Any reason this wouldn't work?

[LarryC]

I have a 10 gallon Igloo cooler that I use for my MLT. I have a braid attached to my valve for filtering out the grain bits and it does a decent job. However, sometimes when I am stirring the mash I know I am lifting the braid up and who knows where it is at by the time I start running off the wert.

A while back I saw a post for a DIY false bottom and I thought maybe I could modify the concept a little and get something really simple but effective. I bought a 12" pizza pan (click here) and I'm going to drill a thousand holes in this puppy. Next I am going to nip out a mouse hole on the edge so the pan will fit down over top of my valve fitting & braid.

All I'm looking for the pan to do is let the wert flow in and keep my mash paddle from knocking the braid around. The braid will still be my filter and with the holes in the pan I figure I'll get a better flow of the wert through the grain bed.

What do you think, any flaws to the plan?

 

[beerbeer95648]

I would think anything that keeps the braid at the bottom of your MLT is a good thing. I remember Palmer talking of efficiency issues with braided tubing when first worts are allowed to sit at the bottom of the MLT and hence never get collected. The pan would just act as a more traditional false bottom, with the braid catching anything that makes its way through.

 

[pohldogg]

Should work. I use a braid and after stirring I just use the paddle to make sure it's back on the bottom of the mlt. Since I generally batch sparge I'm not worried about channeling and will just tilt the cooler at the end to collect everything. Seems simpler than trying to fabricate a more elaborate solution.