Finished with false bottoms!!

What a waste of money! I got so gummed up last night. everything stuck solid after my first gallon of first runnings. This isn't the frist time i've had issues, but i've always been able to work through it fairly quickly. i was doing a stout, so no adjuncts. i did adjust my Barley Crusher from the factory setting of .039" down to .035" and it did seem a little floury, but a lot of people have done this and have been happy with it. I had to dump my mash into buckets, clean out the MLT, install the SS braid i have in my 2 gallon MLT, and continue. worked fine. hit my volume, hit my OG, efficiency only suffer 3 points. So that's it, false bottoms suck A$$, a complete waste of money, and the worst part is that the SS braid works BETTER.

On a completely unrelated topic, i have 9" and 12" Northern Brewer false bottoms for sale. they work great!! you'll love 'em, i promise! PM me if you're interested.

I use a false bottom and have never had a stuck sparge.

This was in an MLT? I use SS braid in my MLT but want to use a false bottom in my keggle (when completed).

Evan!, you suck! seriously though, this is the first time i've really had a problem. but I usually have "issues". maybe i vorlauf too much? but with the braid i don't get the grain in the runnings like i do with the false bottom, AND the vorlauf runs clear faster, AND the runnings move faster. during past sparges with the false bottom the end of the sparge is so slow, like a trickle.

JnJ, yes, cooler MLT. a false bottom in a keggle to strain break and hops would work fine, i'm sure. i use a bazooka tube in my kettle and it works great.

I expect shifting it between vessels helped, sounds like it compacted too much. I much prefer a false bottom over braid or copper manifold.

Build a copper manifold. You'll never have a stuck sparge again!!

Ó Flannagáin said:

Build a copper manifold. You'll never have a stuck sparge again!!

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What the French Guy said.:fro:

SenorWanderer said:

On a completely unrelated topic, i have 9" and 12" Northern Brewer false bottoms for sale. they work great!! you'll love 'em, i promise! PM me if you're interested.

Click to expand...

Plastic or stainless? I'll be interested if they are stainless. I've never used anything but false bottoms and have never had a stuck sparge.


EDIT: I will say, however, that my brewing buddy has had a stuck sparge with a false bottom, but a quick burst from his air compressor solved the problem. And before you sanitation nazis have a heart attack about that, remember it was pre-boil, so there were no issues with nasties.

Only had one stuck sparge (greedy crush) and a simple back flush with a hose blew it clean and away we went…

I don’t know that a back flush would do much for a false bottom.

ok, maybe i've been hasty! i would have to think it was my crush. it's the only thing i've changed. i did blow into the valve and that didn't do a damn bit of good. got lots of bubbles though. this was the first time using my 10 gallon MLT. my 5 gallon has a false bottom as well, and i don't usually have problems with that. like i said in the OP, i changed the settings on Barley Crusher from .039 to .035. is that really too much? like i said, it did look a little floury. i'm doing a belgian after turkey day, so i'll give it one more chance. those of you who have PM'd me, i'll hold on to 'em just in case.

Who made that manifold for you BierMuncher? (After seeing your keggle I'm guessing you didn't make it yourself) ;o)

eviljafar said:

Who made that manifold for you BierMuncher? (After seeing your keggle I'm guessing you didn't make it yourself) ;o)

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There was no welding or power tools involved...

:cross:


As for clearing a stuck (or slow) sparge with a false bottom, I've used the "blow back into the runoff tube to clear it. Both times. Once was the crush and once was my 50% wheat malt in my American Wheat recipe.

It all makes beer!

SenorWanderer said:

...i did blow into the valve and that didn't do a damn bit of good. got lots of bubbles though...

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Next time, use a hose with a sprayer on the end and give it a 1-2 second blast back up the tube.

Blowing air doesn't carry the force that liquid does. Works for me every time.

eviljafar said:

Who made that manifold for you BierMuncher? (After seeing your keggle I'm guessing you didn't make it yourself) ;o)

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You should see that baby now...she's all good and caked up...

Up until last Sunday, I could say I've been using my false bottom for over 12 years and never had a stuck sparge.
Sunday I screwed up and ground my grain too fine. The last time I brewed I set up my mill for malted rye which is quite a bit smaller than barley. I forgot to set it back and I ended up with a lot of flour. I got about a gallon of wort before the flow stopped. I had to re-stir the mash and it felt like clay down in there. After a good stir the sparge completed without a hitch.

All in all, I like my false bottom. Although I'm wanting to replace my plastic one with stainless.

I think the grain might have been milled too fine. I actually increase the mill gap when I'm doing higher gravity beers because it seems like all the grain compacts and creates a water tight barrier if it's milled too fine. I'm using a copper manifold system with a 10 gallon Gott cooler and If I have over 12 pounds of grain, the sparge gets stick about half the time.

I'm going to switch to a rectangular cooler and create a false bottom that actually sits above the drainage nossle. I think that having the grain more spread out will decrease the amount of compression which I hope will make things flow better.

One more opinion of questionable value.
Had been brewing with falsey bottoms for about 8 years. Occasionally had things get stuck. Was using a motorized corona mill and a 1/4 barrel keg as a lauter tun.
Mashing 20 + pounds. Grain bed of poorly crushed malt and too deep a bed was bad combo.
Nowadays, roller mill, stainless braid filter, 150 qt. rubbermaid mlt (shallow even with 40+ lbs malt). I am starting to forget what a stuck sparge is. Miss it like a root canal.
Stainless braid is almost as good as free beer.
r

I love the false bottom, tried the braid once and hated it. I have only got stuck once and that was from crushing too fine, and it was just very slow not stuck. i use a barley crusher on the factory setting and get 80 % plus every time with the false bottom, just ordered the 12 incher from NB for my new 10 gallon home depot cooler, you must be doing something wrong? Batch sparge too.

Another happy false bottom user here. N'er a stuck sparge. I also recirculate the mash with a pump and get a really good flow rate. My one alibi is that I use pre-crushed grains - no grain mill yet.

I've just done my first AG batch. My SS braid works great except that it likes to float up in the mash,which stops the flow. Probaby exacerbated because my mash was thinner than usual from temp correction infusions, but . . .

Any ideas?

EDIT: This is with a 50qt Coleman Advantage mashtun, probably 30" (too long) SS braid. Batch, my first AG, was of course Edwort's Haus Ale.

Some people put something heavy on the end of the braid to keep it from floating. I think you can also make sure the air is flushed out of the braid before you add your grains.

I've had a stuck sparge with a plastic false bottom but never with the metal one I have now. I think they work great.

Richie