Question re: false bottom in MLT

I just put a stainless false bottom in my MLT. I leak tested it last night - no leaks, but I have an issue. When I drain all the liquid from the cooler there is an inch or two left in the bottom (the level of the drain hole in cooler). What I expected to happen was that the false bottom would "siphon" almost all of the liquid out from the pick-up tube leaving very little residual water. I'm a little worried that I have a loose fitting or leak somewhere that's preventing the siphoning action - basically rendering the false bottom useless and reducing my efficiency.

Is this a normal occurrence with false bottoms? I'm used to using SS braid where some residual water left in the tun is normal.


Thanks in advance.

Do you have any tubing connected to the output and hanging down a foot or two? If not, there's yer problem.

Nope, that must be it then. I'll check again with a couple feet of 1/2" tubing into my kettle and see if it is any better.

Thanks!

Some residual is to be expected and is accounted for as "Deadspace loss" however, as suggested, you have not co0mpleted the needs for a proper siphon.

Another trick, depending on how tall your FB is, is to skirt an end of (high temp) hose and let it just nearly touch the bottom of the tun. This may help to pull the last little bit from the bottom.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Some residual is to be expected and is accounted for as "Deadspace loss" however, as suggested, you have not co0mpleted the needs for a proper siphon.

Another trick, depending on how tall your FB is, is to skirt an end of (high temp) hose and let it just nearly touch the bottom of the tun. This may help to pull the last little bit from the bottom.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try that too if there happens to be a lot of residual water. Right now I have SS tubing coming out of the cooler bulkhead. That tubing is connected to a 90 degree compression x npt elbow. I put a nut on the NPT (downward facing) portion of that elbow on top of the false bottom to keep it from floating up. The elbow is pretty close to the bottom of the cooler, so hopefully I won't have to worry.