Foam insulation

[crookedeyeboy]

Im seriously thinking of going overboard on the insulation side of things with my mash tun.
Doea anyone know if you can get something like a can of spray foam insualtor, the kind of stuff that you spray on and it drys whilst it expands?
Ive looked on the net and the only thing I can find are the full kits with two tanks to do the whole house. A little excessive for my needs

[OldSpeckledBadger]

A few camping mats would suffice

[Scooby]

All diy sheds and builders merchants sell a variety of expanding foam, here are some examples at Screwfix It expands to fill a space so you need to make a double skin for the vessel.

I've used it in building work and it works well but there is a knack to doing a good job and if you do use it wear the gloves supplied and wear old clothing as once cured you'll never get it off.

[StrangeBrew]

Builders & Plumbers merchants will sell expanding foam in aerosol cans.
Read the info on the can before use and make sure to clean the nozzle & tube afterwards or it'll be a use once can!

I insulated my mash tun lid with it yesterday, messy stuff if you're not careful.

[Dr. Dextrin]

It can be extremely messy stuff. The trick is not to worry about the excess that foams out or any drips, etc. (so long as they're not on the missus' best carpet of course ). If you start trying to clean them up, you'll end up a gooey mess because it sticks to everything and doesn't wipe off easily. Just mask off anywhere that the foam might damage and let the whole lot go hard. The excess then trims off easily with a knife.

[trucker5774]

If you go down the spray foam route, it's worth buying a proper gun and gun grade foam. It will seem expensive at first but if you are ever to use it again it will pay for itself. The foam is about the same price as an aerosol but you will have fine control and only use abour a quarter of the amount by comparison. Remember to wet the job first!

[boingy]

This is a bit leftfield but modern narrowboats are insulated with spray-on foam. It's much more controllable than the DIY expanding foam in a can (that tends to expand way out of control). The spray layers very neatly. Not sure you could get a small enough quantity to do what you want but this is the sort of stuff I mean:

http://www.spray-insulation.co.uk/narro ... lation.htm

A few years ago you could have wandered down to your local boatyard and found a proper boat builder using this stuff (and probably paid him a small amount to tag your job onto the end of anothe rone) but the inevitable growth in cheap imported boats has put many of them out of business. If you live anywhere near the canal network it might be worth enquiring at a marina or two...

[Northern Brewer]

I discovered that in addition to wrapping the tun up (with the family's fleece jackets in my case), I could significantly reduce the 90 minute temperature fall-off by sitting it on a couple of folded towels, whilst preheating and mashing. We're all taught that heat rises, so probably don't think about insulating the underside, but it does make a big difference.

[StrangeBrew]

This is a bit leftfield but modern narrowboats are insulated with spray-on foam. It's much more controllable than the DIY expanding foam in a can (that tends to expand way out of control). The spray layers very neatly. Not sure you could get a small enough quantity to do what you want but this is the sort of stuff I mean:

http://www.spray-insulation.co.uk/narro ... lation.htm

I think I've seen similar stuff used on one of those 'home inprovement' progs on the box, insulating the under side of roof tiles in the loft.

[WishboneBrewery]

You could: Get a cardboard box a bit bigger than your Mash tun put a Bin liner in it sit your Mash Tun in it, rest it on something to space it from the bottom of the cardboard box fill the bugger with Expanding Foam in the gap between the cardboard and the Tun light blue touch paper and stand well back!