I loves my new SS braided mash tun!

So today I made two 10 gallon batches. One batch of ESB and one of American Amber. I hit my numbers right on the mark and tried my new mash tun for the second time. The first time I used the mash tun the SS braid fell off of the dip tube and I ended up having to transfer the whole mash over to my other mash tun, which is a 10 gallon cooler with a false bottom.

Having solved the problem of the disconnecting braid I tried it again today. Let me just say that I have been using the cooler and false bottom for years and I have been very happy with it. I usually need to vorlauf 5-6 times before it runs clear though and I've been looking for something that works a little better. Well, I've found it. The SS braided hose worked like a champ. From the very start it ran completely clear with good flow. I didn't need re-circulate at all and it stayed attached this time too.

Just thought I'd share since I was pretty damned stoked with it.

Cheers!

I really like my SS braid mash tun as well. Be careful with it I had a friend one time stir too vigorously which ended up in a stuck sparge since it crushed the braids.

Straining mash through a screen by hand is not fun, efficient or fast. But it does still work!

I'm a huge fan of my SS braid design as well. It works like a charm!

I hear you about stirring to hard. That's how it popped off the first time, now I have a clamp on it. Also, yesterday when I brewed with it I was teaching a buddy how to brew for the first time. He started to stir pretty vigorously and I had to cool him down before he ripped it off. Still, it worked great and I think I will put one on my other mash tun as well.

Cheers

I had an eventful mash yesterday. I use a tun with a vegetable steamer false bottom. Yesterday I hit the limits of that technology in spades. First off it was a Golden Strong with 17 pounds of grain. Way too much for a 5 gallon cooler but I was planning a step decoction mash anyway so I figured I'd try. First problem, the sparge kept getting slow and stuck.

Second something very weird happened. While I was sparging my way up to nine gallons of wort the whole tun made a kind of popping sound. Three times. I had no idea what it was until I was cleaning up and the steamer stayed in the bottom of the cooler. Turns out the legs had poked through the bottom of the cooler! Now I have three holes in the bottom of my tun. I am assuming only bad things can come from this.

PS The mash turned out great with about 75% eff and the boil went well as well.

Sounds like its time to make yourself a nice SS braid. I love the vegetable steamer false bottom thats true homebrewer ingenuity right there.