Mash Tun Question

Hi. We've upgraded ourselves from 1 to 3, to now 5 gallon batches. We bought the 5 gallon Igloo converted Mash Tuns with the coil at the bottom to filter out the wort. On our first brew with this system, the coil got crushed by our grain and the whole process took over 5 hours because the liquid could not exit through the spout. We ended up having to scoop out a lot of the grain and try and stir it up to lessen the weight on the coil. We are trying to figure out how to prevent this on the next batch. Our current idea is to put a silicone steaming basket from our kitchen in the bottom of the igloo cooler so it stands just above the coil, hopefully lessening the weight of the 12 pounds of grain plus water that will go on top of it.

Has anyone else had a problem with the coil clogging or getting crushed by the grains? How have you fixed this issue? Thanks in advance for your knowledge and help!

~Jen & Mark

What do you mean by "coil"? Is it a stainless steel braid? Can you post a photo of it?

Yes by "coil" I mean stainless steel braid. It got crushed by the grain and was basically looking like the shedded skin of a snake, all flat.

There are several ways to convert a MLT from a cooler. I do know some people that when using the "coil" I think you mean a "braid" (but I may be wrong here) they install a spring in it or do it over a copper coil with slits cut in it.
Myself I am a big fan of the Jaybird false bottom system for the coolers They are custom cut to fit your cooler. They also sit above the drain so you dont have to worry about beating up the braid when you stir.
Cheers
Jay

Ahh yes, a false bottom may be in our future. The ones we looked at seemed to be too wide for this cooler. We measured the top and bottom diameter and it definitely is more narrow at the bottom. We were trying to kind of feel out a way to do a false bottom from scratch with something we have around before having something custom made if we can avoid it.

BodaciousBrew said:

Yes by "coil" I mean stainless steel braid. It got crushed by the grain and was basically looking like the shedded skin of a snake, all flat.

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I used a heavy gauge piece of copper wire to make a "coil" (shaped like a long spring) to slip inside of the braid. This will stop the braid from collapsing. Your silicon false bottom idea might work as well...

BodaciousBrew said:

Ahh yes, a false bottom may be in our future. The ones we looked at seemed to be too wide for this cooler. We measured the top and bottom diameter and it definitely is more narrow at the bottom. We were trying to kind of feel out a way to do a false bottom from scratch with something we have around before having something custom made if we can avoid it.

Click to expand...

Yeah I hear ya there. Try the stainless coil inside the braid. or the copper tubing as well. I hear people are able to make that work, I think you have to go with the 3/8" copper so it can get in the braid. If you arn't able to get it to work let me know, I would love to help.
Cheers
Jay

Stauffbier said:

I used a heavy gauge piece of copper wire to make a "coil" (shaped like a long spring) to slip inside of the braid. This will stop the braid from collapsing. Your silicon false bottom idea might work as well...

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+1. Go to your local hardware store and buy 2 feet of any type of #12 AWG wire. Strip off all the insulation and wrap that wire around a wooden dowl about 1/4" in diameter to make the "spring". Take your braid fitting apart, slide in the copper, form to shape and reconnect.

My first MLT used a braid with this setup and it never stuck - but it was slower than my second MLT setup using a collection manifold (tube with slits cut).

Did someone say false bottom? I thought I heard someone say false bottom!

You can also look around here for mash tun designs and builds that you can easily and cost effectively build yourself.

Have fun with it!

I used a stainless braid for a while, then I used a converted kettle screen, I think they call them torpedo screens. I finally settled on a copper manifold. They're easy to make from parts from Home Depot or Lowes as long as you can do a little copper sweating. If you can't, there are also people that have made them from CPVC. But if all this is too much work the spring inside the braid is probably a good idea, just make sure you know what the material is.

Here are some shots of mine, works great. If you wrap it in a grain bag, you don't even need to vorlauf.

I used CPVC to make my manifold, simple, comes apart for cleaning...

My only issue is, couldn't find CPVC here in Cali so I had my brother in Oregon send it down to me

Haven't tried it yet, just finished it last weekend, got to wait as this weekend is just too busy to brew

Toy4Rick

This is what I use in my cooler, works awesome.
http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=47&product_id=96

younger96 said:

+1. Go to your local hardware store and buy 2 feet of any type of #12 AWG wire. Strip off all the insulation and wrap that wire around a wooden dowl about 1/4" in diameter to make the "spring". Take your braid fitting apart, slide in the copper, form to shape and reconnect.

My first MLT used a braid with this setup and it never stuck - but it was slower than my second MLT setup using a collection manifold (tube with slits cut).

Click to expand...

I have a huge SS braid from a water heater line in my MLT. The inside diameter is 3/4" which allows it to drain very fast. It's never been stuck or slow. I batch sparge and I actually slow down the run-off on my ballvalve so that it takes about 20 mins to drain. I gained another 2% efficiency doing so. Otherwise it would drain in less than 5 mins if I opened the valve up completely..

