Mashing in a Corny Keg

[rcj1972]

Hi All -

Like many of you, I've been trying to capture that authentic German pils taste for years. I've gotten close, but there is always a thing or two that stands out as "off" in the finished product. So I was thrilled to stumble across the Bavarian Helles paper and am really intrigued by the lodo brewing process.

Here is an idea I'd like to bounce off you. What about BIAB in a corny keg? You could purge the mash vessel of all O2 during the mash and then push the wort into the boil kettle via CO2... next, inject sparge water back into the mash vessel via CO2 and then on into the boil kettle again.

When paired with the pre-boil + SMB, this approach would virtually eliminate all O2 contact with wort during the mash.

I'm in the middle of a house move, so won't be able to try this myself for another few months - but interested in opinions and (even more so) experiences with this approach.

Thanks,

Bob

[caedus]

I am still building my mash tun, so I will make a post when that is done, but I had this exact thought.

A corny keg seemed like an awesome idea at first, but then I ran into the same problem I ran into with my Cooler mash tun:

1. In order to step mash you have to heat the vessel or add boiling water
2. Limited space means you are pretty maxed out at 2.5 gallon batches (you could always do two, but that has its own issues)

I don't think there is an efficient or safe way to heat a corny keg, and in order to pump boiling water in you would first have to replace every gasket with high temp silicon, and get stainless steel ball lock disconnects. Then it comes to stirring the mash (or in this case recirc via pump). I don't think there is any efficient way to do this with the corny keg dip tubes.

Prove me wrong though. If you can build a pressurized mash tun out of a corny keg I would love to see that baby in action.

My approach was to find a 10 gallon SS vessel and engineer it to be vent-able and semi-sealed. I just picked one up from the local market for 57 bucks.

[Roachbrau]

My first thought is that you need a way to vent the pressure that's going to build up when heated.

Also, the actual heating itself. I'd think pressurized steam via a boiler (pressure cooker) would be the way to go, since the keg is already a pressure capable vessel. Like caedus said, all your components need to be swapped for high temperature versions.

Finally, again as caedus pointed out, the capacity is very limited. I don't see a good way to sparge, so you're basically looking at a 2.5 gallon or so batch size. Maybe 15.5 gal sanke kegs would be a better option?

[caedus]

If you want to go balls to the wall, then you can find a local welder and have him cut the keg 2/3rds the way down, install a fine stainless mesh false bottom on the smaller third, and then re-weld it back on.

Install a small heating element below the mesh, and then you can recirc via pump from the long diptube (pulling under the mesh) and pushing it back through the short dip tube. I would probably make some sort of sparge arm for the return tube though, I think it wouldn't be efficient to recirc through such a small tube.

It'd be a bitch to clean, use, and store. But damnit it'd be cool as hell to watch.

[Roachbrau]

Also, just going to leave this here.

Typical German style brewhouse

anchor-brewing-topper.jpg (37.52 KiB) Viewed 3699 times

Typical Scotch whisky distillery

Whisky_Trails-2_large.jpg (65.99 KiB) Viewed 3699 times

[caedus]

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