Mash Tun Construction Question

I'm nearing completion of making a mash tun with a rubbermaid cooler and 1/2" copper piping (a picture was taken, but i couldn't figure out how to attach it). I'm preparing to cut slits in the manifold with a hacksaw halfway through the diameter of the pipe...

my question is wether i should have the slits facing up, or facing down in the cooler??? i've seen it done both ways, but was curious if one way had an advantage over the other.

I'm leaning towards having them face down because i feel it would be less likely to clog during the sparge.

any insight would be great

thanks

Haha...funny thing. I've been brewing for years now, and I always assumed they were supposed to be facing up. I never had stuck sparges and clogs until recently when I went back to using my old system for smaller beers. I posted a question on here and found out that the slits should be facing down. Amazing.

So, I guess in short...it doesn't matter a whole lot, but you should face them downwards just incase.

dfsaunders05 said:

I'm leaning towards having them face down because i feel it would be less likely to clog during the sparge.

Click to expand...

This right here...Plus you'll be able to get more of the sweet wort out when they are facing down vs. up.

But you'll have less deadspace (wort left behind) if the slots are down.

Yup, works the same as a perforated drainage tile. holes down for maximum drainage