Heating elements in the mash tun

[Guiche]

This is the beta version, and it didn't cost a lot compared to the quotes I received when I was planning the business. The whole kit produces 8BBL/950L of finished beer and cost me around 6000€ (electric HLT, lauter tun, kettle, pump, burner, inline filter, plate exchanger). I plan to do some improvements this winter, such as a new cone bottom kettle, with a real jacket for a better heat efficiency, a gentler burner, better efficiency plate exchanger, pipework, dedicated pump for the HLT and maybe a separated whirlpool. The whole stuff shouldn't cost over 15k€.

Yeah, it takes a lot of DIY, welding, time... It doesn't show off as well as a nice brand new kit, and the shininess of the HLT passed ages ago. But at the end of the day, it still cost just a fraction of a good quality brewhouse and it is really versatile. I may have to work an extra hour on brew days, but it definitely worth it, because I just have to sell waaaaaay less beer this way. The compromise is just fine to me!

PS : don't know why, I couldn't post the whole text in once

[Derrick]

Thanks for all answers. At some point I wondered why bother with heated mash tun. Belgian brewing school may have influence my practice I guess, but I would have felt restrained on brewing certain styles (Triple, Saison, ...) And using local organic malt, which is not as transformed and consistent as an industrial one has driven my choice. Definitely if I only brewed IPAs and such, I wouldn't have hesitated for long.

Anyway, I brewed 12 times so far in the last weeks on my home made system, which I'm pretty happy with, although not perfect at all.
It consists in a classic electric HLT, an insulated lauter tun (former dairy tank) and a mash/copper/whirlpool kettle. The latter is agitated, insulated with firebricks and heated with a gas burner that used to be installed on an industrial boiler. I've let a couple inches between the brick wall and the tun in order to have as much efficiency as possible. This "jacket" is closed on top, and let the hot air being in contact with the sides of the tun before being evacuated by a chimney I welded directly on site. It does the job, I can get my .6-.8

Yes, it always is a good thing in the long run to meet different brewing demands. For gas heating, it is popular used in most microbreweries, which helps saving budget compare with steam heating. With professional brewing experience and operation, we can get effect brewing as well.