I had been doing all grain batches with a friend since last spring. When I started doing it on my own, I would just use his equipment, which is set up in the back of his restaurant. Well, he decided to drive across country on the 1st of the year, and now he’s in Patagonia until the end of next month or there-abouts. So I built a Mash Tun. Not much to it. 48qt igloo marine, temp well, copper manifold with the bottom of the tubing drilled out, ball valve and barb fitting. The only reason I put the stickers on is because I screwed up the hole for the thermometer. It somehow ended up a touch off-center, and it bugged the hell outta me. So when I was off island last, I bought a 52 qt coleman xtreme. Well I left that one too close to the stove and it melted. That bugged me even more… Any tips or advice is appreciated. After tipping, it leaves one pint of liquid behind. Here she is.
How did you integrate the thermometer? Looks like the probe goes into your manifold?
Also. Looks like you have the manifold legs too close to the sides. :shock:
Per Palmer
“In addition, it is very important to avoid channeling of the water down the sides from placing the manifold too close to the walls. The distance of the outer manifold tubes to the cooler wall should be half of the manifold tube spacing or slightly greater. This results in water along the wall not seeing a shorter path to the drain than wort that is dead center between the tubes.”
The thermometer is just a 1/2" well like I use on heating systems. More of a gimmic than anything, as I’ll be using a digi to read temps throughout the mash. I read the palmer thing prior to making this. Will be mashing in a porter this weekend. If I find problems with efficiency, i’ll make some changes. I’m currently 1/2" from the walls, and the tees are placed at the channels in the walls. Learn as you go, always room for improvement.
