False bottom vs. hose braid

I am planning to do my first AG brew as soon as the weather here warms up enough. I think I am going to go the gott style cooler route. It seems to be very popular lately for people to use the SS hose braid setup from a toilet water supply line. It also seems as though it would be much easier to just get a SS false bottom (although not quite as cheap.

Anyone here who has used both? Does one way work better than the other?

Any reason you are not considering the third option? A copper manifold.

I'm building my stuff now. I don't know from personal experience, but John Palmer did some pretty extensive testing on all the methods. Basically, it boils down to...

Batch sparging - all the methods work pretty well - Manifold, False Bottom or Braid. The false bottoms and braids seem to be more prone to stuck sparges and false bottoms aren't a great choice for a rectangular cooler.

Fly Sparging - false bottoms are the way to go IF you have a round cooler. Manifolds are a close second and the best choice for a rectangular cooler. Braids aren't a good option.

I crush fine and use a braid and very rarely get a stuck sparge when only using grain with a few adjuncts like wheat or oats, and never when just using grain.
I have the 5 gallon Igloo cooler with the SS braid.

orfy said:

Any reason you are not considering the third option? A copper manifold.

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