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what's better for a mash tun?
bruguru wrote:
If I use a stainless steel false bottom, does it need to be convex like the phil's?
Unless you are not concerned about money, I would not go with SS. Sure, it is better than plastic, but it also costs considerably more. I would be very surprised if you could get a SS false bottom for under $50.
I recommend copper tubing. It is FAR cheaper, and for brewing, every bit as good. I bought a 5' section of it, shelled out $15, then bought some elbows along with a T section for the drain, took a hack saw and cut the tubing into about 1' lengths, and attached the elbows. It looks like a 4 square. Then we drilled dozens of 1/8" holes all over the bottom. I think the total expense for the tubing section was $17.
You are not going to find a SS false bottom that cheap, unless it is used, and even then I doubt it.
I find SS superior in quality, but with a price. So unless money is not a concern, you might want to consider cheaper alternatives that work just as well.
If you do go with a false bottom, most are flat.
At my work we have all of the tools for making and machining stainless steel. I work on the customer service end of the factory, but we have a manufacturing department, and the welder said he would do some work for me. false bottoms, and welding ball valves on pots. We even have conical stainless steel loaders that hold about 30 gallons. I'm still trying to convince my boss to give me one, ha ha. Maybe one day. So I'm trying to get most of this equipment at work for free. We do indeed have copper tubing, but I have acess to stainlees grates, a number of diferent sizes that can be machined to fit the bottom of my pot no problem.
I've got two mash tuns setup right now, a round 10 gallon Igloo cooler with stainless steel false bottom and a rectangular cooler with a braided hose.
The Igloo cooler is definitely the better choice for fly sparging as there is less channeling. I've also noticed that with a stainless steel false bottom, it stays put, where a plastic one may have a tendency to float up before you add your grain. The two type of stainless false bottoms I've seen are different, one has the built in curve (that's what I use) and the other is flat with handle like elements that keep it off the bottom.
If you're an AHA member, you might have seen an article in the newest Zymurgy magazine. If not, there was an article that shed light on some cheap DIY brewing gadgets. One was a false bottom, which was simply using a pizza pan that already had the holes drilled in it. I looked at my old pizza pan and it would definitely work, I just never thought of it, ha.
The rectangular cooler has a braided hose, but not one of the small ones. I grabbed a stainless steel braided hose for a washer at Home Depot for under $5. It's plenty long, big in diameter and strong. Basically just cut the ends off and then pull the plastic hose out of the braid. Yes, it's flexible and it moves around when you stir, but that really doesn't matter as it stays on the bottom of the tun. I've never had it crush, even when doing high gravity beers with almost 30 pounds of grain.
If you do end up going with something like a copper pipe, remember to place it holes down, ha.
DT
Wow, a pizza pan huh, I have one at my house too, and yea, that would definately work. Funny the things you can use. I'm a big beliver in keeping it simple, so i'm going to try that, if it doesn't work, no money lost, and not alot of time either.
bruguru wrote:
Thanks, I don't have any of the equipment yet, but I saw a good deal on a 10 gallot gott for 89$, and was thinking about buying it even though I'm not up to AG yet, let me get some partial mash under my belt first.
I noticed that if the tun was a stainless steel converted pot, it was a manifold, but in a beverage cooler, it was a false bottom. Then I noticed a do it yourself online article that had a manifold in a gott , so it got me confused.
One more thing, after, or before the sparge, can you press the mash from above using, lets say a 20 lb weight from an old weight lifting set, to get the maximum usage out of the grain? I've never saw this mentioned before, is there a reson that it's not to be done?
Gotta say $89 seems high for a Gott 10 gal!!! Is this one finished with ball valves and everything all set?
If not Sportsman's Warehouse has em for $40... Parts for the valve $10 Lowes, then buy a false bottom. I recommend the Stainless convex from midwest.com. The metal will not float like the plastic and the sparge has always been nice and easy.
As for the weight, this might also cause a stuck sparge. On that subject get a Phil's fly sparger and keep 1" above the grain bed to prevent channeling. If batch sparging, let the flow run slowly to maximize contact time to disolve all that good sugar into solution.
Wow, and I thought I was getting a deal. It was a plain gott cooler. That's definately the cheapest that i've heard of. I'll check it out, thanks.
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