Mash in fermenter?

[StonesRyan]

I originally planned to contract my wash from a nearby brewer but now that's not looking like it's going to work. The following idea occurred which may be much more efficient and cost effective anyway:

I have a grain bill of 100% malt. Is there any reason I couldn't use my 1000 gallon fermenter to mash in? I can get an on-demand water heater that provides 185 degree water. Couldn't I just fill the fermenter with strike temp water, add the malt, wait for starch conversion, then cycle the mash through a heat exchanger (also oxygenate during this step) and cool to yeast pitching temp?

On another note:

My still is 100 gallons. I planned to draw 100 gallons at a time from the 1000 gallon fermenter to strip until I had enough low wines for a spirit run. I don't think I thought this through properly and now I'm worried the beer will sour before I'm able to strip it all. Any ideas how I can accomplish this before the wash goes bad?

[Lenny]

My opinion... your setting yourself up for total ass kicking with the bottleneck between your mash/wash and your still. I had a setup for a while that yielded 600 gallons of wash which had to be stripped though a 140 gallons still, and it suuuuucked.

Some options to make life easier:

• Forget about the gigantic mash and scale down to a more manageable size (200-300 max).
• Acquire an appropriately sized mashtun or cooker (depending on if you want to lauter or not) and mash smaller amounts more often into more than one fermenter.
• Acquire a second larger stripping still that can accommodate your full amount wash/mash.

[Donutboy]

I'll second what Lenny is talking about. We operate on a 15 barrel system (Mash Tun, HLT, and Fermenters) but our still can only handle a charge of 150ish gallons. That means we are doing 1.5 days or 3 days of stripping runs to get through our wash. Now that's not bad, but what you are talking about seems like a very long time between strip 1 and strip 9/10. Our dream is to get a 600 gallon stripping still so that we can get around this bottle neck and make more product.

As for your process of cycling and cooling, how are you going to get the grain out of there and not clog your H.E. ? What is the plan for that? I've seen some creative set-ups.

Roy

Camp 1805

[mendodistilling]

how long would it take to fill the mash tun w/ 185 degree water, what temp would average water be by the time the flowrate filled the tank? These are the calcs you need to know.

secondly, if you have 3-4x stripping = 1 run final, you'll need a smaller mash tun, a more properly sized fermenter set(s), or chilling ability and maybe carbonation/nitrogen topping for oxygen displacement for much longer term storage.

[StonesRyan]

Thanks all for the input.

Does a 300 gallon mash tun sound reasonable if I'm stripping on a 100 gallon still? I hadn't planned on sparging.

[MG Thermal Consulting]

I'll second what Lenny is talking about. We operate on a 15 barrel system (Mash Tun, HLT, and Fermenters) but our still can only handle a charge of 150ish gallons. That means we are doing 1.5 days or 3 days of stripping runs to get through our wash. Now that's not bad, but what you are talking about seems like a very long time between strip 1 and strip 9/10. Our dream is to get a 600 gallon stripping still so that we can get around this bottle neck and make more product.

As for your process of cycling and cooling, how are you going to get the grain out of there and not clog your H.E. ? What is the plan for that? I've seen some creative set-ups.

Roy

Camp 1805

I use a shell and tube exchanger from Trident which won't clog. I generally recirculate the mash to and from the mash tun with one of my cooling systems providing cooling water. Depending on cooling time required, a 5 or larger chiller will chill the mash.

Mike

[bluestar]

I use a shell and tube exchanger from Trident which won't clog. I generally recirculate the mash to and from the mash tun with one of my cooling systems providing cooling water. Depending on cooling time required, a 5 or larger chiller will chill the mash.

Mike

yeah, we do something similar with a tube exchanger from another manufacturer.

[Dehner Distillery]

I hear ya it takes forever and you will hate life trying to make so much mash and trying to distill it in such a small pot.

get a continuous stripping still. I do about 1000-1200 gallons a day of stripping with mine, that way I can have a much smaller spirit still.

but in this world everyone does it different, so find out what works best for you.

i wish you luck!

[StonesRyan]

Thanks for the feedback. I ended up buying a 400 gallon mash tun and the wort chiller from Trident (they were great to work with and I'd definitely recommend them). Hopefully down the road I'll be able to get a dedicated stripping still but for now I'll have to make do with the still I have.