My new mash tun filter

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MarcusKillion

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Okay now that I have had a chance to use it and know for sure that it works quite well I will post pics of my filter . I made it from a 5 gallon bucket lid , a screen from a stainless food strainer , braided line , a piece of vinyl tubing , a tee fitting and some PVC pipe .
Note that this is the top of the lid . It sits upside down in the tun , rubber seal up.
I drilled holes in the lid about the size of my finger . Cut some 1/4 inch PVC pipe up and tied it in the lid . This is to hold the lid up for support so the weight of grains does not press down and squish the braided filter . tied in the braided line and attached to tee and vinyl tube . Took apart the strainer which I got at Walmart for 15 bucks . It is rectangular and had to grind it apart as it is welded . Wrapped that around the lid to stop grain from falling through holes in lid . This is cheaper than stainless steel window screen unless you have a use for the rest of a roll of screen .
It slips right in the cooler and I just grab the vinyl hose with a pair of needle nose pliers and pull it on to the nipple of spigot . That is why there is a slit in the screen at the tube end .

this worked real good and I used about 13.25 pounds grain and 9.25 gallons water and got back 8 gallons . there is only about a quart of wasted space under that lid .

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My vorlauf was good after just about a quart but I ran one more to make sure . I had to wash something off so I sat the gallon pitcher on top of a jar and turned away my attention and forgot it and it filled up and fell over and I lost about a half gallon on the floor . Waht a sticky mess .
 
I must update this . I just brewed a nice cream ale with 9.5 pounds of grains corn rice . I had an idea to grind finer than usual . It definitely would have clogged up the stainless filter of a normal tun and perhaps this one also but I added in a layer of rice solids but main thing was the addition of a nylon paint strainer http://hdsupplysolutions.com/shop/product-5_gal_nylon_paint_strainer_pkg_of_2_-101225 I actually bought mine from Sherwin Williams . I laid it in the bottom over the rice hulls which I would not really have needed with this . Since I just laid it in I put some grain in it to hold it down .
I would suggest using one of these in any mash tun . Wrap it around the filter stuff , in my case the lid with the screen or around one of them stainless steel domes .
Works great !
I opened the valve all the way and this is the first running . No vorlauf needed . Sure saved a lot of time on draining and sparging . Unfortunately my camera did not save the video of the first runnings . they were very clear .
 
UPDATE - I dumpped the screen and went with a 5 gallon nylon paint strainer bag from sherwin williams . Stuck the lid assembly inside and no more stuck sparges with a good fine grind .
 
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