Relax, don't worry, my a**

Brewed my first all grain today. Couldn't get my sparge going. I made the Flyguy MLT with braided hose over notched plastic tubing. After trying to drain the wort for 1.5 hrs, I had to empty the MLT into a separate container, remove the plastic tube and used plastic ties to clamp to the nipples. It's now flowing nicely. But my wort was sitting in the mash for 2+ hrs. Oh well.

It'll still be the best beer you ever brewed. Promise.

Bernie Brewer said:

It'll still be the best beer you ever brewed. Promise.

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+1 My first couple runs with the braid didn't go very well either. And 2 hours in the mash isn't a big deal, don't worry!

Most of my mashes are 90 minutes

how many times do i have to say: REMOVE THE GOD DAMN RUBBER HOSE. just use the stainless braid and everything will work fine

i use notched copper tubing inside my braided hose, never had a stuck sparge(couple of real slow ones) and i grind fairly fine with a lot of flour.

BeerPressure said:

how many times do i have to say: REMOVE THE GOD DAMN RUBBER HOSE. just use the stainless braid and everything will work fine

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Thanks BeerPressure. Could have used you 5 hrs ago.
All is going well now. Boiling away.

englishale said:

Thanks BeerPressure. Could have used you 5 hrs ago.
All is going well now. Boiling away.

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I'm sorry for being curt, but it seems i see stuck sparge posting when people keep the rubber hose inside. I use a stainless steel braid inside a coleman xtreme cooler and it works flawlessly. Just the braid.

Me & BeerPressure have the same set up, Braid & Coleman.

I've never had a stuck sparge except with a pumpkin beer, with pumpkins in the mash.

RDWHAHB


someone had to do it

The only impact of the longer mash will be a slightly more fermentable wort and you won't even see that if you didn't maintain the mash above 150F.

The tubing insert idea works very well, but you have to be very careful about the type of tubing you use. I am not sure about the OP's situation, but a few people have contacted me with their problems, and in every case it was because they used the wrong tubing. So, I have updated my MLT build thread with a warning about using only high temp, vinyl tubing. One should never use other tubing, such as plain vinyl tubing or rubber tubing, because it becomes too pliable with the heat of the mash and collapses under its own weight, causing a stuck sparge. (An alternative used by some has been to re-insert the original hose from the braided line, after perforating it, and that also works well.)

Regardless, if you can clamp down the braid with quality SS clamps, it is probably best to just do that. The only reason I used tubing inside the braid of my MLT was because I couldn't find hose clamps that were all stainless steel, and they were corroding in my mash. Yuck.

Best of luck to the OP on the next brew!

I used to have really slow draining of my mash until I cut larger notches in the plastic hose, some of my larger brews I would have been worried that the braid would have collapsed if I didn't have the plastic tube supporting the braid.

I think the best compromise between retention of open area and support for those afraid of collapse is to use a coil inside either made by wrapping stainless or copper wire around a rod or by elongating a stainless spring.

Bobby_M said:

I think the best compromise between retention of open area and support for those afraid of collapse is to use a coil inside either made by wrapping stainless or copper wire around a rod or by elongating a stainless spring.

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I tend to agree. I have also thought of using a slotted copper pipe. But I have yet to have my braid collapse (with and without the tubing), so I doubt I will ever bother.

Personally, I think the tubing is unnecessary as any sort of 'support' for a braid. I am not sure where this conception arose (I hope I didn't contribute to the idea).

I have witnessed a brewer crush the heck out of the braid in a 5 gallon batch but he was using a very large mash paddle and was stirring as if he wasn't aware the braid was in there. Other than that one time, I've never seen damage.

FlyGuy said:

The only reason I used tubing inside the braid of my MLT was because I couldn't find hose clamps that were all stainless steel, and they were corroding in my mash. Yuck.

Best of luck to the OP on the next brew!

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i crimped the open end and used a zip tie to fasten it to the brass nipple fixture

I have the rectangular cooler and I accidently tossed my long washing machine braid and all I had was a few toilet braids. Well, they are not that long so I cut them, pulled the hose out and then cut a maybe an inch section of hose. I used the hose to couple the braids together and secured with zipties. Just a FYI if anyone is in a pinch.

With a braided hose there is really no difference betwenn 10" and 2", at least according to Denny Conn (dennybrew)

First, I agree that there is absolutely no need to leave any kind of tubing inside the stainless steel mesh. When you fill the MLT with hot water the metal is going to offer more support than plastic tubling. Although the stainless mesh may collapse some, it is metal, it is not going to completely collapse.

Second, to the person who said that 10" and 2" of stainless mesh is the same...I agree. I have noticed that is seems just about all the wort drains right at the end connected to the drain hole. Not only will this part not collapse because it is connected to round rigid tube, but you can only drain so fast and don't need much length to do it. Now I don't have a camera in there to verify this, but looking at where the husks really stick...it is right at the end.

I have used about 8 inches of stainless tube in my MLT and even with a pumpkin ale recipe with pumpkin in the mash it didn't clog. It took about awhile to do the initial drain and 2 sparges but it worked without getting clogged. On another note, I would at least take a little care when stirring since the tube will move around, don't beat the crap out of it or make it disconnect from the drain hole. One more thing...remove the inner tubing!

Well, everything seemed to work out fine. I barely missed my estimated OG. Effeciency was good at 78%.

However, my new round 10 gal rubbermaid cooler didn't survive. After I first made the MLT, I tested it with 160 degree F water. It held up fine but one side warped. After reading about others having this issue, I figured no problem. But after my brew session this weekend, I noticed the warp had some cracking on the ridge. I was thinking of trying to fix or fill the cracks with a plastic weld material. Any suggestions?

Rich

Cpvc and copper manifold > stainless braid. Impossible to crush, unless your mashing an elephant.

wildwest450 said:

Cpvc and copper manifold > stainless braid. Impossible to crush, unless your mashing an elephant.

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Can't concentrate on reading forum....avatar....too distracting....

wildwest450 said:

Cpvc and copper manifold > stainless braid. Impossible to crush, unless your mashing an elephant.

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Exactly how do you mash an elephant? First, you get your elephant...

:rockin:

rod said:

i use notched copper tubing inside my braided hose, never had a stuck sparge(couple of real slow ones) and i grind fairly fine with a lot of flour.

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I use nothing inside my braid, grind very fine, and have never had a stuck runoff in over 335 batches. People over complicate things....

removed my inner tubing as well afer a stuck sparge. Then crimped the end and zip tied the other end to the nipple.