Slots or Holes

I see some folks do slots and some do holes on their tun manifolds.

My first was just a single piece of pvc with a piece of screen on the open end in the tun. I slotted it. The design wasn't the best. It was what I had on hand for a first time AG. It worked. Well, it let the wort out without clogging.

The one I built last week goes all around the bottom of the tun and makes a plus in the center. No open end in the tun. Way more better.

I went with holes drilled with a Dremel drill bit so they're kinda small. I drilled them on the top of the pvc and the fittings too. It did well. Very little wort left behind. No clogs.

I didn't get too fancy. The holes are roughly, very roughly, a half inch apart. Measure for even spacing? Ha! I may drill some on or near the bottom of the manifold to get that last little bit of wort.

So, slots or holes?

I don't remember what size I drilled, but I did a bunch of small holes in my CPVC. The manifold is upside down in the pic.

To get what's below the holes, I prop up the back of the tun.

I suppose I could move my holes to the bottom

Oh, ya know what else I did? I used the Dremel to wallow out an Italian wine spigot to fit on a 3/4 inch pipe. Bam! Mash tun with a spigot.

slots or holes? yep. i have 2 tuns, 1 with holes and 1 with slots. they both give me about 80-82% efficiency

Lots, evenly spaced, is all that matters.

Hell.. do both!

Heck. I have a false bottom and a braided screen. I know its overkill. But it doesn't take much of a vorlouf to clear up the wort.

Slots.

I prefer slits

Bradzukie said:

Heck. I have a false bottom and a braided screen. I know its overkill. But it doesn't take much of a vorlouf to clear up the wort.

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I set up my keggle this way a couple months ago, but I haven't used it yet. I've been using my cooler MLT. In winter I use the cooler and in summer I use the keg MLT..

Stauffbier said:

Hell.. do both!

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^^^this^^^

I have two rows of 1/16" holes running along the bottom of my CPVC manifold, offset from the bottom by about 10 degrees on each side. Works great so far. I thought about using a bandsaw or hacksaw to cut slits, but I thought that using my drill press would be easier.

LandoLincoln said:

I have two rows of 1/16" holes running along the bottom of my CPVC manifold, offset from the bottom by about 10 degrees on each side. Works great so far. I thought about using a bandsaw or hacksaw to cut slits, but I thought that using my drill press would be easier.

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^ That's what made my mind up too. Except I was choosing between a hacksaw and a cordless drill. Plus I used copper pipe.

Is had slits on my cpvc mash tun. I got terrible efficiency. The cpvc is flexible and I thought that the slits were being crimped and not letting the sugars through. I got efficiency in the 50% range Now I switched to copper with slits and I get 75-80% efficiency. So my question is cpvc or copper with slits or holes?

Sorry to steal the thread

Cheers!