insulating my boiler

[Deebee]

Hi guys.

been ages sine i have been able to log on. We are nearly finished moving house and i have now been officially banished to the garage for my brewing activities.

this is cool though as i have also gotten a gas burner which should make things easier.

it also means that my current boiler will be used for heating mash and then sparge water and that i have to upgrade to a larger boiler ( which a local workshop are making for me!)

BUT, the garage is not the best insulated of places and this means that boiling time will naturally be affected as the ambient air temperature will be lower, meaning there will be heat loss from the boiler to the air..

I have a load og glava/rockwool though so wondered if this along with silver gaffer tape would serve as a decent form of insulation around a boiler to be used with gas? I don't want to have to start buying water tank jackets you know?. As for the MT the old owner left a load og polystyrene plates in the garage so i am thinking of padding the MT out with those all around, under and over then sealing it all with silver gaffer tape. hey it will even look shiney!

Do these sound like feasible and decent solutions?

[scuppeteer]

I'm no scientist, but surely once its boiling, then its boiling?
I would be concerned about setting the insulation alight with a gas burner unless its a stove type with no naked flame.

[Spud395]

I'm the same Deebee, banished It's the way to go, but as you say some things to be overcome.

I recently went to 50L stainless boiler and decided it needed insulation as well.
I've just wrapped an old camping mat around it with tape for the time being, it makes a huge difference to boil time and maintaining a roll
I'll put some shiney bubble wrap on over this when the budget allows.

AFAIK you will loose a lot of the insulation value of rockwool/fiberglass if they are compressed, I may be wrong on this but check it out 1st.

[fisherman]

I am also on gas and in the garage. I did lots of brewing in the latter part of the year, I am now considering mass brewing in the spring and the autumn and avoid cold days in the garage, also no high summer temperatures with the yeast. Just loads of storage for 500 to 700 pints.

[Lugsy]

I've just upgraded to a 70l boiler which will involve brewing outside on a propane burner. I've considered the heat losses and think that rather than insulating the boiler I'll go with making a stainless steel shroud to surround the burner and boiler - this will protect the burner from any breeze and direct any excess heat up around the sides of the boiler. It'll be pretty simple, a cylinder with a diameter a couple of inches bigger than the diameter of the boiler stood on some feet to allow airflow to the burner. Then I don't have to worry about setting fire to/melting any insulation around the boiler and I can get hold of thin stainless sheet for next to nothing at work

[wmfd]

I've just upgraded to a 70l boiler which will involve brewing outside on a propane burner. I've considered the heat losses and think that rather than insulating the boiler I'll go with making a stainless steel shroud to surround the burner and boiler - this will protect the burner from any breeze and direct any excess heat up around the sides of the boiler. It'll be pretty simple, a cylinder with a diameter a couple of inches bigger than the diameter of the boiler stood on some feet to allow airflow to the burner. Then I don't have to worry about setting fire to/melting any insulation around the boiler and I can get hold of thin stainless sheet for next to nothing at work

Interesting - I'm just looking at a shroud too. I've a 50l stockpot and one of the gas boiling rings.

Thought that may be able to do it from an oil drum, looks almost the right diameter (albeit with a bit more clearance than a couple of inches).

David

[Deebee]

I'm not worried about wind. The garage is 87 square metres and has a height of 5 m. It's well ventilated too and has both power and water supplied. But sunday the garage was at minus 5!
I wanted to insulate the boiler to bid getting to boiling point. Obviouly cold ambient temp will affect that. I thought rock wool was fire proof?