FREE false bottoms!!!*

(*with the purchase of a tin of popcorn)


Next time your aunty gets you a tin of popcorn for a holiday, take the lid and poke a bunch of holes in it with a hammer and a small nail. Then toss it in the bottom of your round cooler. Voila! You have a free false bottom!!!

Sounds a little low rent to me. Tin?

Bobby_M said:

Sounds a little low rent to me. Tin?

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First of all, it's called a "tin" that is not a reference to it's elemental makeup, it's just what folks around here call them. I'm sure it's actually thin-walled steel. Secondly...

Low Rent? You think it's low rent??!!! If you think it's low rent, then buy yourself a tin of gourmet caramel popcorn, Mr. hoity-toity!

Seriously, I agree, but I just threw a lid from an old tin of popcorn into the bottom of a bucket and it fit almost too perfectly! Who cares what it looks like if it works? I mean, a lot of folks think copper manifolds are ugly... that is, until they see how beautifully they work!!!

Something sitting at the bottom of an MLT strikes me as one of those items where function is more important than form. I mean, really, do you use expensive faucet handles to let wort out of your MLT? Who cares? It's an easy false bottom that you can make for free and you can make a ton of them to optimize them and find the best design. I'm sure anybody who spent $20-30 to buy one from their local LHBS is perfectly happy with their purchase, but as I see it, not everybody has $20 burning a hole in their pocket.

Personally, I have a copper manifold setup and I'm pretty happy with it so far, but that doesn't mean I'm unwilling to experiment with other methods. And if I'm experimenting with other methods, I don't really see a reason to waste $20. And why should I, when this method is free?

No Thanks!!!!!

Do you REALLY think that a flimsy tin dish with holes punched in it is going to hold up? I seriously doubt it. I don't see Yuri adding this to his DIY list any time soon - lol

I would be concerned about dissolving iron from the cheap steel they use. Wort is moderately acidic.

Toot said:

Seriously, I agree, but I just threw a lid from an old tin of popcorn into the bottom of a bucket and it fit almost too perfectly!

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I was a bit confused until you threw in the word "bucket" and then I understood how it worked.

Everyone that still uses buckets for mashing raise your hands....

If it were made of aluminum, copper, or stainless, I'd agree with it as being a reasonable DIY solution but I don't want any plain steel touching my wort.

rdwj said:

I don't see Yuri adding this to his DIY list any time soon - lol

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Probably not...but not because it's a terrible idea. I just don't need another false bottom at the moment (and I'd rather buy perforated stainless...but that gets expensive, so it doesn't meet the spirit of this thread).

For the remainder of this post, the word, "tin," means cheap metal container, not a metal alloy or chemical element.

I've seen some of those tins rust, but if you could determine that your tin is made of a corrosion prohibiting material such as stainless steel, break out the drill, and have at it!

I'd be concerned about corrosion too. Although, you could make 'Lock-jaw Porter' if you got enough rust in it.

Toot:

Nice try in thinking outside of the box.
Don't get wrapped around the axel over the fact that it appears to have failed the sniff test.

On the plus side. It'll probably work on a deserted island, on TV or in prison.

Chairman Cheyco said:

Although, you could make 'Lock-jaw Porter' if you got enough rust in it.

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Even if it is corrosion resistant to begin with this is bypassed once you cut it or poke holes in it. Now, if the world goes into nuclear war and we are hunkered down trying to put together a MacGuyver setup then it would be something to keep in mind

zoebisch01 said:

Even if it is corrosion resistant to begin with this is bypassed once you cut it or poke holes in it.

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Not if it's made of stainless or copper (copper will not corrode in the wort, but it will oxidize as it dries - keep it clean, just like your chillers).

However, most of them are cheap plated steel, I think. In that case, drilling, then adding water is a bad idea.

I used to use those popcorn tins as trash cans in college. After about a month or so the can would start to rust in spots. Now I know tin is supposed to be resistant to rust, so I'm gonna say that those cans are probably have a mix of other metals. So from my past experience I'm gonna have to say be careful.

A large rigid plastic plate would probably serve the same purpose without the rust or corrosion issues...

Point taken about rust inhibition. Thanks for bringing me back on path... Actually, this thought has led me to another...

Someone previously mentioned using a strainer/collander which isn't bad except for the large curve. This leads me to the middle-ground...

A lid from a pot.

slightly curved, widely available in a variety of sizes, good metal for heat and cooking, pretty thin. In the case of a lid from a brew kettle, for anyone using turkey fryers, you generally don't use the lid while boiling anyway...

Reidman said:

A large rigid plastic plate would probably serve the same purpose without the rust or corrosion issues...

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Plastic plate! Hrmmm...

These available at More Beer for $21.



I have the 12" one, and it works great to keep whole hops in the boil kettle and out of my fermenter. The brass fitting works as a pickup tube, so only about 1/4" of wort remains in the kettle. You could easily fashion one from a pot lid or even a colander if you used a longer pickup tube.

I think kitchen sieve (basically stainless mesh formed into a dish) would work pretty well but you'd have to use a rigid dip tube to keep it well seated to the bottom of the kettle. The real issue is that all these methods only work well for leaf hops. You need at least a 60 wire-per-inch mesh to stop pellet debris. See hopstopper or diy equivelent.

Bobby_M said:

The real issue is that all these methods only work well for leaf hops.

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While true, the OP specifically mentioned false bottoms for mash tuns. You wouldn't need such a fine mesh to hold up a grain bed.

I simply stated that hops straining is the purpose for which I use my More Beer false bottom.