poorboy5
Member
Another confession...
I recently bought a false bottom for my 10 gallon Igloo mashtun to replace a torpedo screen. Got it all plumbed in nice & pretty with the new stainless ball-valve & silicone tubing, then took a small piece of the leftover silicone tubing and made a pickup tube for it. (I don't like wasting wort.) I put it all together & took it to the bathtub and filled it with ~3 gallons of water to make sure I got the length of the pickup tube right. Opened the valve, water flowed, heavenly music played. I even pressed on it some and it still worked.
Come brewday, I put it all together and I can't wait till the runoff to see how well it works. I dough in, stir well and wait through the 60 minute mash. I grab my pitcher to vorlauf, open the valve, and to my disappointment, not a damn thing comes out! I couldn't even blow back through the runoff tube! Not knowing if it's a stuck mash or what, right now I think I'm really screwed. After I calmed down some, I grabbed my bottling bucket and poured the whole 10 lbs grain + 3.8 gallons of 153F liquid into it. I pulled out that damn pickup tube then dumped the whole mess back into the tun, vorlaufed and drained it. Not to be outdone by a stupid piece of silicone tubing, while the sparge water was heating, I trimmed the pickup tube and reinstalled it after transferring the mash, yet again, to the bottling bucket and back. The sparge went without incident, and my efficiency was way better than I've ever gotten with that setup! The runoff was very clear as well.
Reflecting back on it later, I didn't allow for the fact that 10 lbs of grain & 3.4 gallons of water exerts a lot more downward pressure on the false bottom than just 3 gallons of water and a human pressing on it. Lesson learned. I have a more efficient system to show for it though. And 5 gallons of Irish Red!
I recently bought a false bottom for my 10 gallon Igloo mashtun to replace a torpedo screen. Got it all plumbed in nice & pretty with the new stainless ball-valve & silicone tubing, then took a small piece of the leftover silicone tubing and made a pickup tube for it. (I don't like wasting wort.) I put it all together & took it to the bathtub and filled it with ~3 gallons of water to make sure I got the length of the pickup tube right. Opened the valve, water flowed, heavenly music played. I even pressed on it some and it still worked.
Come brewday, I put it all together and I can't wait till the runoff to see how well it works. I dough in, stir well and wait through the 60 minute mash. I grab my pitcher to vorlauf, open the valve, and to my disappointment, not a damn thing comes out! I couldn't even blow back through the runoff tube! Not knowing if it's a stuck mash or what, right now I think I'm really screwed. After I calmed down some, I grabbed my bottling bucket and poured the whole 10 lbs grain + 3.8 gallons of 153F liquid into it. I pulled out that damn pickup tube then dumped the whole mess back into the tun, vorlaufed and drained it. Not to be outdone by a stupid piece of silicone tubing, while the sparge water was heating, I trimmed the pickup tube and reinstalled it after transferring the mash, yet again, to the bottling bucket and back. The sparge went without incident, and my efficiency was way better than I've ever gotten with that setup! The runoff was very clear as well.
Reflecting back on it later, I didn't allow for the fact that 10 lbs of grain & 3.4 gallons of water exerts a lot more downward pressure on the false bottom than just 3 gallons of water and a human pressing on it. Lesson learned. I have a more efficient system to show for it though. And 5 gallons of Irish Red!