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Author Topic: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review  (Read 8974 times)

Offline denny

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #30 on: December 11, 2015, 09:40:51 am »
I have a feeling that most of the cooler folk would change their tune if these stainless jobbies only cost ten bucks. If the company donated one to you I'll bet you think it was awesome. So its just a matter of cost. The problem this thing is seeking to solve is brewers who have lots of money and dont want to be looking at an old blue cooler when its time to show off the brewery

I'd change my mind about almost anything that only cost 10 bucks.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline denny

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #31 on: December 11, 2015, 09:41:30 am »
It's another arguably luxury option, not a solution. Not everything has to solve a problem :)

But...but...but....that's not PRAGMATIC!  ;)
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline yso191

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #32 on: December 11, 2015, 04:24:51 pm »
I have shared my thoughts on mashing in a cooler elsewhere.  I acknowledge that my inclination away from it is largely emotional.  I don't even like to drink out of plastic cups.  I will do it, but it is clearly not my favorite.  Whether it is in my head or not I often taste plastic.  I think it is an OCD kind of thing: I imagine the plastic leaching ___ into the liquid.

So no, I have no science behind my decision to avoid a cooler MT, but I also don't want one.  having said that, I will drink any of Denny's beer!  Even out of a plastic cup.
Steve
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“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” ― G.K. Chesterton

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #33 on: December 11, 2015, 04:44:02 pm »
I have shared my thoughts on mashing in a cooler elsewhere.  I acknowledge that my inclination away from it is largely emotional.  I don't even like to drink out of plastic cups.  I will do it, but it is clearly not my favorite.  Whether it is in my head or not I often taste plastic.  I think it is an OCD kind of thing: I imagine the plastic leaching ___ into the liquid.

So no, I have no science behind my decision to avoid a cooler MT, but I also don't want one.  having said that, I will drink any of Denny's beer!  Even out of a plastic cup.
This is what its like when Steve sees beer in a plastic cup
https://youtu.be/sc0mi0Ei1CQ

Offline brulosopher

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Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #34 on: December 11, 2015, 05:08:29 pm »
It's another arguably luxury option, not a solution. Not everything has to solve a problem :)

But...but...but....that's not PRAGMATIC!  ;)

But... but... but... PicoBrew Zymatic is?

Of course not, it's a $2000 badass luxury item, one I've little personal interest in because I drink too much and enjoy brewing, but I love that it exists! I love that people can make beer using such cool technology. It doesn't bother me in the slightest, same way I couldn't care less if someone uses a $15 tamale pot or a $500 Blichmann. To each their own.

You know I agree with you more than I don't :)

Offline erockrph

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #35 on: December 11, 2015, 05:59:29 pm »
I have shared my thoughts on mashing in a cooler elsewhere.  I acknowledge that my inclination away from it is largely emotional.  I don't even like to drink out of plastic cups.  I will do it, but it is clearly not my favorite.  Whether it is in my head or not I often taste plastic.  I think it is an OCD kind of thing: I imagine the plastic leaching ___ into the liquid.

So no, I have no science behind my decision to avoid a cooler MT, but I also don't want one.  having said that, I will drink any of Denny's beer!  Even out of a plastic cup.
This is what its like when Steve sees beer in a plastic cup
https://youtu.be/sc0mi0Ei1CQ
Dammit, Jim! I just lost a half an hour watching cat videos on YouTube. They're like crack...
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #36 on: December 11, 2015, 07:32:42 pm »
I would purchase of one of these tuns if Chapman offered ThermoBarrels in 5 or 7-gallon sizes. 

Offline yso191

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #37 on: December 11, 2015, 08:00:38 pm »
This is what its like when Steve sees beer in a plastic cup
https://youtu.be/sc0mi0Ei1CQ

I love it!  Very funny!  I'm not quite that bad though. 

However, I'm the same way with coffee.  At home I only drink it out of white mugs.  Colored mugs change the taste.  I will endure coffee in most any cup when away from home...but the worst is cobalt blue.  All I can think of is Vicks VapoRub.
Steve
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“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” ― G.K. Chesterton

Offline 69franx

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #38 on: December 11, 2015, 08:31:50 pm »
I was just sharing that cat cuke video with the 14yo on FB. Hilarious!
Edited much later for cucumber typo
« Last Edit: December 12, 2015, 01:10:51 am by 69franx »
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Offline brulosopher

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #39 on: December 11, 2015, 09:47:14 pm »

I would purchase of one of these tuns if Chapman offered ThermoBarrels in 5 or 7-gallon sizes.

