Improvised false bottom

Because Consolidated Mill Supply told me they could cut a piece of perforated steel for me and then when I got there, after an hour drive, told me all of their machines were in use and they could only have it ready in a few days, I had to come up with my own false bottom.

I have a huge Bayou Classic kettle (30 gallons) and a TC pick-up tube from Brewer's Hardware.

The worst part was venturing into walmart to get one of these mesh strainers with expandable handles.



Removed the handles, trimmed a $5 piece of steel from Lowe's and then crimped it in where the handles were. Clipped a little hole in the for the tube to go into, and that's it. It worked perfectly under 50lbs of grain, and I think I'll put some solder around the hole to keep it from expanding and see how long it'll last me.

Regular sheet metal? If so how did the wort taste? I would imagine you would get some metallic tasted if you didn't use stainless steel.

There was some confusion about this at Lowe's. The guy there said he thought it was stainless, but at $5, I'm more inclined to believe that it isn't. That was a concern, and I almost went with an aluminum sheet instead, but went ahead and got the steel. No off-flavors at all, or at least none discernible from pre/post boil and after a while in the fermenter. That being said, it was a 15.5 gallon batch, so the story might be different with a smaller volume.

for $5 for that large of a sheet at lowes, i can guarantee it's normal sheet metal and will rust out super quick. i'd go back and get aluminum before you brew again. or at least a few paint strainer bags do put all of your mash in.

That should be easy enough to do. For curiosity's sake, is the iron flavor caused by rust the only issue with carbon steel in contact with liquid?

That depends on what type of sheet metal you have. It could be plain steel but they also sell galvanized and zinc plated. In my opinion all 3 are bad in the wort with plain steel being the lower of the concerns. If the metal was plated you are adding the plating mineral +any of the chemicals used during the plating process.

Them strainers are stainless . I used one of them myself only I ground off the frame and used the screen. How ever I replaced the screen with a much better nylon paint strainer bag which I wrap around my false bottom and it works so great . Not a stuck sparge one since

I used just the strainer over top of my braided hose filter, no steel. I am only doing 5 gallon batches though. The strainer compacted down but still had enough support to keep all the big stuff off the filter. I even used it with a recipe using oatmeal and rye flour with no problems. For just a couple bucks I am happy with it.

That depends on what type of sheet metal you have. It could be plain steel but they also sell galvanized and zinc plated. In my opinion all 3 are bad in the wort with plain steel being the lower of the concerns. If the metal was plated you are adding the plating mineral +any of the chemicals used during the plating process.

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Interesting...I might stop by Lowe's again some time just to see if I can find out. So far so good on the batch with it, but I did happen across a rigid stainless steel strainer that I snagged. The first one I found was mesh, hence the need for something on top so it wouldn't collapse.