Shackleford_rusty
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2018
- Messages
- 76
- Reaction score
- 61
I made a false bottom out of the sanke keg top that was cut out of my current BK.
To do this i used painter's tape so it would follow the dome of the sanke cut out making lines as close to straight as i could eyeball. One piece of tape, one line at a time 1/4inch apart all the way across the dome. Rotated the dome and did again making a grid with 1/4 inch centers and marking these with a paint marker or sharpie.
Then i used a 3/32 titanium drill bit(8 total) in a drill press and punched holes on center markings. 3/32inch holes from what I've read is what a store bought false bottoms are. Big enough to allow wort but small enough no grain husks or parts ever got stuck in them. Trust me this will take time to drill and will be done in more than one setting. I used no oil for drilling the holes, for some reason i had better luck forgoing without it.
Rubber bung for the sanke top (forget the size) and i soldered random 1/2 inch copper fittings for a goose neck to get around the sanke coupler. I didn't want to cut it off, the bung sits nicely inside of it, so if i would bump it while stirring it wouldnt pop off. Also this piece prevents a kink in the silicone hose from the drop in height. A reducer is needed down to 3/8 of copper to fit inside the drilled bung, the end of the 3/8 piece i notched slice into it to prevent it from sitting flat on my cooler mash tun bottom, preventing the wort from flowing. 1/2 inch high temp silicone cut to length and fixed to your barb on the ball valve in the cooler wall.
This was a fun build and works as intended, efficiency as high as 84% has been reached. No problems or issues faced with using this design. Easy to clean, only stuck sparge encountered was because the 3/8 copper tail was on the bottom of the mash tun restricting flow, hence why i later cut a notch into it.
To do this i used painter's tape so it would follow the dome of the sanke cut out making lines as close to straight as i could eyeball. One piece of tape, one line at a time 1/4inch apart all the way across the dome. Rotated the dome and did again making a grid with 1/4 inch centers and marking these with a paint marker or sharpie.
Then i used a 3/32 titanium drill bit(8 total) in a drill press and punched holes on center markings. 3/32inch holes from what I've read is what a store bought false bottoms are. Big enough to allow wort but small enough no grain husks or parts ever got stuck in them. Trust me this will take time to drill and will be done in more than one setting. I used no oil for drilling the holes, for some reason i had better luck forgoing without it.
Rubber bung for the sanke top (forget the size) and i soldered random 1/2 inch copper fittings for a goose neck to get around the sanke coupler. I didn't want to cut it off, the bung sits nicely inside of it, so if i would bump it while stirring it wouldnt pop off. Also this piece prevents a kink in the silicone hose from the drop in height. A reducer is needed down to 3/8 of copper to fit inside the drilled bung, the end of the 3/8 piece i notched slice into it to prevent it from sitting flat on my cooler mash tun bottom, preventing the wort from flowing. 1/2 inch high temp silicone cut to length and fixed to your barb on the ball valve in the cooler wall.
This was a fun build and works as intended, efficiency as high as 84% has been reached. No problems or issues faced with using this design. Easy to clean, only stuck sparge encountered was because the 3/8 copper tail was on the bottom of the mash tun restricting flow, hence why i later cut a notch into it.
