A wooden mash tun? Sure, wood was used historically. It insulates well. I am thinking a used 30 gallon whiskey barrel from a local distillery. After a few uses the oak flavors and tannins are leached out. If I store it upside down I can fill the rim with star-san to keep the bands tight. I can make a lid out of wood.
I have used a keg with a false bottom, but did not like all the heat loss and never could insulate it sufficiently. Every time I tried putting heat on the bottom I had issues with scorching.
I switched to a 60 qt Igloo Ice Cube because it fit on my where the keg used to go. Because of the silly wheels it does not have a flat bottom. I fly sparge. I tried making a manifold out of hose braid but my lauters and slow and sticky. I would like to switch back to a false bottom, but because of the lack of a flat bottom I cant.
I was thinking of a 58 qt Colman Xtreme, or one of the 54 sq coolers with the stainless steel outside, but I don’t like how they would fit on my stand.
Then I started thinking a wood barrel might be the way to go. I know Jamil Zainasheff has talked about his friend Dave Sapsis making great beer using a clapped out old wooden barrel as the mash tun, so why not? Anyone out there have any experience using wood as a mash tun/lauter tun?