I used cpvc for my manifold and it works great

Without actually seeing what you have, I have a hunch that your "stainless" braid is not really stainless but rather plastic. Home Depot sells water lines that are actually synthetic plastic and not stainless, but do appear like stainless if you are not careful. The plastic braids don't work well at all, a real stainless braid works very well IME, and needs nothing inside to help hold it open. I would suggest using a water heater braid, they are very heavy duty and for 10 bucks will work very well. The thread linked below shows the different types of braids. When you say your braid was flattened by the mash that is not typical at all of a stainless braid and sonds suspicious???

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/imposter-plastic-braids-122648/

wilserbrewer said:

Without actually seeing what you have, I have a hunch that your "stainless" braid is not really stainless but rather plastic. Home Depot sells water lines that are actually synthetic plastic and not stainless, but do appear like stainless if you are not careful. The plastic braids don't work well at all, a real stainless braid works very well IME, and needs nothing inside to help hold it open. I would suggest using a water heater braid, they are very heavy duty and for 10 bucks will work very well. The thread linked below shows the different types of braids. When you say your braid was flattened by the mash that is not typical at all of a stainless braid and sonds suspicious???

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/imposter-plastic-braids-122648/

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+1. I have only used my stainless braid 3 times so far, but have not had any flattening or shape changing at all and have never bothered with adding any coiled wire to it.

Jaybird said:

They also sit above the drain so you dont have to worry about beating up the braid when you stir.
Cheers
Jay

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I like the sound of this.....How is the false bottom supported so it sits above the drain?

BrazenHeadBeer said:

I like the sound of this.....How is the false bottom supported so it sits above the drain?

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I build a stand out of the same 16 ga stainless perf material that the false bottom is made out of.
Cheers
Jay

That copper one looks great....a friend of ours could probably pull that off. For our next batch I picked up a stainless steal collapsible steaming basket that fits inside well. If that ends up failing for some reason we will go about putting a firmer coil within the braid. Thank you for all of the ideas.

Jaybird/NorCal false bottoms, simply put, kick-ass... I have one of the 15" models (with hinge, handle and hole) in my mash keg and couldn't be happier with it.

IF you ever decide to 'man size' your mash tun (5 gallons, really??) I would highly recommend getting one of their false bottoms. Hell, probably a sound idea to get one for the girly mash tun you have now (is it pink??)... j/k

BTW, a 10 gallon mash tun is very useful for ~5 gallon batches. It gives you the ability to mash more grain, as well as mash with more water (or thinner) IF you wish. With a 5 gallon mash tun you're seriously limited for even 5 gallon batches. You can pretty much forget about fermenting anything larger in either volume or OG too.

Golddiggie said:

IF you ever decide to 'man size' your mash tun (5 gallons, really??) I would highly recommend getting one of their false bottoms. Hell, probably a sound idea to get one for the girly mash tun you have now (is it pink??)... j/k

Click to expand...

This is the perfect reply for when the OP said "is my equipment too small? Could you please make fun of it?". Oh wait, they didn't. They were asking about manifolds.

Seriously though, we're all impressed your equipment is soooo huuuuuge.

The biggest issue with not getting a larger mash tun at this point is space. We already have beer supplies stashed everywhere (with a toddler roaming the house) and until we move somewhere larger we have to stick with what we've got. Would LOVE to go big one day, but for now this is a fun and manageable size. Barely manageable as the new pot for the boil covers two burners.

I started with the ss braid and had a stuck sparge or two. Then I built the hard copper manifold. Still not perfect. Then I added the mesh bag inside the tun with the hard copper manifold at the bottom. No stuck sparges in many batches.


good luck...Mike

dbrewski said:

This is the perfect reply for when the OP said "is my equipment too small? Could you please make fun of it?". Oh wait, they didn't. They were asking about manifolds.

Seriously though, we're all impressed your equipment is soooo huuuuuge.

Click to expand...

^^
Yes thank you! I was kind of taken aback to read that since it really has nothing to do with my question, but hey pink mash tuns would be cool too.

We thought about doing the large mesh bag too. Happy to report that the steaming basket set over the braid worked beautifully and cost about $10. We were still able to stir and the 14lbs of grain did not crush the braid. For now this is a good compromise to a custom false bottom.

I had a couple issues with the SS braid when I first started using it, but (knock on wood) nothing in well over a year. What I found was that I was opening the valve too quickly which created too much of a pressure differential and that was causing the problems. Now I'll crack the valve open, get the wort trickling through, and slowly bring it up to full open. I've done this with as much as 12# of grain in the 5-gallon cooler, and with as much as 50% wheat malt which causes lots of stuck sparges and haven't had issues since changing how I did it.

That's not to say that a false bottom isn't the way to go...I have one in my keggle mash tun, but for the cooler the braid works great. Check your process before you jump the gun on "fixing" the problem. Just my 2 cents...

We mashed the beer using the steaming basket as a false bottom a couple nights ago and it worked great. Wort flowed great and the braid never got smashed.

Don't think anyone mentioned this...you can use rice hulls to avoid a stuck mash and this will not affect the beer. never tried it before.