Converting my boiling pot

[rich]

Hey Guys,

I am trying to get the hell away from extract brewing, and into all-grain, and am thinking of converting my brewing pot into a mash tun. I am planning on adding a stainless steel draining valve/bulkhead. In terms of a false bottom, that addition seems to be a bit of a hassle. However, in a brewing catalog, I saw a 12 inch straining screen that attaches to the bulkhead on the inside, and is advertized as suitable for mashing. I also read a posting somewhere on the internet in which a guy was singing the praises of just using this type of tube-like screen instead of a false bottom.
I am curious if anyone had any feedback on this design (pros and cons, past experience, etc).
Again, I am looking to get into mashing asap, but don't want to invest in a whole new pot.
If you have any input, it would be appreciated. Thanks.


Rich

[Brownbeard]

Have you considered a cooler conversion? There was a great article in BYO last month about converting coolers into mash tuns. I just did mine this weekend. The cost was minimal. I had a 30 quart cooler at the house. $5 for a water supply line with braided stainless steal jacket, $1 for a mini-keg bung, $1 for an in line valve, some vinyl tubing, I have a mash tun. Here (http://hbd.org/clubs/cascade/public_html/dennybrew/) is a link to the instructions.

[OldHooky]

If you plan to mash at one temperature, a cooler is a good way to go. I use a ten gallon Gott beverage cooler($37 new), false bottom($15) and about $5 worth of fittings. It holds mash temperatures for over two hours. BTW, I just bought 2 five gallon beverage coolers in an auction for about $3 each. One thing I'd do differently: buy a SS false bottom. I have to hold mine down while adding grain because it tends to float a little.

[Brownbeard]

To begin with, I plan on using single temp mashes, as well as batch sparging. I may someday decide to go with step mashes, but not now.

[OldHooky]

here are photos of my cooler valve and fittings

[OldHooky]

Here is the other one. The software would only let me post one at a time.

[barley ben]

Just don't be a cheap stubborn guy like me. I have a 10 gallon cooler but instead of converting it, I decided to build a seperate lauter tun out of 2 spare buckets I have. It came out really good after about 4 straight hours of drilling what felt to be a million 1/8 inch holes in the bottom of one. Let me tell ya, it's not worth the money saved. Yeah it works good but it's alot better to just convert a cooler. Now I don't want to just because of the effort I put into the buckets. Having a mush/lauter tun is alot easier than mashing and then having to gentily pour it all into the buckets to lauter/sparge the batch.

[Beerconnoisseur]

I will second the cooler idea; MoreBeer has a two-cooler setup starting from $165. These are nice b/c the setup comes with everything you need, the insulation holds heat well, and they work well enough for single infusion mashes. They maybe aren't as nice for multi-step/decoction mashing, but for the money, they are the best bet unless you want to get a picnic cooler and do a lot of DIY work.

Oh, and save your brew pot; you will still need it for boiling the wort from the all-grain!

[Fast_Eddy]

I guess I must the cheapest of you all. There is another way to go...

I use my kettle as my mash tun. It only loses about 5-6 degrees per 30 minutes so a few well timed short bursts of heat keep my mash temp right on the money.

After mashing I move the grain(and sweet liquor) into my lauter which is a bucket with a phils phalse bottom and then batch sparge from there back into my kettle. My net cost to move to all grain was only like $20 bucks.

Least someone suggest otherwise I make very good beers with this set-up.

The down side is having to monitor the mash temps and also you have to able to carry the mash tun a short distance.

[OldHooky]

"The down side is having to monitor the mash temps and also you have to able to carry the mash tun a short distance."

That's exactly what I was thinking. Once the grain is in my cooler, I can walk away for 90-120 minutes and know that the temp is dead on. It's nice to relax and have a brew in the middle of brewing.

[Brownbeard]

I spent less than $20 to do my cooler conversion (I already had the picnic cooler). It only took my 20 minutes to put it all together. Cheap and easy. I have not had a chance to use it yet, so I cannot vouch for the quality of the brew.

[rich]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. But for some reason I am gravitating toward converting my brew pot. I like the idea of it having multiple uses, and the fact that it's one less item to store in the limited space I have seems best.
Actually, I was looking in the brewing catalog I mentioned, and the term for this filter is 'bazooka screen.' Again, if anyone has any experience with this item, I'm all ears.
Also, Fast Eddie - you're idea sounds most where I'm at. If you have the time to contribute step by step instructions on how to mash as you described, it would help immensely. Again, this will be the first all grain attempt. So if you have the time, and can explain on laymens terms, it would be incredibly helpful.

Again, thanks for all the feedback guys.

Rich

[Fast_Eddy]

Originally posted by rich
Thanks for all the feedback guys. But for some reason I am gravitating toward converting my brew pot. I like the idea of it having multiple uses, and the fact that it's one less item to store in the limited space I have seems best.
Actually, I was looking in the brewing catalog I mentioned, and the term for this filter is 'bazooka screen.' Again, if anyone has any experience with this item, I'm all ears.
Also, Fast Eddie - you're idea sounds most where I'm at. If you have the time to contribute step by step instructions on how to mash as you described, it would help immensely. Again, this will be the first all grain attempt. So if you have the time, and can explain on laymens terms, it would be incredibly helpful.

Again, thanks for all the feedback guys.

Rich

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-Eddy