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If I attach a removable mesh filter to hold back the grains and I properly insulate the entire bottling bin, can I dual wield it as a bottler and as a mashing tun?

What benefits are there to having two separate items instead of combined one?

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  • This is pretty similar to this question: homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/1903/… where one of the answers mentions the bucket-in-a-bucket mash tun from Charlie Papazian's book "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing". Another answers mention using the bottling bucket as a mash tun.
    – paul
    Jan 25, 2014 at 4:22

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In theory you can do it, but there are drawbacks. The thing I'd worry about most is getting it clean and sanitary enough after using it as a mash tun. Grain is a notorious carrier of lactobacillus, so you'd need to be absolutely certain that you had cleaned and sanitized it well enough. If there is a spigot on it, that would be the really hard part.

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  • Isn't the opposite true? (Taking a container from tun to bottling would be the worry, right?) Since the mash tun is pre-boil? If not, then I need to revisit my treatment of my tun. I hardly ever even wash it; just rinse it and set it upside down...
    – Wyrmwood
    Jan 24, 2014 at 23:34
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    You;re correct. I just assumed the same container would be doing both duties interchangeably.
    – Denny Conn
    Jan 25, 2014 at 16:39
  • "both duties interchangeably" was the goal.
    – Another Compiler Error
    Feb 9, 2014 at 16:10
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Yes you could do this. Just be sure that the tubing in use can be used at temperatures up to 170F. I actually did this for a time when I was doing two batches simultaneously and only had a single tun. I used the silver "bubble wrap" insulation I got at a home improvement store.

What are the advantages of having separate ones? Insulation is of prime importance to a mash tun, and sanitation is of prime importance to a bottling bucket. When I was mashing in plastic, it tended to get scratched up after a time, and that is more difficult to sanitize. The home-made insulator was a bit messy and made cleaning harder. Eventually, I bought a second round cooler to replace it.

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