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Gday all,

I want to get into AG distilling but I'm caught up on what the best type of mash tun is going forward.

Do people care to share there mash tuns and sparging techniques for their mash tuns.

Thanks,

Sparrow wrote:Gday all,

I want to get into AG distilling but I'm caught up on what the best type of mash tun is going forward.

Do people care to share there mash tuns and sparing techniques for their mash tuns.

Thanks,

The simplest and cheapest would probably be a $30 Walmart cooler. Great insulation, and very easy/cheaply add a flex tubing "false bottom".

Antler24 wrote:

Sparrow wrote:Gday all,

I want to get into AG distilling but I'm caught up on what the best type of mash tun is going forward.

Do people care to share there mash tuns and sparing techniques for their mash tuns.

Thanks,

The simplest and cheapest would probably be a $30 Walmart cooler. Great insulation, and very easy/cheaply add a flex tubing "false bottom".

What's the efficiency of something like that going to be?

Sparrow wrote:

Antler24 wrote:

Sparrow wrote:...the best type of mash tun...???

...probably be a $30 Walmart cooler...

What's the efficiency of something like that going to be?

I mash with a 10 gallon Coleman drinking cooler. I put a gridwork of copper pipes in the bottom for the liquor to collect and drain out when lautering. With my processes, it works quite well at extracting the sweet liquor. And the insulation helps hold the mash temperatures (somewhat).

If you have a stainless keg, you could "severe the head" and use that to mash in. The stainless is easily cleaneable using brewery cleaners and it will hold the hot mash without degradation, although insulation would help maintain mash temperatures better.

An old potato boiler would be a fantastic mash tun...stainless steel, approximately 40 gallon capacity and complete with a steam jacket...ideal for mating with a steam generator for heating and boiling. But this solution is more commercial. Potato boilers can be sourced used at resturant supply salvage contractors.

But as suggested, the insulated plastic ice chests/drink coolers are easily and successfully adapted for this function.
ss