full size sanke keg false bottom worth it?

Im building a sanke keg mash tun and debating if spending 2x the price on a full 15" false bottom is worth it over a 10-13". Does anyone have any experience with false bottom sizes and mash efficiency in sanke kegs?

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Jaybird of Norcalbrewingsolutions.com did an awesome job on mine. I bought the full false bottom w/ hinge and handle, and also the stand that goes underneath. It was a pleasure doing business with Jaybird. I talked to him on the phone so I could explain what I wanted. He happily customized my false bottom with the name of my brewery - Hayes Haus. He sent me a stand that was a little taller than normal, so I could notch out the 'star' pattern to fit the bottom (former top) of the keg. He provided a fine product and it works great in my HERMS system - I highly recommend doing business with him.

I think it was absolutely worth the money. I can recirculate my wort WAY faster than I need to. I get better efficiency than I did with a kettle screen inside my 10 gal beverage cooler. And a keggle w/ a full false bottom has a great bling factor!

I use a domed one 12" I think that works great. I pump and have only had 2 stuck mashes in 15 years. Both were my fault for pumping too fast too soon.




I put a hose clamp above and below to keep it in place. I also use this setup in my kettle for whole hops. I can't remember for sure but I think the FB was from Midwest Supply and the dip tube was bargain fittings.

aggie, what is the purpose of the ring under the false bottom?

Emyers, the ring is there for extra support in case you brew a beer with a really big grain bill. Here's the website: http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/False_Bottom_Stands.html . The biggest grain bill I have used so far was only 30 lbs and I think the false bottom would have worked fine by itself - it's very sturdy.

do you have actual % of efficiency increase from your previous false bottom?

The larger the diameter of the false bottom, the greater the filtration area. This means less chance of a clog and faster recirculation. i love my jay bird 15" false bottoms and the level 1 (mash) and level 3 (BK) stands under them that provide extra filtration, which are actually very effective as long as you are not using a keg with a "star" shaped bottom!

AggieBrewer01 said:

Jaybird of Norcalbrewingsolutions.com did an awesome job on mine. I bought the full false bottom w/ hinge and handle, and also the stand that goes underneath. It was a pleasure doing business with Jaybird. I talked to him on the phone so I could explain what I wanted. He happily customized my false bottom with the name of my brewery - Hayes Haus. He sent me a stand that was a little taller than normal, so I could notch out the 'star' pattern to fit the bottom (former top) of the keg. He provided a fine product and it works great in my HERMS system - I highly recommend doing business with him.

I think it was absolutely worth the money. I can recirculate my wort WAY faster than I need to. I get better efficiency than I did with a kettle screen inside my 10 gal beverage cooler. And a keggle w/ a full false bottom has a great bling factor!

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The pleasure was all mine Aggie, I love to see a plan come together! Man I was wondering if I was ever going to see picts of that thing in use! Nice looking set up, If I do say so myself...

My setup is very similar to bigscience's . 12" domed....works like a charm !

Emyers,

My previous mash tun was a 10 gal beverage cooler w/ a kettle screen used as a filter. According to www.hopville.com, I was getting about 70% efficiency. I have only brewed 6 or 7 batches on my new system and I am still working on getting it dialed in. The best efficiency I have gotten so far is a little over 80%.

The main reason I wanted a full false bottom was so I could run my pump as fast as I want and not worry about a stuck sparge. Personally, I don't really care about getting a super high efficiency. If I do, that's a great bonus, but grain is cheap - I don't mind spending 1 or $2 more per batch. I am more concerned about consistency from batch to batch.

And Jaybird, thanks again, man. Hopefully someday I'll post a 'build' thread, but until then, here's what I made:

Bigscience said:

I use a domed one 12" I think that works great. I pump and have only had 2 stuck mashes in 15 years. Both were my fault for pumping too fast too soon.


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I put a hose clamp above and below to keep it in place. I also use this setup in my kettle for whole hops. I can't remember for sure but I think the FB was from Midwest Supply and the dip tube was bargain fittings.

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Biggie, that plastic snake looking thing? Is that for recirculation? If so, how does it work exactly I can't seem to find much on them. If not, what is it? lol

Pratzie said:

Biggie, that plastic snake looking thing? Is that for recirculation? If so, how does it work exactly I can't seem to find much on them. If not, what is it? lol

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That's called Loc-Line. Bobby sells it here:
http://brewhardware.com/accessories/114-mashtube

Yes, what he said and I do use it to recirc. It lets me position it right where I want it depending on the total grain bill. It all the way at the bottom now because I was just getting ready to put in strike water.

So in the end I shelled out the money fora full size false bottom.

Will a 10" flat false bottom be ok to use in converted keg for the mash tun?

Anyone has experience with this?

I'm worried it won't leave enough space below it for the wort or clog because of the smaller area.

Tks

It should work with no problem. But as mentioned in this post you should see better efficiency and faster recurculation flow with a full sized false bottom.

Well said, Emyers.

ive been getting 85% eff using the full size false bottom with nearly 0% equipment loss due to bottom draining flipped kegs. I dont have a smaller false bottom to compare to but the numbers look good to me!