Refractory supplies

[wynnum1]

All the plans are about putting more heat into boiler but would it not be better to insulate boiler and keep heat from escaping if you have powerful gas burner how much heat is lost if you look on net there are blacksmith and foundry supplies that use material for furnaces that could be adapted to insulate .

[maheel]

a few use the cut down 44 gallon drum over a keg to hold in the hot air / gasses around the keg when using gas heaters and reckon it works well. the drum would get very hot but....

i use a insulated wrap on my electric keg (a silver bubble insulation wrap stuff) and also often then wrap in blanket as well.

it helps mine with heat up times and stops me burning my fingers / foot / leg, also would give some stability in a windy spot etc i think

[MacStill]

I use a modified 44g drum as a shroud for my gas boiler, wouldnt bother doing a run without it ;)

[maheel]

I use a modified 44g drum as a shroud for my gas boiler, wouldnt bother doing a run without it ;)

just looked at a pic of yours and saw that drum :)

for further discussion does the heat start to create rust issues on the drum ?

[MacStill]

The shroud has a little surface rust on it that was there when I got it, it hasnt got any worse in the 12 months I been using it.

I reckon it saves me about a run every 9kg gas bottle, so definately worth the time and effort to get one if your using gas but for electricity I would just do similar to what you do.

[maheel]

to further the discussion

IMO using expensive products may not get you any more benefits than a bit of old carpet or a blanket etc for electric or the drum shield type idea for gas.

at our level if you can retain some BTU's of heat in the keg (or into the keg using gas) you achieving most of the benefit i reckon.

if your getting into much bigger scale then it might be worth it? but then major distillers / brewers dont seem to bother to insulate much at all with there kettles etc.

i would assume that cleaning the equipment that is covered in insulation would be part of the problem faced, got NFI really just some ideas