I used my new stainless steel braid mash tun for the first time yesterday. I had been using a cut down colander in a round 5 gallon igloo.
I was not impressed at all. The drain was incredibly slow to seemingly stuck. I had to constantly use the mash paddle and sweep grain off of the braid. I didn't get grain in the braid or wort. I think the braid just got crushed, although I was only mashing 11 pounds of grain.
Unless someone can offer some suggestions or solutions, it's back to my old colander and a few grains husks in the wort for me until I can build a manifold.