Marble false bottom

I was looking at a vodka infusion website for some reason and they have these infusion jars, and to keep the flavor additives from coming out of the spigot they suggest you use glass marbles.... i was wondering if this would work as a false bottom in a mash tun... any thoughts?

here is the link in case you are wondering what i'm talking about:

Glass jars, infusion jars, infused vodka, infused vodka glass jars - Marbles for your Infusion Jar

I saw something about using rocks for a false bottom too. I guess if it is a thick enough layer it would work. Not much info out there about it though.

I think that's a pretty interesting idea. A couple problems you would have to figure out though. When you stir, those marbles are going to fly up and get separated from each other... maybe even enough to render them useless as a false bottom. Another one would be that you would still ahve to figure out how to get the flow of sparge water to flow evenly trhough the grains. If there is only one drainage point (the bulkhead opening) all the wort would flow straight to the bulkhead. I guess if you're batch sparging that wouldn't matter so much, but you would still have to stir the crap out of the mash to get the unwashed grains upwards. That would be really cool though if it works!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/nuts-just-not-helpful-rocks-false-bottom-52781/

That was our last discussion about it. The idea might work, but I ended up going with a stainless braid for ease of cleaning.

yeah there are easier ways, i could see doing this as like a "midevil" brew, just to brag about it, what i'd do for the stiring is have a layer of the fine rocks to like 1 length above the bulk head then a layer of river rocks so you could stir if you want without upsetting the rocks

I would be a little worried that going too fine and too thick would wind you up with a stuck sparge. Other than that give it a shot and let us know how it turns out, since I never got up the gumption to do it.

It was discussed as more of a partial mash thing, for smaller lauter tuns.

They used branches of evergreens to create a false bottom in the old wood barrel mash tuns. How about mashing in a fishtank with a under gravel filter? Um, how about a $3 water supply line braid from home depot for the most cost effective and practical MLT separation device?

I found a cool way to use the tops of the kegs that I cut off for a false bottom. I cut tiny slits in the lid and drilled holes where I could. I then had my fitting welded to the bottom so I could attach a 3" nipple with holes drilled in it. So then I screwed the nipple into the fitting and slid the lid over the top. I used one of the bigger washers I could find and screwed a cap fitting on the top. The "bottom"/lid is held down tight to the bottom and there you go.

By the way... does anyone know the gauge thickness of a keg wall?

kinda off topic but did this make anyone else flash back to preschool and the story "stone soup"?

silvervan83 said:

I found a cool way to use the tops of the kegs that I cut off for a false bottom. I cut tiny slits in the lid and drilled holes where I could. I then had my fitting welded to the bottom so I could attach a 3" nipple with holes drilled in it. So then I screwed the nipple into the fitting and slid the lid over the top. I used one of the bigger washers I could find and screwed a cap fitting on the top. The "bottom"/lid is held down tight to the bottom and there you go.

Click to expand...

Slightly confused but I think I know why. Are you draining from the bottom of your keg? IE, rather than a bulkhead through the side of the keg, you instead went through the bottom, concave portion?

yeah i have a normal false bottom, i just saw it and was curious if anybody had tried it

yes. The hole is in the bottom so the nipple (with holes in it to drain the wort) can hold down the bottom. It works perfectly. Its tight and is thick enough that it doesn't collapse. I've heard a lot about false bottoms costing $30 and folding under the weight of the grains. This thing is sturdy.

The whole "I drain out of the bottom of my keggle" thing is fairly new to me, and I kind of think it's a lot more common than I know about. I just don't see how it works into a stand plan...Maybe I need to start another post.

Sorry to ressurect and old thread but I am going to thy using marbles as a false bottom in my boil keggle this weekend. My keggle dip tube fully drains so I thought this was worth a shot. I just did a test run with water and the marbles didn't move around in the kettle. This may just work...