False Bottom Use and Cleaning

BeerGRip · 04-12-2011, 11:20 PM

Hello HBT'ers,

I recently brewed my first all-grain batch after several years of extract brewing (curse of a tiny NYC apartment). It went well overall, but I have two quick questions.

- I found that I got a fair bit of grain under my false bottom (I'm using a round 10G igloo cooler mash tun purchased from Midwest). I was able to easily strain it out of the kettle before the boil, but still... Anybody else experience this? Any tips on minimizing it (i.e. water then grain, or vice-versa)?

- I'm generally very thorough in my cleaning procedures, but I'm wondering how nuts I should go after each brew in terms of taking out the false bottom, bulkhead, and ball valve. Seems like a royal pain to take apart, and I'm not sure that it is necessary. Any thoughts, suggestions, or experience to share?

Thanks much for your help,
Greg

**wilserbrewer** · 04-13-2011, 02:06 AM

No real need to "clean" the MT as it is preboil...a thorough rinse and a visual is all I see appropriate...IMO of course

The grain that you add to the MT on every batch is loaded w/ bugs...that's why we boil.