What's wrong with this idea?

BeardySi

Ok, here's a notion I've been having of late, it seems pretty obvious to me so there must be some reason nobody's actually doing it! Space is at a premium for me, and while I'm mainly limiting myself to 1gal brews atm I'd like to be able to do more in a space efficient manner. Extract brewing isn't entirely floating my boat and I'm itching to do it properly (plus there's the cost incentive! )

Digging into DIY equipment I found these two projects:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-Your-Own-Brewery-for-Under-100-STEP-1-/?ALLSTEPS
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-Your-Own-Brewery-for-Under-100-STEP-2-/?ALLSTEPS

Is there any reason you can't do all this with one vessel (combining the two bucket setup of the tun and the two element setup of the boiler) and a temperature controller? ie use one element set to maintain a temp for a mash, lift out the inner bucket with the grains in it (sparging as necessary into a second bucket which is added back in), then using both elements to bring it to a boil and switching one off to maintain a rolling boil....

azzeretti

Treadhead wrote: »

Ok, here's a notion I've been having of late, it seems pretty obvious to me so there must be some reason nobody's actually doing it! Space is at a premium for me, and while I'm mainly limiting myself to 1gal brews atm I'd like to be able to do more in a space efficient manner. Extract brewing isn't entirely floating my boat and I'm itching to do it properly (plus there's the cost incentive! )

Digging into DIY equipment I found these two projects:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-Your-Own-Brewery-for-Under-100-STEP-1-/?ALLSTEPS
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-Your-Own-Brewery-for-Under-100-STEP-2-/?ALLSTEPS

Is there any reason you can't do all this with one vessel (combining the two bucket setup of the tun and the two element setup of the boiler) and a temperature controller? ie use one element set to maintain a temp for a mash, lift out the inner bucket with the grains in it (sparging as necessary into a second bucket which is added back in), then using both elements to bring it to a boil and switching one off to maintain a rolling boil....

This is a very common technique called brew in a bag (BIAB). Instead of two buckets the inner bucket is a mesh bag. The bag goes into the boiler and is mashed. When finished the bag is lifted out and strained into the boiler where the rest of the process continues. Even cheaper and less space required than two buckets!

BeardySi

Seems like my reply from yesterday didn't take for some reason!...

Never really thought of it as a variation on BIAB... makes sense I suppose.

What about heating the mash? would it be ok to use a temp controller running a kettle element? Is it even needed given sufficient insulation on the bucket?

keppler

this is basically what i did. I got some of that stuff that you put behind your car windshield to stop the cab overheating. Wrapped it around my peco boiler and hey presto you have a mash tun. I don't feel like I need a thermostatic control as it only drops about 2 degrees max over 1 hour.
having a false bottom really helps for when you're straining the wort.drain the wort into a fermenter and then pour back into the boiler and switch on the element.

dukeellington

BIAB won't be as efficient as this method. With BIAB you remove the bag of grain, with a mash tun with water filters through the grain, so this would be more efficient use of your grain.

It's not uncommon for people to make their own mash tun, and that guide looks very good to me. It also adds an element of I built this myself, as well I'm brewing the right way, and the pride factor of both should never be overlooked in a homebrew context.

I only took a quick look at the boiler/chiller built it yourself, I don't know if I'd be happy having a 90 minute rolling boil in a plastic bucket, I'm thinking of warping plastic at a minimum, all the way to melting plastic into your beer at worst. Perhaps he calls out a grade of plastic in those instructions that can take the temperature, but I'd lean towards always having my boil in some kind of stainless steel.

Hingo

dukeellington wrote: »

BIAB won't be as efficient as this method. With BIAB you remove the bag of grain, with a mash tun with water filters through the grain, so this would be more efficient use of your grain.

It's not uncommon for people to make their own mash tun, and that guide looks very good to me. It also adds an element of I built this myself, as well I'm brewing the right way, and the pride factor of both should never be overlooked in a homebrew context.

I only took a quick look at the boiler/chiller built it yourself, I don't know if I'd be happy having a 90 minute rolling boil in a plastic bucket, I'm thinking of warping plastic at a minimum, all the way to melting plastic into your beer at worst. Perhaps he calls out a grade of plastic in those instructions that can take the temperature, but I'd lean towards always having my boil in some kind of stainless steel.

I made the both of these. Works fine and I've done 90 min boils too. I got a proper picnic cooler mash tun recently but the kettle is still going. Hard to clean those kettle elements, coiled very close

lordstilton

dukeellington wrote: »

BIAB won't be as efficient as this method. With BIAB you remove the bag of grain, with a mash tun with water filters through the grain, so this would be more efficient use of your grain.

It's not uncommon for people to make their own mash tun, and that guide looks very good to me. It also adds an element of I built this myself, as well I'm brewing the right way, and the pride factor of both should never be overlooked in a homebrew context.

I only took a quick look at the boiler/chiller built it yourself, I don't know if I'd be happy having a 90 minute rolling boil in a plastic bucket, I'm thinking of warping plastic at a minimum, all the way to melting plastic into your beer at worst. Perhaps he calls out a grade of plastic in those instructions that can take the temperature, but I'd lean towards always having my boil in some kind of stainless steel.

I was at a group brew to brew a barrel and most types of systems were being used with the exception of HERMS or RIMS..One guy was using a BIAB on the day. .The BIAB guy got the highest efficiency of all the system that were there that day, if my memory serves me correctly it was 89%...You only remove the bag of grain once conversion is completed.You can still sparge out any remaining sugars in the bag by running hot water through it...I have a picnic cooler mash tun and my best efficiency is 81% and thats if I really slow down the run off.