Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hiya,

Looking to build myself a pretty sizeable mash tun out of 530L Stainless wine tank.

Dimensions of the tank are 750mm circumference by 1270mm deep.

On the bottom of the tank there will be 4 x 40/50cm (not sure how big to go) false bottoms (sourced from hobby shop)

These will feed into 2 pumps, which will feed 4 different RIMS heating vessels each housing a 2400W element. Each element would be controlled by an individual controller and back into the power box (40 amps all up of elements + Pumps).

The Hot wort will then be pumped back into the tank at the top (all four spread like the 12, 3, 6 and 9 on a clock) all facing one direction to create circulation.

All of this will be created on a trolley like structure up off the ground.

I plan on doing about 90kg of grain to 360L of water in the Vessel. Then will sparge at the end to get about 350L in total of wort.

A few questions..... is four elements enough? Is it over kill?
Has anyone ever built one like this before? Am I better off saying making 2, 200L tank versions and going from there?

Any suggestions would be appreciate. I am somewhat handy, however have some mates that are more than capable and helping me not be a spud.

Any help would be appreciated. I have drawn up a picture which explains it a bit more. Just need to work out how to get it here

Here is a picture of my rough sketch

Could the false bottoms clog up and not deliver enough liquid to the pumps.

wynnum1 wrote:Could the false bottoms clog up and not deliver enough liquid to the pumps.

Yer Potentially...... what could I do to try and stop that happening. Need some mash agitation

You don't want to agitate the grain while its mashing - let sleeping dogs lie! Good way to prevent a stuck mash is to throw in (I use a handful in a 55l mashtun) rice husks. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Lowie wrote:You don't want to agitate the grain while its mashing - let sleeping dogs lie! Good way to prevent a stuck mash is to throw in (I use a handful in a 55l mashtun) rice husks. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

You think that would do the trick?

Insulate the ton and have single rest mash and ditch the rims.
If you do want rims, one 2400w element should suffice to keep temp up.
Also, that size is probably exceeding "hobby size"
That's a lot of wort!!

maddogpearse wrote:Insulate the ton and have single rest mash and ditch the rims.
If you do want rims, one 2400w element should suffice to keep temp up.
Also, that size is probably exceeding "hobby size"
That's a lot of wort!!

Insulate the tun. Yep thats defiantly a good idea.

I have found some mat at clark rubber which should do the trick (after reading someone elses post).

It is a bit more than a hobby level. In the process of going legit. Do you really think one 2400W element is actually enough? I use two, 2400W elements in my 50L still. I would be waiting days to heat it up?

If you're going commercial get an old milk vat. They're the go.
I wouldn't heat my strike water with one element no, but to keep the mash at 66degrees would be okay.

If going commercial over build. Time is money. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I reakon a 2400w may struggle with 500ish litres, but i may be wrong. Lots people use false bottoms for all grain do research on doing the right grind on the grain, that is the secret to avoiding stuck lauter sparges..the husk stops blokages.
I am with mad dog about the insulation and single step mash for a start.
But you will want rims for multi stage mashing at some point so may as well be from the start.
My advice look on beer forums i have seen setups using 44gal stainless drums for beer making. Should give an idea what size element :handgestures-thumbupleft:

So I scored this on Gumtree today. Its happening!

Excellent score there! How much did that set you back?

A little over $400 delivered. It being on wheels sold it to me as it will be so easy to move around. Super pumped to build the set up

Just curious how big of a tun would u need to fill a 25ltr fermenter full of wort roughly

I reakon with a false bottom you could do it in a 25l
But the effort and time you put in you will get sick of it real quick.
Personally gunna be aiming for 90l batch in a 60l tun.

shortybronx88 wrote:A little over $400 delivered. It being on wheels sold it to me as it will be so easy to move around. Super pumped to build the set up

Have u thought about steam heated instead? Just throwing the option out there :shifty:

Wobblyboot wrote:

shortybronx88 wrote:A little over $400 delivered. It being on wheels sold it to me as it will be so easy to move around. Super pumped to build the set up

Have u thought about steam heated instead? Just throwing the option out there :shifty:

How would that work. No experience working with steam. How does one get the said steam? I am open to anything.

How u get a 90 ltr batch in a 60 litre tun

CyBaThUg wrote:How u get a 90 ltr batch in a 60 litre tun

:text-+1:

Nice work on the Gumtree stainless steel tank. I'm making one from Steam. Steam this dangerous but you need to read a lot about it Google it steam injection corn mash.