Mash Mixer and Cooler

[Pierrot Lunaire 55]

My work so far has been using traditional corn/rye/barley mashes which go into a 10 gallon milk can still boiler, so the most I can put in there in one charge is about 8 gallons. Consequently I tend to think in that increment. I was doing individual batches in a 15 gallon kettle and moving it into typical polyethylene garbage cans, but I always knew hot mash was darn close to the temperature limit for that material. Long story short, I bought a stainless steel drum from the folks at Used Stainless Steel Barrels (http://www.usedstainlesssteelbarrels.co ... -products/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow) and built a cooling coil and motorized agitator for it. The drum is 55 gallons. When I start with my 15 gallon pot, I boil 11 gallons of water and add 20 pounds of cracked corn using a smaller motorized agitator. I dump the contents of the pot into the drum and then do the same thing two more times. That gives me a bit over 40 gallons of cooked corn at about 190º. When I lower in the agitator assembly, I can start pumping through cooling water while it stirs.

As the temperature comes down, I add my malt at appropriate stages and enzymes. I can stop and hold whenever necessary. With the constant agitation, the temperature change is pretty controllable.

After squeezing out the solids, I have three 8 gallon charges for the stripping run. If I get ambitious, I might think about blowing steam through the coil and do the heating in the drum, but that's another story.

[badflash]

Where did you find the motor?

[Pierrot Lunaire 55]

eBay. It's made by Bodine. They have dozens of low RPM gear motors. This one is 28 rpm so it has lots of torque, which is what you need when trying to stir the pot before the enzymes kick in. I'm sure I'm abusing the heck out of it running it vertically like that. I doubt the gearbox is getting lubricated properly in that position. I'll have to open it up and see what the gears look like.

BTW, note the block and tackle to lift it out of the drum. There's no way I'd be able to lift it out without damaging something or myself.

[Madshine]

That motor and gear box assembly should be able to handle vertical running. Your not doing high speed for extended periods of time. Check the oil after run in just to be sure the level is good.