For ~3 gal batches? I'll make the suggestion.

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #40 on: December 12, 2015, 06:27:56 am »
For ~3 gal batches? I'll make the suggestion.

A 5-gallon tun is large enough to make five-gallon batches using traditional continuous sparging. I can prepare 5.5 gallons of wort with a gravity up to 1.070 using a five-gallon mash tun.  However, seven to seven and a half gallons is the sweet spot for five-gallon batches, especially if the height to diameter ratio remains the same as a 5-gallon beverage cooler.  I started out using 10-gallon beverage coolers for 5 to 6 gallon batches, but there is too much dead space in a 10-gallon cooler.  I eventually moved to using 7-gallon beverage coolers before downsizing to 5-gallon beverage coolers.  A ten gallon beverage cooler will handle up to 25lbs of grain with a hot liquor to grist ratio of 1.25:1.  I use between 9 and 11 pounds of grain when shooting for 5.75 gallons of wort at the end of boil.  That grist range yields 5.75 gallons with an O.G. between 1.048 and 1.060.   The extra slop in a 10-gallon cooler may be beneficial to those who perform multiple-infusion lautering (a.k.a. batch sparging), but it is has no upside when using traditional sparging.

Offline brulosopher

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #41 on: December 12, 2015, 10:14:31 am »

For ~3 gal batches? I'll make the suggestion.

A 5-gallon tun is large enough to make five-gallon batches using traditional continuous sparging. I can prepare 5.5 gallons of wort with a gravity up to 1.070 using a five-gallon mash tun.  However, seven to seven and a half gallons is the sweet spot for five-gallon batches, especially if the height to diameter ratio remains the same as a 5-gallon beverage cooler.  I started out using 10-gallon beverage coolers for 5 to 6 gallon batches, but there is too much dead space in a 10-gallon cooler.  I eventually moved to using 7-gallon beverage coolers before downsizing to 5-gallon beverage coolers.  A ten gallon beverage cooler will handle up to 25lbs of grain with a hot liquor to grist ratio of 1.25:1.  I use between 9 and 11 pounds of grain when shooting for 5.75 gallons of wort at the end of boil.  That grist range yields 5.75 gallons with an O.G. between 1.048 and 1.060.   The extra slop in a 10-gallon cooler may be beneficial to those who perform multiple-infusion lautering (a.k.a. batch sparging), but it is has no upside when using traditional sparging.

That makes sense. I use my 70 qt coolers for 5 gal batches and always do no sparge, I take a 2-3% eff hit, which I couldn't care less about. Also makes pH adjustment less of an issue, ime.

Offline denny

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #42 on: December 12, 2015, 10:31:33 am »
It's another arguably luxury option, not a solution. Not everything has to solve a problem :)

But...but...but....that's not PRAGMATIC!  ;)

But... but... but... PicoBrew Zymatic is?

Of course not, it's a $2000 badass luxury item, one I've little personal interest in because I drink too much and enjoy brewing, but I love that it exists! I love that people can make beer using such cool technology. It doesn't bother me in the slightest, same way I couldn't care less if someone uses a $15 tamale pot or a $500 Blichmann. To each their own.

You know I agree with you more than I don't :)

Touche, buddy!
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline narcout

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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #43 on: December 12, 2015, 12:47:56 pm »
If I was going to buy one of these, I think I'd get the SS Brew Tech version.

http://www.ssbrewtech.com/collections/mash-tuns/products/infussion-mash-tun
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Re: Chapman ThermoBarrel Insulated Stainless Mash Tun | Product Review
« Reply #44 on: December 12, 2015, 02:41:08 pm »
That makes sense. I use my 70 qt coolers for 5 gal batches and always do no sparge, I take a 2-3% eff hit, which I couldn't care less about. Also makes pH adjustment less of an issue, ime.

At this point, sticking with continuous sparging is not about increased extraction rate.  It is about a process that has been honed over many batches of beer that just happens to yield a high extraction rate.  While I could switch to using a different process, not much would be gained time-wise by doing so.  I would also have to go through a period of re-calibration in order to establish a new set of baseline extraction rates.  My standard end of boil batch size today is around 3.66 gallons.  Running off 4.25 to 4.5 gallons of wort takes about twenty minutes, including the re-circulation step.   It takes me longer than twenty minutes to clean my kettle and stainless steel hop filter.
« Last Edit: December 14, 2015, 06:06:09 pm by S. cerevisiae »