THE EQUIPMENT
The Mashtun
This is the real workhorse in homebrewing. This is where all the starches in the grain get converted into fermentable sugars.
Mashtun Filter Slits cut to allow drainage or wort.
All hooked up The slitted manifold connected to the bottom of the mashtun
The mashtun sparge
The sparge acts as a sprinkler system that rains/trickles hot water over the grainbed without disturbing the grains. The manifold has actually been turned around since this photo was taken to allow better distribution of water. Turning the manifold upside down so the holes face towards the lid, forces water to fill the manifold almost completely before spilling over and onto the grains.
Mashtun Spout
Once the conversion of starches to sugars has taken place, usually around 1hr, the sweet wort is drained through this spout out of the mashtun and into the boil kettle.
The Boil kettle
This is where the wort from the mashtun is drained into and the kettle is placed on a powerful propane burner to boil the sweet wort. (A good turkey fryer will work)
Sparge Vessel and boil kettle
The kettle with the thermometer sticking out of the side is the sparge vessel. It is only used for heating the water that goes into the mashtun. The water is generally heated and held at around 170 degrees.
Water Filter
A water filter for treating the water used for brewing.
The Keggerator
This is one mean piece of machinery that I managed to pick up for a mere $50.00. Of course it was in horrible cosmetic condition when I recieved it, but it ran, and ran well! About 5 hours worth of powersanding off the rust and about 3 cans of high gloss red paint she looks wonderful.
If you want to build the same mashtun seen above, heres a link with some wonderful blueprints on how to build one. Great Mashtun Blueprints
Thanks to homebrewadventures.com for the blueprints. All the credit goes to them for the design.
