My New MiniBrew Mash/Lauter Tun

As I mentioned in my last post, my mash tun is in need of retirement. It is almost eight years old and warped to the point that my sparge arm does not turn too well anymore. As a result of this, I began my search for a new mash tun.

I considered getting another Gott style water cooler, but expected similar problems over time. I wanted something a little bigger than five gallons, so I was considering a 10 gallon cooler.

One of the things in the back of my mind, however, was that I'd seen a mash tun made as a mash tun from the ground up. I'd first heard about it before I'd even done my first all-grain batch. In fact, at the all-grain class that I took at the local brew shop eight years ago, they used one, and I was impressed. They carried them at the shop and were called the MiniBrew Mash/Lauter Tun, by Hobby Beverage Equipment Company. Unfortunately, they were a little pricey, at $250 retail, though the brew shop had them for about $185.

Well this month, I happen to get a $500 bonus at work. Since I needed a new mash tun anyway, this seemed perfect way to spend that, so I took the plunge and bought one.

Upon getting it home, and hooking it up for a test run without grain, I discovered a terrible leak where the sight glass hooked up to the mash tun. This was not good. I took it apart to see what was wrong, to find that the end of the sight glass was damaged. Unfortunately, this was the last one my local brew shop had in stock, so I did not want to return it. So, what to do; what to do?

I looked at Hobby Beverage Equipment Company website, and noticed a contact number, so I called them up. After telling them my plight, they said that they would send me a new sight glass, right away. Problem solved. I love good customer service. Don't you?

I've taken some pictures of the thing, bad sight glass and all. The pictures follow:

Here it is in all its glory. It is 15 gallons and holds up to 35 lbs of grain, which is overkill for five gallon batches, but it is damn cool.

This is the inside, looking at the false bottom. The false bottom is held down with a wing nut, so it will not float up, or have grain get underneath it. I calculated how much space there was below the false bottom and it came to about 0.8 gallons.

For sparging, rather than a rotation sparge arm, it has a spray nozzle. Unfortunately, it takes about a foot drop from hot liquor tank and spray nozzle for it to function, which I do not have from stove top to mash tun.

Since I cannot use the spray nozzle for sparging, I have to use my old Listermann rotating sparge arm, which is okay by me.

This picture shows how it fits into my three tier setup in the kitchen.

As I mentioned above, the sight glass was damaged. This shows the damage. The end was all crumpled up and the silicone seal was busted, so it leaked like a sieve. Fortunately, they are sending me a new one.

Next post: Running the numbers on my new mash tun.