Home made mash tun

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CJBrew

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by CJBrew » Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:32 pm

Unfortunately those tank fittings aren't designed to have a tube pass through them. However, they're easily available and cheap.
I wouldnt say cheap, mine cost me £8 from Screwfix!!!
You was robbed then:
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/82376/Plu ... upler-15mm
less than £1.50

sorry :(

crookedeyeboy

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by crookedeyeboy » Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:43 pm

I think I must have bought something similar but top of the range! Its looks very similar to your link but not exactly the same.
Do you still have to file this onedown to get 15mm pipe in there?

CJBrew

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by CJBrew » Thu Nov 12, 2009 4:33 pm

Do you still have to file this onedown to get 15mm pipe in there?
Yep. FWIW I just bought all the cheapest bits I could, mostly Flowflex. While really good (expensive) compression fittings may be easier to tighten and more reliable and so on, I'm not trying to keep natural gas inside them...

tubthumper

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by tubthumper » Fri Nov 13, 2009 11:18 pm

this is a better one than screwfix sell as its cheaper and also got the washer
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Plumbin ... 697/p71736
look online or locally for a 15mm drill bit and just drill it out dont waste time filing it.
if there are enough people who dont want to or cant do that I may start to supply them for you at cost plus postage
pm if interested

CJBrew

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by CJBrew » Sat Nov 14, 2009 12:06 am

this is a better one than screwfix sell as its cheaper and also got the washer
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Plumbin ... 697/p71736
look online or locally for a 15mm drill bit and just drill it out dont waste time filing it.
if there are enough people who dont want to or cant do that I may start to supply them for you at cost plus postage
pm if interested
Good price, and the washer is a nice thing to have too. I bought one just like this from Plumb Base or whatever it's called, it was a bit dearer than that.

However, the downside of this sort is the shape of the fitting where it is inside the vessel -- it doesn't have a hex bolt shape (two strange sticky-out bits of brass), so how are you expected to hold it still as you tighten it up? I don't really like it, but I'm only going to use mine it in situations where a tight seal isn't important -- like passing through the lid of something, etc... I used the washer to fit a Screwfix Flowflex tank connector to my boiler -- the right sized washers seem to be hard to find.

As for the 15mm drill bit, don't even think about bothering to DIY this unless you've got a pillar drill. I used one of the pillar drills at work.

Take it slow -- drill a very little depth, then remove the bit, go back in, repeat until you drill out the section you need to. If you don't do it like that, you'll probably end up having to hold the bit in a vice and pull the fitting off -- very tricky. I had to do that like 5 times when I was drilling the first one.

If you have only one to do, and don't either have the tools at home or work for the sort of technology firm that has 15mm drill bits and decent kit in the workshop -- a file does the job just fine.

tubthumper

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by tubthumper » Sat Nov 14, 2009 11:41 am

the 2 sticky out bits are what you use to hold it whilst tightening Iuse 12inch pump pliers and never had a leak with mine on side of fv bucket , i suppose if you got the bits sticking out at the right angle you could hold it still with just a flat scredriver wedged between them
but i havent tried this as I have proper tools for this type of work

sjw7

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by sjw7 » Mon Nov 16, 2009 3:15 pm

I used a bulkhead fitting that i got from a local Calor Gas shop. Its longer than the normal tank coupler so allows you to go through both skins and have enough thread left to fit a tap on the end. I cant remember the exact name of it but i will dismantle it this evening and take a photo of it that i can post here. Tried looking on the net for a picture but cannot find one of the same type. It was around the £5 mark though so not expensive.

Aiming to put it to use this weekend for my first AG. Just need to decide on a recipie now and finish off my immersion cooler :D

cheers

Simon

wetdog

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by wetdog » Tue Nov 17, 2009 5:52 am

This is the setup I bought from a plumbers merchant for my boiler
The last piece on the right is a compression nut and 15mm pipe will fit into this without the need for filing
Image
Image
Image

edit: fixed cropped image

crookedeyeboy

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by crookedeyeboy » Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:03 am

THAT is exactly what ive been after, a nice concise picture of the bits I need to buy! :D Thanks

garwatts

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by garwatts » Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:16 am

What a nice, neat job =D>
Where did you get the mesh from?

crookedeyeboy

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by crookedeyeboy » Tue Nov 17, 2009 10:52 am

How much did you pay for the ball valve tap? Im sure I was ripped off at B&Q

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DC
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Re: Home made mash tun

Post by DC » Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:23 pm

Hi all, Just seen this post regarding mashtuns and was wondering if I would be able to do a 10gallon brew mash in this size cooler? http://campingandleisure.co.uk/acatalog/info_7900.html if so you cant get a better price at £20 & £6.95 delivery :wink:
Not a bad price, but note that these are 10 US GALLONS [37.8 litres], so only 8.3 imperial gallons.
Will it be big enough for 10gallon brew lengths :?: [-o< [-o< [-o<

Image

Cheers DC 8)
FV No 1: Nowt
FV No 2: Nowt
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Pressure Barrel No 1: Nowt
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Planning:
Yeast Bank: SafAle S04, Youngs Cider Yeast.
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adm

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by adm » Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:33 pm

Yes.

Should be certainly good enough for 10G up to 5% or a bit above. You might have to juggle your mash thickness a bit, batch sparge twice, or move to fly sparging (depending on your current approach), but you should be able to do 10G brews no problem.

tubthumper

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by tubthumper » Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:14 pm

those 10 gal are american gals the litre size works out to be 8.31484 UK Gallons
so if thats enough size then you will be ok
US quart size is a bit easier to work out as its nearly 1 litre ( actually 0.94635) but good enough to work out what you need

CJBrew

Re: Home made mash tun

Post by CJBrew » Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:48 pm

US quart size is a bit easier to work out as its nearly 1 litre ( actually 0.94635) but good enough to work out what you need
UK Gallons are easy though, that's 4.5l, so two gallons is 9l. Know your 9 times table? :D

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