making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

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lord groan
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making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by lord groan » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:46 pm

Hi all,
Right, first off: Apologies in advance for all the newbie questions, i've ferreted about for previous posts that cover my questions but wasn't particularly successful.

I'm trying to assemble the necessary bits and bobs to try a grain brew, intending to do about 45litres as my mate and I will do it together and share the final wort so we get about 40+ pints each.
I have a small (20l ish) insulated burco type boiler which is earmarked for the hlt at the mo. I have just begged a 35l mango chutney barrel from my local indian restaurant which I am eyeing up as a potential mash tun, I'm still considering the options for the bottom filter, ie a manifold or s/s mesh pipe or false bottom, and am currently wondering about using a flat coil of drilled 15mm plumbing barrier pipe. Now the questions -
1. Is barrier pipe foodsafe, might sound stupid as it gets used in domestic plumbing but this will be cut/drilled and will expose the inner barrier layer to the wort.
2. will a 15mm pushfit end cap be food safe when submerged in hot wort
3. Is this just a stupid idea?

Has anyone tried a false bottom over a mesh pipe? I'm thinking stainless saucepan lid drilled appropriately would both partially filter wort and protect the mesh pipe from being crushed.
Will a barrel shaped tun work ok? I see many people use rectangular coolboxes, is this just because they're the easiest insulated container to find?

Haven't sorted a boiler yet, still searching for a suitable sized tank/barrel or whatever

Thanks in advance for your patience and all advice very welcome.
lg

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fordpopular
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Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by fordpopular » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:10 pm

Barrier Pipe when used as a pipe I would guess could be foodsafe (not sure). but its mainly used in heating systems and it is an inner and an outer pipe bonded together with adhesive so exposing the adhesive by drilling into it may not be a great idea. I'm no plumber or expert on this but that was my initial thought

lord groan
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Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by lord groan » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:14 pm

thanks for that, that kind of mirrors my concerns

Deller12

Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by Deller12 » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:32 pm

lord groan wrote:Hi all,
Right, first off: Apologies in advance for all the newbie questions, i've ferreted about for previous posts that cover my questions but wasn't particularly successful.

I'm trying to assemble the necessary bits and bobs to try a grain brew, intending to do about 45litres as my mate and I will do it together and share the final wort so we get about 40+ pints each.
I have a small (20l ish) insulated burco type boiler which is earmarked for the hlt at the mo. I have just begged a 35l mango chutney barrel from my local indian restaurant which I am eyeing up as a potential mash tun, I'm still considering the options for the bottom filter, ie a manifold or s/s mesh pipe or false bottom, and am currently wondering about using a flat coil of drilled 15mm plumbing barrier pipe. Now the questions -
1. Is barrier pipe foodsafe, might sound stupid as it gets used in domestic plumbing but this will be cut/drilled and will expose the inner barrier layer to the wort.
2. will a 15mm pushfit end cap be food safe when submerged in hot wort
3. Is this just a stupid idea?

Has anyone tried a false bottom over a mesh pipe? I'm thinking stainless saucepan lid drilled appropriately would both partially filter wort and protect the mesh pipe from being crushed.
Will a barrel shaped tun work ok? I see many people use rectangular coolboxes, is this just because they're the easiest insulated container to find?

Haven't sorted a boiler yet, still searching for a suitable sized tank/barrel or whatever

Thanks in advance for your patience and all advice very welcome.
lg
Not sure your 20ltr Burco will be big enough for your HLT. Have you thought of using stainless braid for a filter for your mash tun ?

lord groan
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Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by lord groan » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:41 pm

i was thinking of bringing 20 litres up to temp, straight from the hot tap (combi boiler so only needing to increase by 20-30c), filling the mash tun, then refilling boiler whilst mashing ongoing, then sparging with the 2nd batch of hot water from the boiler to arrive at 40litres. would this work ok? or be too much trouble.
When you say s/s mesh, do you mean a sheet of mesh as a false bottom or mesh tube taken from flexible water pipe connectors, I have three of the pipes I can strip the coverings from if need be

thanks for the help
lg

Deller12

Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by Deller12 » Mon Oct 22, 2012 8:52 pm

lord groan wrote:i was thinking of bringing 20 litres up to temp, straight from the hot tap (combi boiler so only needing to increase by 20-30c), filling the mash tun, then refilling boiler whilst mashing ongoing, then sparging with the 2nd batch of hot water from the boiler to arrive at 40litres. would this work ok? or be too much trouble.
When you say s/s mesh, do you mean a sheet of mesh as a false bottom or mesh tube taken from flexible water pipe connectors, I have three of the pipes I can strip the coverings from if need be

thanks for the help
lg
I know some guys use water direct from the boilers others say not to so I can't comment on this to be honest. You will need more than 40 lts for 80 pint batch as you will loose a fair amount from evaporation during the 90 minute boil. I have used stainless steel braid I think i got it from a online Motorsport website it was 316 stainless steel 22mm diameter.

