Insulating mash tun

[Stonecutter]

I thought It’d be a great idea to insulate my propane fired mash tun with reflectix. Nope don’t do it. I wish I would have taken some pictures but the stink of melting plastic was enough for me to just throw it away as soon as it cooled off. Luckily it didn’t stain the mash tun or ruin my mash.

[sadie33]

I thought It’d be a great idea to insulate my propane fired mash tun with reflectix. Nope don’t do it. I wish I would have taken some pictures but the stink of melting plastic was enough for me to just throw it away as soon as it cooled off. Luckily it didn’t stain the mash tun or ruin my mash.

what a bummer! Well I guess you don't know until you know, and then you know, and now we all know!

[still_stirrin]

… insulate my propane fired mash tun with reflectix….

That would be a job for FIBERGLASS. It’s what is used to insulate propane or natural gas fired water-heaters. Imagine that!
ss

[Stonecutter]

Thank you SS duly noted that’s a bit of a “duh” realization for me

Almost immediately the reflectix started to shrink and smoke, thus I ended up essentially doing the whole mash without insulation. The BAP did a fine job and I hardly used any propane but I’m always game for improvement. I’ll keep a thought towards insulation.

[Laredo7mm]

Reflectix will work on your mash tun. Just don’t wrap the tun until you cut the flame. Same as with using blankets or sleeping bags. I doubt people have their mash tuns wrapped with blankets while they have an open flame heating the mash. I wouldn’t use fiberglass either, sounds nasty to me. Water heaters vent through the middle of the tank while the “vent” from your propane burner washes up the sides of the tun, melting your insulation.

[Stonecutter]

Reflectix will work on your mash tun. Just don’t wrap the tun until you cut the flame. Same as with using blankets or sleeping bags. I doubt people have their mash tuns wrapped with blankets while they have an open flame heating the mash. I wouldn’t use fiberglass either, sounds nasty to me. Water heaters vent through the middle of the tank while the “vent” from your propane burner washes up the sides of the tun, melting your insulation.

So I’ll pose the question, are guys wrapping and unwrapping their mash tun throughout the process? I’ve seen the threads about getting boiling water for the corn; dumping in an igloo cooler wrapping in some kind of insulation, then adding malted grains at appropriate temps. Although I’ve never tried it obviously this is a successful process for many members here.
Right now I’m using this BAP to mash Malted grist so I’ve got to maintain that critical 148-150F range throughout the process. I thought about getting some Velcro and attaching it to the reflectix or whatever. I would need to remove the insulation, fire up the burner shut burner down and reapply the insulation. In theory it ain’t too bad but maybe it’s over complicating things.
Either way I’ve got more to meditate on.

This post was meant more for this specific Board. What not to use/do.

[Renhoekk]

I picked up a bunch of cheap fire blankets from a Craigslist equivalent. Woven glass fibres with excellent fire resistance and low thermal conductivity

[BlueSasquatch]

I wrap mine in a sleeping bag, I've burn the liner of a carhartt by wrapping it when it was still up on said propane burner.

I'll be working on a wood/foam insulated keg next. Making an electric mash keg, will be easier to insulate without the risk of a flame anywhere.

I've heard people have great success with the igloo coolers, I just wanted to go electric so I could strike water and mash in the same vessel.

[Laredo7mm]

…I've heard people have great success with the igloo coolers, I just wanted to go electric so I could strike water and mash in the same vessel.

I currently use a 10 gallon round igloo cooler from Lowe’s when doing an all grain mash. To heat the water I use a “hotrod” heat stick from Brew Hardware. I think I got the false bottom for the cooler there too, but can’t be for certain. The heat stick works pretty good. I had to manually bend the element to make it fit in the cooler. I have the 240V 5500W curvy element on mine so I just increased the bends in the curves to make it fit.

When I was making beer, this was my main way of heating my water in the cooler and then mash in. Right now, since I am mostly making DME shine, I use my still boiler to heat the water and then drain into the fermenters that have the DME and sugar. If my try at malting my own corn and barley works out, I am going to get a 150 quart cooler, a brew bag, and go back to using the heat stick. I want to fit everything in one tun and not have to do multiple mashes to fill my two 8 gallon fermenters.

[subbrew]

I am going to get a 150 quart cooler, a brew bag, and go back to using the heat stick. I want to fit everything in one tun and not have to do multiple mashes to fill my two 8 gallon fermenters.

If you go to the big cooler and don't want want to deal with that big of a brew bag you can make a "false bottom" for a rectangular cooler. I cut the stainless braiding from a washing machine hose, crimped and clamped one end shut and used a hose clamp to secure the other end to a valve I mounted near the bottom of the cooler. This was on a 48 qt cooler so for a 150 you might want to use more than one, T them together. It was not a fast drain and a little more prone to stuck drains and sparges than a commercial false bottom but it worked. if I was dealing with something sticky I would put it in a bag and lay the bag in the cooler to provide sort of a prefilter which seemed to help with things sticking.