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205L Mashing Vessel

edited April 2016 in General

Hi I picked up a 205ltr stainless steel drum today and I am now thinking about how to modify it as a mashing vessel. Frankly I have no idea (not being a brewer) and am researching!

I plan to heat water in it with a Mongolian gas burner, then mash in the same vessel. I have an idea to use a RIMS tube to maintain temps. Ideally i would lauter in it too but may transfer and ferment on grain in fermenters. I suppose it would be best to weld on some 2" t/c ferrules. As I mash any additional top up water would come from the still boiler which I would maintain at temp.

I'd love some ideas about how I could set up the drum for both malted barley and corn/rye. Cheers!

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  • edited April 2016

    My 2 cents, which are barely worth that after accounting for the exchange rate, taxes, and other freight fees.

    RIMS for heating

    Removable False Bottom for Malt Lauter (Use no false bottom when mashing rye/corn)

    Top mount mixer/agitator for corn/rye

    Insulate the exterior

    Fabricate a lid (for heat retention)

    For malt - use it is a straight rims setup, with false bottom, lauter/sparge/etc as typical in a beer rig.

    For corn/rye - remove false bottom, fill with water, bring to boil, hold boil for a bit to ensure all the stainless and insulation is hot - turn off RIMS, dump fine ground corn, put the lid on - run the agitator, and hold as long as possible. Once you get under 185 or so, add high temperature alpha amylase, keep holding, as long as possible. Once you hit 158 or so (you'll need to find the right temp) - drop the malt, again, hold to your hearts content.

    I think that 205ltr, with insulation, will hold at near target temp (accounting for grain temp losses) for at least 30-45m. It's a sizable thermal mass. I actually think if you are running this rig nearly full, the issue is going to be cooling, not holding temperature.

    Shouldn't really require much more than a single ferrule or no-weld bulkhead on the bottom. Maybe some legs.

  • If you want to get clever, you might consider taking copper tubing, and wrapping it tightly around that center section, and using that as a cooling jacket for the cereal cook, if it is between the insulation - it won't be terribly efficient, but it's tons easier than dealing with the mess of an immersion coil.

  • I mash a similar volume, I usually mash about 2/3 of the total volume and after the prolonged cooking stage I add the other 1/3 of the volume of liquid, along with some stirring, and that brings me close to about 160

  • Have you got the lid?
    What about putting it on its side and on rollers like a lotto barrel.
    The false bottom would be heaps bigger and a trap door on top could roll to the bottom for emptying.
    Never seen one like that, just thinking out loud.
    Might not be so good on gas though.

  • @jacksonbrown - that is a neat idea.

    If no lid - I've seen one on a welded up frame with a tip dump. With the pivot point at the center of gravity, and a physical lock pin, it looked like it was brilliantly easy to dump.

  • You can buy those tip trolleys.

    If you are looking for a false bottom i'd be talking to Jay at Norcal Brewing it's his specialty. He's a member of some of the distilling forums, so if you tell him what you want to do he may make a custom falsie for you.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Cheers guys I really appreciate the tips. I have more research to do!

    A lid is easy as I know a drum refabricator who can fix me up.

    False bottom is a great idea it I am in Victoria Australia so if anyone knows of a fabricator to talk to here that would be awesome.

    I have the rims tube parts so I will weld on a ferrule and start experimenting!

    I have seen the Corsair guys make a dumping cradle for their experimental rig and it sounds good. I can fab that with help from mates.

  • edited April 2016

    I'd still talk to Jay mate. He's the man and the freight of a couple hundred bucks is not a big deal in the long run. Tell him i sent ya (and Bob on your other forum) and you'll have the best and worst of the intros :))

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Where in Victoria? I know heaps.

  • I'm in Dandenong ranges @jacksonbrown

  • Me too :D
    We used to use C & L Stainless in Leongatha for a fair bit for local work. They aren't too far south from the hills.
    Geordi probably aren't bad for small jobs. They're in Cheltenham.
    Simford have got boys all over the place too.
    I just realised the photo in the Simford banner is actually a job I designed B-)
    It was fun commissioning that thing. It was the last job I did at that company.
    There's a recirc pump in there with cables thicker than my wrist. Sounds like a jet engine when it's running at full noise with the vacuum pump going too. You can just make out the 6"/60sec holding tube in the roof too. Most of the space under that platform is taken up by a massive PHE the size of an SUV.
    Those guys aren't farm hacks, the pricing might not be bottom end but they've done small jobs for me in the past like my Rolls Royce SS sausage stuffer.

  • @punkin said: I'd still talk to Jay mate. He's the man and the freight of a couple hundred bucks is not a big deal in the long run. Tell him i sent ya (and Bob on your other forum) and you'll have the best and worst of the intros :))

    I just found this, and I second @punkin completely. Jay's a friend and actually does the fabrication personally. I just bought a custom false bottom from him a few months ago, to specific needs, and it works great.

    Hey! Wait a minute ... which one's which?

    Zymurgy Bob, a simple potstiller

    my book, Making Fine Spirits

  • For some reason I thought you were in the states.

  • I am. I'm in Washington State, Jay's in Redding California (where he makes a helluva false bottom), and @punkin's God-knows-where. Someplace with marsupials, I think. And maybe Wiener schnitzel, although sometimes I get that mixed up.

    Zymurgy Bob, a simple potstiller

    my book, Making Fine Spirits

  • edited May 2016

    I'm 20 mins down the hill from New England of course Bob.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • " Someplace with marsupials" :))

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Marsupials narrows it down to three continents.

  • edited May 2016

    JB's been to my house, i'm sure he didn't mean me.

    Tamworth, New South Wales @ Wikipedia

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • @Knafs said: Marsupials narrows it down to three continents.

    Plus png and nz

  • What? Nobody's mad about the Wiener schnitzel? Not the Australian national dish? 8-|

    Zymurgy Bob, a simple potstiller

    my book, Making Fine Spirits

  • Not til you cover it in ham cheese and tomatoe sauce.

  • Pav is the national dish

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • didn't the kiwis pinch that. Laminations?

  • Didn't pinch, rightfully claimed. Aussies have shrimps, barramundi and lamingtons

  • edited May 2016

    You would be amazed at how well these braided water pipe things work for a malted barley mash tun, it's better than some false bottoms I've used.

    I've never mashed corn/maize though, so don't know how they would perform with that.

    Homemade Homebrew Mash Tun @ Brewgr

  • Paul Hogen - "throw another shrimp on the back"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn_CPrCS8gs

  • @HadlerDistillations said: Didn't pinch, rightfully claimed. Aussies have shrimps, barramundi and lamingtons

    Sorry bud the Pav is ours.

    We don't have shrimps, just schoolies or kings.

    Barra we share with the Egyptians and the guys from New Guinea, lamingtons are ours though.

    maybe i should have said chocolate crackles or fairy bread.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Looks like we could both be wrong @punkin

    "However, Dr Andrew Paul Wood, a New Zealander, and Australian Annabelle Utrecht have been tracing the origins of the dish for two years. They can "categorically state" the modern pavlova began life as a German torte, eventually travelling to the US where it evolved into its final form.

    They have found more than 150 pavlova-like meringue cakes served with cream and fruit prior to 1926. They have also found more than 50 dishes named after Pavlova occurring before 1927.

    "The idea that it was invented in New Zealand or even Australia is a total fiction, as is the notion that the first pavlova desserts are of Antipodean origin," Wood says."

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