I've read of various methods of insulating Urns. Sleeping Bags and Doona's seem popular and whilst I used that myself on my first brew I found it had it's drawbacks. The Sleeping bag in my case got wet and dirty and whilst it insulated well, to me it was far from ideal.

So I thought I would share my setup. I have an electric Urn but I am sure this would work on a Pot or Gas setup just as well.

Also as I am a tight a$$, and believe as much of my Homebrew Kit as possible should be salvaged or invented the Total cost for this project was an hour or so's work and $0


This is how I had my Urn walls insulated for my first brew. I just wrapped the Urn wall with a product called Air-Cell Glareshield. In Perth (West Australia) You can easily get scrap off-cuts of this from house building sites. The brickies commonly use this for Wall Cavity insulation. So anyone building near you just go ask the Brickies or look on the site rubbish pile for off cuts. Anyway for my first brew day I used the common "Sleeping Bag over the top" method to keep the Lid insulated. It worked fine and I only lost 2 degrees over a 90 minute mash but it got wet and dirty so I decided I needed something better. Hence I needed to also make a "Beanie" for my "Baby"

Just as a background the reason I chose Glareshield is it insulates quite well, is strong and can be washed down easily. It also can handle high temperatures. Basically it consists of a silver foil which has a fibreglass weave though it for strength. In the middle is sandwiched some type of foam. All up they rate it at about R1.8 for insulation so not massive, but I wrapped it around the Urn twice which certainly made a difference.

The other key thing is the Tape. They use a special tape that can handle high temperatures and sticks like buggery. It also has the fibreglass weave through it which makes it strong also. You can buy the tape from Bunnings for around $15 or $20 a roll (48mm width). In my case I had some left from my own house build. I can confirm it works as although I have only completed 1 brew the tape didn't budge throughout my 90 minute boil.

Anyway for the Walls above I just trimmed to the right height and wrapped the Glareshield around the urn a couple of times, trim and cut appropriate holes for Taps and handles then tape it up to seal the joints from water. (I wrapped around twice for added Insulation and believe it is well worth it)


Now I needed a Lid.....
Insulation Batt for the "Lid".
Being Heat rises I figured the urn Lid might benefit form a bit more insulation than the walls. This bit of insulation batt was sandwiched between 2 layers of Glareshield. Couple with the Glareshield It will give me an insulation value of about R6.0. Again just scrap material from a nearby building site.
NB: This was just for the Lid. - So It's 1 x Layer of Glareshield > Insulation Batt > Then another layer of Glareshield to sandwich it all together.
Doing this also keeps the insulation fibres contained.

The walls of the Urn just got Glareshield wrapped around twice)
I Used the Urn Lid as a Template to Cut out 2 Circles from the Glareshield. Then 2 x pieces joined to the ends to go down the sides of the Urn act as the walls.
NB: All taped up inside and out to seal all the joins. That way it can be washed down easily and also keeps the insulation batt fibres locked away from my Beer.
Finished - All edges sealed with the Foil tape and cut-outs made where the handles need to slip past the urn base.
Final product with the new "Beanie" sitting on top.
The lid slips snuggly over so everything will be kept warm and toasty come Mash time
It can be washed down if it gets dirty and is easy to store with the Urn

Anyway again just my idea and hopefully someone else may find it useful.

For reference here are links to the Specs on these products. (I am sure there are similar products available worldwide) I certainly wouldn't go buy this stuff just to insulate an Urn, as it's too expensive, but for using scraps and offcuts, to me it is a perfect solution.

Link to the Glareshield Product - http://www.kingspaninsulation.com.au/Pr" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... rview.aspx
and Link for the 48mm Tape - http://kingspaninsulation.com.au/Produc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... rview.aspx

bundy,

Thanks for the pic's and ideas. Your hard work and research will be rewarded by you perfectly brewerd (and cheap) beer.

Thanks Bundy,

I have tried various foil bubbly wraps and closed foam style insulations, but to no real avail. Still losing 2-3 degrees every 15 mins (I brew out doors).

So was looking to move over to the sleeping bag method.

They are building 270 new houses just across the street, so my see what I can scrounge from the brickies, and give this a go.