Mash Tun Question???

[BrewingRugger]

I have a ten gallon round cooler for a mash tun with a SS braid. How can prevent my SS braid from clapsing?

 

[motleybrews]

I've not had an issue with mine so far. But I saw someone make a spring like contraption with SS wire and slide it inside the braid. That allows you to shape it if you want to, but also keeps it from collapsing.

 

[mobilecabinworks]

If you are fly sparging I would go ahead and just make a manifold. Up your efficiency. But a spring inside the braid would help.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

After using it for about 50 batches, I am yet to notice any collapse issues with my SS braid.

Did you braid collapse, or are you just afraid it will?

 

[iijakii]

I have seen people coil a thick copper wire through the braid to give it some structure. I'd rather just get a false bottom personally.

 

[bluemoose]

I'm guessing you did what I did. You got the stainless water supply for a sink or toilet. It is far too flimsy. I got one of the big ones for an electric hot water heater, and tada, perfect output.
Save the frustration and get one of the heavy duty ones.

 

[DSmith]

I just made one out of about a 1/2" OD stainless braid (24" long in a beverage cooler, circular shaped on a tee with two barbs). I stripped 14 gauge Romex ($7 for a 15' roll at Home Depot if you don't have scraps) for the ground wire and then wrapped that wire tightly around a round object (pen or pencil would work). I then pulled the coil at the ends to extend it longer than the braid, ran it through the braid and cut off the excess. The ends are sharp after cutting so I took needle-nose pliers and bent them down at each end so they wouldn't poke through the stainless steel braid ever. It strenghtens the braid with little work, but I'm not arguing that it's necessary.

 

[Revvy]

I have a ten gallon round cooler for a mash tun with a SS braid. How can prevent my SS braid from clapsing?

A lot of us do something to prevent that, we've talked about it throughout here, including in the "cheap and easy..." thread, here's what I've posted;

I've used mine for 5 years and have never had the braid collapse. I took that nylon tube that is inside of it, and I drilled holes in it like a machine gun barrell, and put it back into the braid, which keeps it from getting crushed.

This web pic sort shows what I'm talking about except the one in the plumbing line is white and nylon, I think. You clip off the ends, push the ends of the braid towards each other to loosen, then using needle nose pliers pull out the hose, and drill a lot of hole all through it, then put it back in.

I also have it in a circle using a t-fitting like this;

I often even forget to vorlauf and don't get a lot coming through. Just having the braid free floating may cause the gaps in the mesh to be wider than mine- since the braid is in a sense like the chinese finger trap

on mine the gap between mesh can be adjusted. And mine is pretty tight, almost the original tightness as if I never tore it apart and got the core out and put it back in.

The nice thing about my t-fitting is that it's removable, and at the furthest point from where it is connected to the ball valve it actually touches the bottom of the cooler, so there's also not a lot of deadspace in my cooler, only about 1/2 gallon or so.

The t thingy fits perfectly into the hose ends inside the braid, then I used zip ties (really tiny ones) to hold the braid in place. It's been perfect for like 5 years now.

But with the hose in there, it doesn't compress whatsoever.

After drilled holes in it I boiled it for 15-20 minutes, that helped blow out all the little nylon or whatever particles were generated by drilling through the hose. But basically yup, that's all I did.

Putting the hose back in can be a hassel but just remember the chinese finger puzzle concept, pushing the ends towards each other makes it wider and easier to get the hose back in, pulling outward makes it tighter. I use needle nose pliers and long tweezers to help pull the braid in and out as needed.

There's a couple other solutions in here.

 

[bluemoose]

I tried putting in the high temp mylon tube, and still didn't get good flow. The hot water heater hose is much stiffer and works like a bazooka tube. It is also stiff enough that it really doesn't float.

 

[bmason1623]

I was having the exact same problem with my SS braid collapsing. My SS braid is actually an 18" long SS mesh sleeve (used for cable protection) purchased from McMaster. It's installed in a circular fashion joined by a 1" brass, barbed tee fitting. Today I bought a cut-to-length SS spring, also from McMaster, with a 3/4" OD and 20" long (P/N 9665K36). I placed it inside my braid with the ends of the spring tucked inside the tee fitting and now it is expanded instead of collapsing. Will brew next week and report on its performance.