SS or plastic for mashing. Best insulator?

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MyQul

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Usually I mash in my pot when doing larger brews but tomorrow I'm doing a 1G brew. I have the option of mashing in a small plastic FV or small SS pot. Which would be the best insulator (I will of course be wrapping whatever I mash in, up in towels)? I have the sneaky feeling it's plastic due to what a previous forumite who is a specialist in materials told me. He described plastic as a acting like a thin duvet (iirc) but dont know for sure
 
You would see more heat loss with SS but as it's up against a plastic FV then at the very least with a SS pot you have the option of putting it on the cooker ring and giving it a quick blast of heat if need be, with the plastic FV you will solely be relying on insulation maintaining a constant temp throughout the mash. All down really to how pernickety you are about holding exact temps thru out.
 
It'll be plastic but either is totally dominated by the additional insulation that you add yourself. I cut and tape this aluminium roll to all sides including the bottom and the lid then wrap up and tie tight a sleeping bag for the mash. I lose about 0.8C over an hour mash and since they say it's nearly all done in the first 15 mins I'm happy with that.
 
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+1 for the plastic, small volumes are however harder to keep @ temp with insulation alone, so preheat the pot with a kettle full of off the boil water in advance of the mash ;)
 
As a suggestion you could put your 5 litre pot inside a larger item (like a washing up bowl??) and use that as a water bath. Keep the water bath at mashing temps by adding hot water as required. Chuck a towel or something over the two to keep the heat in.
 
I'm with foxbat on this. Technically the answer is plastic, but the answer is irreverent as its the insulation you add that matters.
 

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