mashing thermal jacket

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Peatbogbrewer
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mashing thermal jacket

Post by Peatbogbrewer » Thu Apr 07, 2016 7:01 pm

I tend to deplete the house of most of its blankets, pillows and coats for insulating and keeping mash temperature. I generally do a good job (lose a degree, even in the dead of winter) but getting fed up of 'building' the insulation around the pot. So, have anybody made and insulated pullover jacket for their pot? Or bought one from anywhere? It would help greatly with step mashes i reckon....

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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by sbond10 » Fri Apr 08, 2016 9:38 am

I use 3 layers of silver foil bubble wrap insulation wrapped around and held in place with rope. 3 circles cut out for the lid. Then a duvet over top that works for me

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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by Kev888 » Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:08 am

Closed-cell foam, such as armaflex sheeting, is very good though a tad costly - thin for its high insulation value. Camping/sleeping mats can also be good and are similar stuff, but apparently not all are equal wrt the type of foam used.

You could hold it on with bungees, mine was permanently gaffa-taped up, but perhaps you need to remove the insulation due to using a gas burner?
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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by scotsloon » Fri Apr 08, 2016 11:45 am

I use and have used for some years now silverised bubble wrap (the sort used at the back of radiators) tape this on with small pieces of Duct tape then cover all with an old yoga mat or camping mat again held in place with Duct tape. I change this out for new every year or so (maybe every 5 or 6 brews). I loose about 1*C in a 90 min mash. You need to cut both for taps, sight glass and in my case thermometer. I'm a BIAB brewer btw.

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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by Peatbogbrewer » Fri Apr 08, 2016 8:08 pm

yes i do BIAB too and with a gas burner, i'm looking at re-jigging an old padded sleeping bag so i can insulate with ease, i've got some camping mats too.....

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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by Kev888 » Fri Apr 08, 2016 8:37 pm

Sounds good to me. The silvery type insulators are fine but work on reflection mostly, so need to be installed with an air gap to realise manufacturers claims. For this application, decent thermally resistant materials are hard to beat IMO.

Don't forget the seal between pot and lid; air isn't a very good heat conductor but if its leaky enough to let air circulate in/out of the pot then convection can make it significant.
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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by bigchris » Fri Apr 08, 2016 10:26 pm

I take my coat off and it fits nicely over the pot and burner.

ImageCoatWarmingMash by bigchris, on Flickr

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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by Peatbogbrewer » Sat Apr 09, 2016 3:46 pm

bigchris wrote:I take my coat off and it fits nicely over the pot and burner.

ImageCoatWarmingMash by bigchris, on Flickr
Ive got an old padded mountain equipment jacket! sorted.......

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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by Kev888 » Sat Apr 09, 2016 10:01 pm

And as a bonus, your brew day won't be troubled by those pesky crows.
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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by Bazz » Sun Apr 10, 2016 10:48 am

I have in the past thought about using a hot water cylinder jacket, like you find in airing cupboards, but at the moment i'm getting along fine with a combo of silver bubble wrap and an camping mat held on with bungees, I tend to chuck a fleece blanket over the top during the mash as well, works well so i'm avoiding any additional expense at the moment.

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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by daf » Sun Apr 10, 2016 2:17 pm

I bung a couple of fleeces over it, the bonus is on a cold brew day when it comes to mash out and boil I have a nice warm fleece to wear in the garage. I have lots of camping mats which I guess I could fashion some sort of insulator with but then it would need storing...

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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by Fil » Sun Apr 10, 2016 5:05 pm

fwiw i did a lil research into thin but effective insulating materials a while back which led me to a very odd and interesting site which was full of maths to prove the assertions, which were all above my head, But to prove the point they built balloons from the materials and filed them with steam from a known volume of water with a wallpaper stripper and timed their buoyancy in the air ?? steam balloons can fly :)

the conclusion is a composite of mylar (crunchie wrappers or space blankets) and 10mm bubblewrap provide the most insulation w/w

So i made my FV jacket from a closed cell foam camping ground mat from the £shop a space blanket , odd bits of bubblewrap that have arrived with deliveries and gaffer tape ;) cheap and steam balloon proven ;) cost £2 for 2 x ground mats, £1 for 2 x space blankets and a 50p worth of gaffer tape.... gaffer tape may loose adhesion at mashing temps tho ??
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by Kev888 » Mon Apr 11, 2016 9:20 am

Fil wrote:...to prove the point they built balloons from the materials and filed them with steam from a known volume of water with a wallpaper stripper and timed their buoyancy in the air ?? steam balloons can fly :)
Sounds like a very convoluted way of testing heat loss, Fil! Assuming all the balloons had the same surface area through which to lose heat, wouldn't buoyancy then favour the lighter materials as well as the more insulative? (if thats a word)
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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by Fil » Tue Apr 12, 2016 4:07 am

Kev888 wrote:
Fil wrote:...to prove the point they built balloons from the materials and filed them with steam from a known volume of water with a wallpaper stripper and timed their buoyancy in the air ?? steam balloons can fly :)
Sounds like a very convoluted way of testing heat loss, Fil! Assuming all the balloons had the same surface area through which to lose heat, wouldn't buoyancy then favour the lighter materials as well as the more insulative? (if thats a word)

The site has disappeared i saved the link, it was the maths n physics that was the guts of the site which made up a students thesis for a phd or similar in one of the colonial colleges (.org hosting), all well over my head and understanding.. so could be complete bollox for all i know but looked credible enough..
the steam balloon was just the novel practical demonstration, and iirc the balloons used were all the same size/volume, and balanced to an equal mass.
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

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Re: mashing thermal jacket

Post by bigchris » Tue Apr 12, 2016 7:15 am

Kev888 wrote:
Fil wrote:...to prove the point they built balloons from the materials and filed them with steam from a known volume of water with a wallpaper stripper and timed their buoyancy in the air ?? steam balloons can fly :)
Sounds like a very convoluted way of testing heat loss, Fil! Assuming all the balloons had the same surface area through which to lose heat, wouldn't buoyancy then favour the lighter materials as well as the more insulative? (if thats a word)
I believe the 'hot air balloon' enthusiasts have been working for years on an insulated balloon to reduce the amount of heat loss and so use much less fuel. Also they experiment with steam filled balloons (temperature greater than 100 degrees C and lower density than hot air) to increase the lifting power of the balloon. That's probably what that thesis website was about.

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