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?
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.
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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