DIY: 55 Gallon Mash Tun

As we started to involve more people in the brewing process and try new styles we started to feel cramped in our 25 gallon mash tun. After discussing alternatives for a few months we came up with an idea to build our own mash tun. Using a food grade 55 gallon barrel we estimated that we could complete the project for less than $100. Even if it didn't work out we wouldn't have been into it nearly as much as our current mash tun.

Materials:

• Food grade blue barrel (previously held malt extract--came from a local home brew shop).
• 36" x 40" sheet of perforated food grade stainless (3/32" holes on 5/32" centers).
• 1/2" Ball valve, threaded fitting, o-ring (2) and a quick disconnect fitting

Tools:

• Grinder + 1 cutoff wheel and 1 grinding wheel
• Sharpie and string for marking the cutout shape
• Tape measure

The pictures tell most of the story...

After Thoughts:

• Add support underneath--it turns out the weight of the grain did cause some bowing in the metal and before the next use we will be adding some support underneath it. We mashed with 96lbs of grain and 36 gallons of water. I would guess there was several hundreds pounds of force on that screen

• Add a handle--You can see that the barrel is tapered at the bottom. This makes for an excellent seal around the edges of the mash screen, but makes it almost impossible to remove. We pocked a wire hanger through one hole in order to pull the screen out which worked, but a handle would be better.

• Build a platform--Getting the mash tun off the cold cement floor is probably a good idea for convenience and heat retention.

How I Did It: 2 Step Starter

This is the first in a series of posts detailing the practical side of brewing. What you will see is exactly what I did. This is theory and practice coming together. Today I will be detailing the 2 step starter that was created for an American IPA. Two different yeast strains were propagated and the result is enough yeast to pitch into 30 gallons of wort.

Step 1: Boil the wort
Make a basic 1 gallon batch of wort. You can use DME or liquid malt, but I chose to use some frozen wort from my last batch. Each time I make a batch I pull off some of the wort and freeze it into giant cubes. Then when I need a starter I just pull it out, let it thaw, and boil.

Step 2: Chill

For this starter I will be taking a bit of an easy way out. There are better chilling methods, but I find this one acceptable for making my starters.

1. Sanitize a couple of glass containers (glass wine jugs work well).
2. I run hot water over the glass to bring up the temperature.
3. Sanitize a funnel
4. Slowly pour the near boiling wort into the jugs. Be careful! I know someday the glass could crack, but so far I haven't had a problem.
5. Cover the jugs with sanitized foil and fill the sink with water.
6. Go to bed

Step 3: Pitching Yeast

When I wake up the next morning the wort is at about room temperature and I simply add the yeast. At this step I also places the jugs on a stir plate. If you don't have a stir plate you will get many fewer cells and should think about shaking the starter every few hours and/or oxygenating.

Step 4: Repeat Steps 1 & 2 (Double the Volume)
Same drill with twice as much wort. Same method, but remember to be gracious to others who live in your house since you have just taken over the sink for 2 nights in a row.

Step 5: Pitch Yeast
I poured the yeast and new wort back and forth 3 times to thoroughly mix the yeast and new wort into both containers. If I had a larger container this would have worked better. I'm not crazy about the exposure to air while pouring, but the cell count should be high and I'm gonna relax, not worry and have a homebrew. 

The First Night (8 hrs before pitching)

The Second Night (16 hours after first pitching)

Notice the signs of a krausen layer that formed and dropped.

 

The Second Night (8 hours before second pitch)

The Second Morning (24 hours since first pitch, time for second pitch)

Why use multiple steps?

Multi stepping allows you to grow a large amount of yeast from a small culture. This translated into fewer packs of yeast to buy (or start with a slant culture). Plus I get to have more fun with beer.

What is your OG?
I used 1.040 of course! Check a few books or websites and you will see the same recommendation.

How many cells are we talking about?
I'm targeting 12 million cells per milliliter. According to the Wyeast website that should be about right for inoculating a wort between 1.061-1.076.
I used the wyeast calculator: http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_pitchrate.cfm

What kind of yeast is that?
For this batch I made half of the starter with Denny's Favorite 50 and half with the Thames Valley II (private collection), both from Wyeast. I love the smack packs.


And that's all folks. Now you are ready to go and make your own.

Cheers,
Jeremy