and have to shake it every time i use it to remove the dried in grains. I really like the idea of this, i bet you get a lovely clean wort which is the main drawback i find with BIAB.

If you are using a pot with a tap for biab brewing you can recirculate the wort to clean it up.

I've done this myself and it resulted in a lot less grain debris.

Just mash in your bag as usual, but don't lift the bag out. Drain the wort through the tap, then run all the wort back through the bag, with the tap open. You can then sparge like this if you want to. Take the bag out only when all the wort has drained into your fv (or whatever you're using to drain it into).

It's made easier if you have a false bottom (I use a circular cake rack) that keeps the bag above the tap and hop filter if you're using one.
 
Cheers good idea i had not thought of that, i really need another boiler for my sparge water.

Yeah that's a pain. I boil the kettle loads of times and keep the water in a big 10L pan on the cooker til I need it, then adjust to 80c, and gradually pour it over the mash with a jug. I got spot on predicted og doing that, though more by luck than judgement!
 
The only time i have had crystal clear wort from the tun has been with a recirculated mash system,

I dont think boiling a slightly murky liquor has any impact on the finished beer though, its all been good ;)

But when jugging back before draining the tun (batch sparger me) i have been inspired by some of the crystal clear tun runnings that have been proudly posted (rightly so..) and have ended up jugging back the entire mash many times obver it seems, and still no where close to the clarity of a recirculated mash..

just after 20 mins of mashing you can see the perforated plate clearly through the inches of crystal clear wort above it.. My 1st clear preboil ;)

16479392523_dd7993af5e_z.jpg
 
That was the main thing I noticed about the grainfather, the wort was crystal clear when it hit the fv. I imagine it does help produce a more refined (in a good sense) beer, but it's going to be diminishing returns in terms of effort if you're doing it by hand with a jug. That's where the gf excels I suppose, taking out all that legwork.
 
I find I get clearer wort if I let the pot sit for a while.. I normally move it when I cool and do hop stands so its sat there for the best part of an hour.. when I did this with my solvenian IPA the wort coming out was crystal clear... well at least the first 15 liters was.. the last few had some trub in.. but for a batch with a lot of hops in I actually had very little sediment in (about half an inch if that).. The beer is clearing very well..
 
My first brew looked like shi te, (Pic) but after two weeks was clearing nicely and the beer in bottles ended up crystal clear, so I don't worry too much about nice clear wort, although my wort comes out much better now.

FG.jpg
 

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