Cheap Mash Tun

[KevG]

Coming back into All Grain brewing after a long absence I wanted to use an insulated mash tun, without spending a great deal of money. Luckily I had an old coolbox in the garage (last used to keep lugworms and squid chilled for fishing bait !). After a good clean I fitted a tap, and was going to make a copper manifold until I realised what the cost would be for the pipe, elbows and fittings, never mind the effort involved in cutting slots.
Instead I used small grill tray from the kitchen (not sure if the wife is aware), and a tea strainer to keep grain away from the tap. This is used in conjunction with a grain bag. The picture shows the setup.


So far I've done 3 five gallon brews this year, with estimated efficiencies of 72, 80 and 82% using a 90 minute mash. The first brew, a porter tastes great (not much left).
This may not be particularly original, but shows that improvised equipment can produce good beer, without having to spend a fortune.
I may still go ahead and make a manifold at some time, though I'm pretty crap at DIY !

Cheers

Kev

[tubby_shaw]

Nice work Kev
As you say great beer can be produced without spending a fortune on equipment.
Again more great British ingenuity

[bitter_dave]

Nice piece of ingenuity Kev

[maxashton]

You won't have a worry with isinglas then, i'm sure there will be enough residual fish chitin in the tun

[KevG]

No wonder my porter went well with cod and chips

[PieOPah]

I can understand the tea strainer, but what is the grill for?

[KevG]

The grill tray acts as a false bottom, lifting the grain bag above the bottom of the tun. This allows the wort to drain off quite quickly. It does mean that there is a dead space under the mash, probably a litre or so. I just tip up the mash tun to collect this at the end of sparging.

[PieOPah]

Ah! Missed the bit about using a grain bag as well.... That explains it