rookie false bottom question

I've been brewing for about a year and a half now and I am looking at moving to all grain brewing (currently doing mini mashes). I have my eye on a friends 10 gallon rubber maid cooler (gotta love soccer families) and I am thinking of putting a false bottom in it. The thing is, I am a little confused about what I see on the websites where I would buy one. Here's a link to one that I am considering;

Does the false bottom have a solid "dish" on the bottom and then the screen on the top - kind of making a clam shell? If that is the case, I assume the orientation I see is how it would go in the cooler/lauter tun. does the pipe fitting shown work to siphon the wert out of the bottom so that you get all of the liquid drained?

Nope. Just a screen and a pick up tube - just like you see. That's exactly what I've got.

You add a bulkhead and valve to your cooler. Connect that fitting to the bulkhead inside with some silicone (hi temp) tubing.

What happens is the cracked grain does not go past the screen, but the sugar water (wort) does. After the mash, connect a hose to the valve on the outside, and hold it lower than the cooler - and voila - you're getting all that good stuff after the mash. Because of the dome, and the small space below the fitting, you'll leave a little behind - but you're sparging - you'll likely leave a little water behind, not sweet stuff.

The solid dish on the bottom is actually the bottom of the cooler itself.

Think of this as a filter that pulls from below the grain.

That barb will connect to a ball valve/barb via a hose inside the cooler where the ball valve/barb sticks out through the water tap hole.


There are write-ups somewhere on here about how to build the bulkhead (ball valve/barb assembly)

Thanks for the clarification, that helps a lot.

So to do all grain 5 gallon batches, do I need a 10 gallon cooler or would a 5 gallon one work? That would save some $$ (I assume it would use a smaller cheaper false bottom) and some space in the brewing locker

Go with the 10, that is the exact setup I have and it allows me to do higher gravity 5 gal batches.

LarryC said:

Thanks for the clarification, that helps a lot.

So to do all grain 5 gallon batches, do I need a 10 gallon cooler or would a 5 gallon one work? That would save some $$ (I assume it would use a smaller cheaper false bottom) and some space in the brewing locker

Click to expand...

A 5-gal will work better maintaining temps than a 10 with small/normal batches, as you'll have less deadspace. But there are some tasks you may find difficult if not impossible.. such as high OG beers, multi-step infusion mashes, etc.

tunoffun said:

A 5-gal will work better maintaining temps than a 10 with small/normal batches, as you'll have less deadspace. But there are some tasks you may find difficult if not impossible.. such as high OG beers, multi-step infusion mashes, etc.

Click to expand...

With my 10 gal I have done 90 min mashes and only lost 1-2 degrees. Heat loss has not been a problem at all. At the start I thought it would be more of an issue but I was really surprised.

I took the nut off the bottom side of the elbow (underneath the false bottom) and replaced it with a stainless coupling which I had sawed in half. This minimizes the dead space.

dmob29 said:

With my 10 gal I have done 90 min mashes and only lost 1-2 degrees. Heat loss has not been a problem at all. At the start I thought it would be more of an issue but I was really surprised.

Click to expand...

Wow... that's excellent. Less loss than I'd think.
I stand corrected.

tunoffun said:

Wow... that's excellent. Less loss than I'd think.
I stand corrected.

Click to expand...

Ya, blew my mind the first couple times.

The key to that though is getting the temp of the cooler up before doughing in. So for example, if my target mash temp is 154 I would heat my water up to about 168-170. This would warm up my mash tun and also account for the loss of water temp for the grain. It usually is a few degrees high, but just stirring it for a few minutes to bring it down works fine. A lot easier to stir to cool than to try and warm it up. Unless you got an electric heating element, which I don't.

Hello,

I am not trying to highjack the thread but since we are talking about this false bottom which I also just purchased what is everybody doing for a diptube?
The false bottom seems to sit aboout 1 inch off the bottom and since I will be using a pump in the system I want to be able to get as much wort out at a time as I can.

harley03 said:

Hello,

I am not trying to highjack the thread but since we are talking about this false bottom which I also just purchased what is everybody doing for a diptube?
The false bottom seems to sit aboout 1 inch off the bottom and since I will be using a pump in the system I want to be able to get as much wort out at a time as I can.

Click to expand...

See post #8 above.

Deafsmith,
Ok I guess I overlooked that post. I did not think that the nut was 1/2 inch I will have to give that a try seems like a simple fix. I just wonder why a company would make a false bottom for a specific application and it is not any lower.

harley03 said:

Deafsmith,
Ok I guess I overlooked that post. I did not think that the nut was 1/2 inch I will have to give that a try seems like a simple fix. I just wonder why a company would make a false bottom for a specific application and it is not any lower.

Click to expand...

Your FB may be different than mine. Mine has an elbow with a 3/8 barb on top, and a 1/2 inch male thread on the bottom, underneath the FB. I sawed the coupling in half (actually about 60/40) and after removing the nut on the bottom, I put the longer piece on the FB with some teflon tape, leaving just a little space, maybe about 1/8 inch between the bottom of the coupler and the bottom of the cooler. You will probably have to see how far your coupling screws on and then measure before cutting it.

Thanks all for helping me figure this thing out. Now I just need to get my buddy to give up the cooler...