collapsing braid in mlt

dose anybody elese have this problem? I'm thinking of inserting a spring to hold it open. What do you think?

I made a copper manifold with holes drilled throughout it, then put the stainless braid over it.

You must be stirring pretty aggressively to crush the braid. I've got 12 batches on mine and it's like new.

I do have springs inside my braid...works great.
cheers

I sheltered my braid beneath a 12$ stainless steel "grease splatter shield" (whatever that is??) that I stumbled across at Linens & Things.... Has worked really well!

There are a couple of pics of it on this page: LINK

It's a little hard to see, but there's a braid below that coming off the end of the copper tube.

I removed the "spring" from a spiral notebook and inserted it inside mine, works great. It's stainless so rust isn't a concern.

I stripped some 14-gauge wire, coiled it using a piece of 1/2" OD copper as the form, then stuffed it into the braid. Works great.

I used a bigger valve and screwed a bazooka screen in for my braid. If you go this route (spendy), you can always trim the bazooka screen to fit your MLT.

I took some of the rubber that was inside it when I bought it and made 3 small "stints" for it.

Also you sure it's SS? I saw one that looks a lot like metal, but it was nylon.

z987k said:

I took some of the rubber that was inside it when I bought it and made 3 small "stints" for it.

Also you sure it's SS? I saw one that looks a lot like metal, but it was nylon.

Click to expand...

Thats what I was thinking too. Some are just made to look like SS

hammer one said:

dose anybody elese have this problem? I'm thinking of inserting a spring to hold it open. What do you think?

Click to expand...

Is it a new MLT? Are you sure it is stainless? The cheaper hoses have plastic braids instead of stainless. It can be difficult to tell the difference.

Edit - Guess I should read the entire thread before I post. Looks like you guy beat me to the punch.

I would imagine that without something to hold it open, any braid will collapse under the weight of the grain and water which makes your braid only an inch or so right at the spigot. It might spring back after the mash

missing link said:

I would imagine that without something to hold it open, any braid will collapse under the weight of the grain and water which makes your braid only an inch or so right at the spigot. It might spring back after the mash

Click to expand...

I really doubt this is the problem - otherwise you'd get a stuck sparge every time when using a braid. I had a 6" or so braid on my MLT, and I got a stuck sparge once, so I swapped it for a longer braid (maybe 18") and haven't had even a hint of a slow or stuck sparge since then. If the braid was collapsing on me during the runoff, then increasing the length of it wouldn't have made a difference. Those braids aren't extremely tough, but they aren't so flimsy that they'll get crushed that easily either.

They ARE susceptible to smashing with a mash paddle, which seems to be the problem the OP had. I have always been careful when stirring near the bottom, and have only managed to squish my braid in a few places, generally easily fixable.

I like the idea of putting a spring in there though, I may have to try that if I come across a suitable spring.

You can get away with a spring because it doesn't block too much of the open area but I'd shy away from anything solid that blocks more than 20% of the open area on the braid. That's sort of like shortening the braid by a lot.

Here's how I handled it...
Copper AND "spring".
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=56183

what cheap braided hoses are you guys buying? I've beat the hell out of one of my braids and its going strong. I can't imagine grain compressing it like that.

I went to the home depot where i bought the hose and yep it was plastic, it looked like stainles but no. I checked lowes and they have the real deal for the same price. I still like the spring idea from a notebook and plan to use it.

We've done two AG batches now, and used a braid on the first one and collection manifold on the second. The braid worked just fine but an inch or two from the fitting end it looked crushed. On second thought it looked more like it had been stretched out and thin. I'm willing to believe we stretched it while stirring the mash (which had a ~22 lb bill), because we were putting the paddle in at the drain end and and stirring to the other end.

We decided to go with a manifold.

I took a small copper wire, twisted it around a pencil the length of my braid (makes sort of a spring looking thing), and inserted that in the braid.

It never crushed before that anyway, but now it never will! Also doesn't block too much of the braid up as I've been getting 72-80% efficiency on batches...