My false bottom does not sit flush on my rubbermaid 10 gal..

I purchased a false bottom for my rubbermaid 10 gal mash-tun and I have noticed it doesn't sit very flat on the bottom of the cooler.

At first I didnt think this was much of a problem. I would get a little bit of husk material at the beginning and (a lot more) end of my runnings, but nothing a strainer didnt help take care of. Now however, I am crushing my own, and I notice a significant more husk, and several clogged valves in my last few batches which leads me to wonder if that is my problem...

Are these things supposed to sit perfectly flat? If so, is there any easy way to fix it?


I'm also looking into conditioning my grain, but I think the crush isn't the actual problem..

It shouldn't sit perfectly flat, there needs to be some space between the false bottom and the bottom to work correctly.

it should be curved, kind of like a dinner plate/pie plate hybrid. Sounds like you bought a false bottom for a keg. put it up on the marketplace and buy a curved one, or bend it yourself over a paint can.

Are you talking about flat like flush with the bottom? Or even like one edge is higher than the other?

I am making a false bottom out of a perforated stainless steel frying pan splatter guard. My plan is to slice a silicone tube lengthwise and wrap around the edge, so I can press fit it tight into the bottom. At least that's the plan.

Yes, the false bottom is dome shaped, and it is the appropriate model for a cooler. I bought the 12" stainless false bottom from NB over a year ago.

My problem is the edges that actually rest on the bottom of the cooler do not sit flush, so there's gaps that I believe the husk material is getting around and clogging up my plumbing.

If you have a round cooler with a stainless false bottom, do the edges sit perfectly flat, or are there gaps like I describe?

Try jetsmooth's idea of wrapping the edges with tubing. That should give you a good seal.

I guess I could try that, but I'm wondering if anyone else has a similar product?

o4_srt said:

Try jetsmooth's idea of wrapping the edges with tubing. That should give you a good seal.

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+1 not sure if I've ever even looked at mine that closely, but i bet some split silicone tubing would take up any major gap.

It should be fine once the weight of the grain and water are added.

wh4tig0t said:

+1 not sure if I've ever even looked at mine that closely, but i bet some split silicone tubing would take up any major gap.

Click to expand...

Just set it on the table or any other flat surface and see if there's gaps..

I was talking to another hb friend last night and he asked about my mill/crush. It is a bit finer than I was getting from BMW, but I don't think it's too fine.