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.