SS Braid

This may be a silly question... but I just converted a MLT cooler. The steel braid is about 14" long, leaving about a significant space between the end of the braid and the end of the cooler. Will this cause problems for me? I'm guessing I will at least get slightly better efficiency if the braid runs the length of the cooler...

Actually, you need to be the braid to be only about 8 inches long. My suggestion would be to shorten it.

John

For batch sparging, the length of the braid should hardly matter. As long as it's filtering out the grain particles, since all you're doing is draining the wort the length shouldn't make any difference.

Now, if you're fly sparging.... you probably don't want a SS braid anyway. It's going to tend to promote channeling. You'd rather have a false bottom, or a manifold, so the grains are rinsed more evenly over the whole mash tun. A single braid down the middle is going to tend to make all of the wort exit down the middle of the mash tun, so the grains won't get rinsed as well.

All that's irrelevant for batch sparging. For batch sparging, I highly doubt it'll make any difference, eight inches or fourteen.

Depends on what type of mash you use. Some things really gum it up. Longer than necessary is not a problem, but shorter could be.

Whatever you do, DON'T CUT IT SHORTER!

bird is right. The length really doesn't matter for batch sparging. I should have been clearer.

I keep my braid on the shorter side (batch sparging) so I have less of a chance of snagging it while stirring which could cause kinks or gaps.

John

Glad I don't have to redo it then... My fingers have tiny cuts all over them!

Not that I want to fly sparge, but hypothetically, if instead of one long braid, if you could somehow get 3 running down each side and the middle, would that be more appropriate for fly sparging?

Probably. You'd probably get a little less channeling leading to better efficiency, but again, why bother? I batch sparged for years and great luck.

I wouldn't try fly sparging in a rectangle MLT at all (if that is what you have). I did an experiment with this before using a manifold that covered most of the bottom. Found out all of the grain on the opposite side of the drain did not get rinsed from the sparge at all. I believe you must have a false bottom to fly sparge. I wouldnt worry about fly sparging, you can good great efficiencies and great beer from batch sparging with less hassle.

It was just hypothetical. I'm planning on Batch Sparging anyways, but was sort of curious. Thanks for your great answers.