Mash Stirrer

Here is the mash stirrer I made for my brew system. I work on computers all day and have some symptoms of RSI. Stirring my mash aggravated these symptoms, so I came up with this design. It works great - no more pain. An additional unforeseen benefit of this stirrer is an increase in efficiency. I was getting around 80%, but in the 6 batches since adding the stirrer, I'm getting close to 90%. I use Promash, and so the efficiency calculations are theirs.

Here is my mash stirrer mounted in the false bottom just like it would be in the keg. The wooden part fits in the keg handles and I use two wooden wedges to fasten it in place. It is made in two parts, connected by male and female adapters. The wooden part presses down on this connection and holds the bottom of the stirrer down firmly on the false bottom.

Here is a view looking down into the mash tun with the stirrer mounted. The blades are staggered around the circumference, and flattened at an angle to draw the mash upwards and push it down around the outside edge of the tun. The lowest blade is shorter to clear my pickup tube. Notice the stem of my thermometer showing in the keg. I made sure that this would fall between two blades so I can keep the thermometer in the mash while stirring.

Here is my homemade false bottom. I found a beat up old keg at the junkyard that had cracks and holes, but the bottom was sound. I drilled LOTS (around 750, I think) of 5/32' holes in it using a jig on the drill press (drill at a slow speed with little pressure, and the bit will last longer. I only burned up one drill bit doing this) and used it for my false bottom. I fastened a 1/2' copper cap to the center of the false bottom using a 1/4' brass machine screw, nut, and lock washer. The stirrer sets into this and freely rotates. All other joints on the stirrer are soldered with lead free solder.