lord groan
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Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by lord groan » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:38 pm

food for thought,
thanks Deller, I'd forgotten evaporation losses. I think i'd better drag the burco down from the loft to do an accurate capacity check, then rethink! I'll try making up a braid loop with some copper tube and see how that pans out.

cheers for the advice
lg

Fil
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Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by Fil » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:43 pm

to stop braid collapsing under grain weight you could just stuff it with short lenghts of copper tube abbuted up against each other..
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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Blackaddler
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Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by Blackaddler » Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:19 am

Fil wrote:to stop braid collapsing under grain weight you could just stuff it with short lenghts of copper tube abbuted up against each other..
15mm braid is less likely to collapse than 22mm.
Image

Deller12

Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by Deller12 » Tue Oct 23, 2012 10:27 am

Blackaddler wrote:
Fil wrote:to stop braid collapsing under grain weight you could just stuff it with short lenghts of copper tube abbuted up against each other..
15mm braid is less likely to collapse than 22mm.
I put a piece of copper tube peppered with holes inside the braid this worked ok for me :D

Dave S
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Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by Dave S » Tue Oct 23, 2012 12:06 pm

Deller12 wrote:
lord groan wrote:i was thinking of bringing 20 litres up to temp, straight from the hot tap (combi boiler so only needing to increase by 20-30c), filling the mash tun, then refilling boiler whilst mashing ongoing, then sparging with the 2nd batch of hot water from the boiler to arrive at 40litres. would this work ok? or be too much trouble.
When you say s/s mesh, do you mean a sheet of mesh as a false bottom or mesh tube taken from flexible water pipe connectors, I have three of the pipes I can strip the coverings from if need be

thanks for the help
lg
I know some guys use water direct from the boilers others say not to so I can't comment on this to be honest. You will need more than 40 lts for 80 pint batch as you will loose a fair amount from evaporation during the 90 minute boil. I have used stainless steel braid I think i got it from a online Motorsport website it was 316 stainless steel 22mm diameter.
Also, a litre or so of water per kg is retained by the spent grains after the mash, not to mention the dead spaces in the mash tun and boiler. So, for a 45 litre batch you will need something approaching 70 litres of water.
Best wishes

Dave

lord groan
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Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by lord groan » Tue Oct 23, 2012 7:16 pm

I've been having a tinker this afternoon, I've stripped the braid from a couple of flexible plumbing pipes, only 10mm in diameter but I managed to stretch the ends out by working a plastic knife handle into the cut ends, then joined them with a short length of 15mm copper pipe and cable ties, free ends onto a copper tee. Looks like I'll be going with this option.
As to the hlt, I've measured the capacity and it is exactly 20l - not enough I guess! Shame because it's insulated double skinned, has a temperature probe, sight glass and a variable stat built in. Perfect hb boiler/ hlt if only it was a bit bigger.

thanks for the advice everyone, v.much appreciated
lg

Deller12

Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by Deller12 » Tue Oct 23, 2012 8:53 pm

Shame about the size of your Burco sounds like a nice bit of kit. I recently scaled up to 120 pint batches I use a 70 ltr HLT 65ltr l mash tun and 100 ltr boiler. You could make your own boiler/HLT :)

darkonnis

Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by darkonnis » Tue Oct 23, 2012 9:51 pm

I wrote loads, then read it back and it was confusing as hell so I'll keep it simple.
Get a second mango bucket, fit a tap, fit a element and you're away :) or buy a 60L PP bucket from hopngrape (think it is) and do the same thing. Instant HLT!

Oh as a rule of tumb, if you want 23L out, assume you will need atleast half again to start with (33/34L). This will always put you in the right sort of area.

Fil
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Re: making a mash tun using barrier pipe?

Post by Fil » Tue Oct 23, 2012 10:11 pm

hang onto the small vessel tho, you may find yourself wanting to brew the odd 10-15l test brew if you get a recipe idea you dont want to commit a whole brew to until its been tasted..
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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