evandam

Recipes 

If you set your false bottom on a flat surface, at its highest point (the middle I hope) how much space is under it. Mine only has between 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch and i'm wondering if this is normal, since I'm having some issues.

P.S it is a 10 gallon round cooler type false bottom.

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Primary 1 - Black Widow Dry Stout
Primary 2 - Black Widow Dry Stout
Secondary 1 - Apfelwein
Secondary 2 - Apfelwein
Keg 1 - Adverse Yaw House Pale Ale (Notty)
Keg 2 - Adverse Yaw House Pale Ale (S-05)
Keg 3 - NB #8
Keg 4 - Centennial Blonde
On Deck - Faversham Best Bitter (Orig Recipe)

SenorWanderer

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sounds normal to me. sounds like we have the same false bottom in the same type of cooler. i've got 2qt of dead space. i somtimes use a 2x4 to prop up the back of the cooler to help drain. what's your issue?

evandam

Recipes 

See this thread for an explanation of my issue. A bit long, here I was just trying to narrow the problem down a bit. My friend seemed to think the FB was not domed enough. I thought it was normal and that there is a problem with some other piece. Like I said this will explain a little more.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/first-all-grain-brew-day-nightmare-93071/

Is your FB somehow connected to the elbow leading back to the ball valve, or does the tension of the tubing kind of pin it down. This will all become more clear if you read the other thread.

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Primary 1 - Black Widow Dry Stout
Primary 2 - Black Widow Dry Stout
Secondary 1 - Apfelwein
Secondary 2 - Apfelwein
Keg 1 - Adverse Yaw House Pale Ale (Notty)
Keg 2 - Adverse Yaw House Pale Ale (S-05)
Keg 3 - NB #8
Keg 4 - Centennial Blonde
On Deck - Faversham Best Bitter (Orig Recipe)

SenorWanderer

Recipes 

the elbow on my FB attaches with a hex nut that screws into from the bottom. i attach mine to the valve with a short length of vinyl hose. both ends of the hose attach to nipples. i thought that's how all FBs were setup. does you elbow have threads on the down side and a nipple on the up side?

evandam

Recipes 

Yes, it has threads on the down side and a nipple on the up side, but there is no room under the FB for any nut or even all of the threaded side of the elbow, If I got a nut and tightened it up the edges of the FB would be up off the cooler floor by a 3/8 of an inch or so. I thought about cutting the threaded part down some, but I still not sure a nut would fit on the bottom. Check these pics out to see if it clears things up a bit. The bottom is how it fits now, the top is what I was thinking of. But like I said I'm not sure a nut would fit on the bottom. I have contacted the outfit I bought this from and he said he had had some complaints about stuck sparges and now I think I'm beginning to understand why. I sent another email to him, we will see if I hear anything else back.

I hope this make sense.




And also for reference

__________________

Primary 1 - Black Widow Dry Stout
Primary 2 - Black Widow Dry Stout
Secondary 1 - Apfelwein
Secondary 2 - Apfelwein
Keg 1 - Adverse Yaw House Pale Ale (Notty)
Keg 2 - Adverse Yaw House Pale Ale (S-05)
Keg 3 - NB #8
Keg 4 - Centennial Blonde
On Deck - Faversham Best Bitter (Orig Recipe)

SenorWanderer

Recipes 

i read in the post you linked to that the bottom of your cooler has a bump in the middle? i think that's your problem. mine is flat and has plenty of clearance. the two things i can think of to fix this is:

1. try and flatten the cooler bottom. the plastic it's made of becomes pretty pliable with a little heat. if you can get in there with a blow torch and GENTLY heat the plastic until it's pliable you could then smash it down with something hard and flat. a stainless steel mixing bowl comes to mind. now you should have the clearance for a nut.

2. you could saw off the bottom of the threaded plastic elbow, fit it through the hole in the FB so that about 1/8"-1/4" is still protruding, then heat that until it's pliable and flare the plastic over the edge of FB so that it stays in place. if you do a good job it'll be very secure. you might end up using a little epoxy to seal it up real good.

3. buy a new cooler that doesn't have a dome in the middle.

was the cooler domed in the middle when you bought it? the walls of my cooler have bulged from the hot water. it's a pain to get the FB out if i have to, but i don't have to very often. if it wasn't domed then there is probably just air under there and pressing it down again would probably be the best bet.

evandam

Recipes 

The bump is there by design (at least as far as the cooler goes) and is not a deformity. That may very well be part of the problem. But even if it wasn't there then the elbow would still sit flush on the bottom of the cooler, and I cannot imagine this would be good. As it is I'm pretty sure it isn't going to work.

I'm going to attempt to attach the elbow and connect is somehow semi permanently to to the false bottom and see what kind of clearance I can maintain after I remove all the excess. I'm going to do some measuring tonight too, maybe the clearances are not as tight as I think.

Any way thanks for the help and I will be sure to update when and if I find a solution.

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Primary 1 - Black Widow Dry Stout
Primary 2 - Black Widow Dry Stout
Secondary 1 - Apfelwein
Secondary 2 - Apfelwein
Keg 1 - Adverse Yaw House Pale Ale (Notty)
Keg 2 - Adverse Yaw House Pale Ale (S-05)
Keg 3 - NB #8
Keg 4 - Centennial Blonde
On Deck - Faversham Best Bitter (Orig Recipe)

IrregularPulse

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Bobby_M answered your question in the original thread. Raise the false bottom to an acceptable level, ~3/8 quoted from Bobby. he knows what he is talking about. You ask for answers but ignore them when they're given.

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evandam

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I decided to rethink that last post and edit it. I don't doubt that you and BobbyM know what you are talking about, but either I'm doing a bad job of explaining it or your not comprehending it. I will leave it at that. I have an action plan, thanks for all the suggestions.

__________________

Primary 1 - Black Widow Dry Stout
Primary 2 - Black Widow Dry Stout
Secondary 1 - Apfelwein
Secondary 2 - Apfelwein
Keg 1 - Adverse Yaw House Pale Ale (Notty)
Keg 2 - Adverse Yaw House Pale Ale (S-05)
Keg 3 - NB #8
Keg 4 - Centennial Blonde
On Deck - Faversham Best Bitter (Orig Recipe)

Gregredic

Recipes 

WOW.....just WOW!

There is more of a problem than just the clearance. One of the big problems is that there is a hump on the bottom of the cooler, PLUS the fact that the elbow isn't staying attached to the FB.