Mash Paddle The nice thing about a hobby is that it gives one the opportunity to be creative and also do something with your brain and hands.

After brewing on Friday night and mashing in the keg it became obvious that the "big spoon" was not sturdy enough to handle the mass of the mash anymore. The Hefe IV 10gal required 24lbs of grains and over 10gals of water in the mash tun. That makes for over 100lbs of "weight" in the mash tun and only the plastic of the big spoon to mix it with.

I had seen online people selling mash paddles. Until I moved to the 10gal batch I saw no need for these, but after the last two I started to look at these a little closer. Most want over $25 for one and then of course shipping. There are two prevailing designs: one that is made of wood and doweled together and the other made of wood and looks like a large needle eye with a handle. After looking for a while I realized that it would not be hard to make the dowel shape out of a single piece of wood like the needle design. This would give all of the advantages of the dowel shape without the disadvantage of being doweled together.

So here it is:

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