MLT cooler conversion with crushproof braid

Munsoned said:

Ironically, on the advice of one of your WHALES club co-members, just tonight I tried to take the inner hose out of a 24" water heater supply line to build my MLT. Talk about a royal PITA! I was able to get the hose out of a typical SS supply line in about 3 minutes. After working on the water heater supply hose for I guess 45+ minutes I gave up (I had about 4" out by then). I'd love to know: How do you do it? There's got to be a trick I'm missing (beyond the typical "push don't pull" advice).

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Try warming the hose with hot water and then slather it with dish soap for lubrication. I had no trouble at all removing the braid from a 3/4" water heater hose. The soap really helps a lot.

I ordered the parts from MMC and had them in less than 36 hours. quick ship!!
I also went to home depot and picked up 2 Watts a-294 3/8" hose barb adapters, and a Watts A-758 3/8" female tee to hook the whole thing to my existing bulkhead.

It's sitting by the sink filled with water and not leaking . Hopefully I'll get to brew Sunday to give it a test. I'll report back here what happens.

I put the braid through its first workout, and it worked great. I had great flow, and the braid stood up wonderfully. I like this setup much better. thanks for the idea.

:rockin: Rock on! Glad I could help

-Joe

Well, I just had my first stuck runoff and stuck sparge - even after taking all of the grain out of the MLT and putting it in a grain bag. The mash was 50% flaked wheat and apparently formed a spackle, completely clogging the braid.

I took a side-by-side of a dishwasher hose I had in stock and the protective sleeve from McMaster that I used. Dishwasher hose on top. You can see the big holes in the weave. I'll be trying that next time.



Live and learn! Spring: great idea. Mesh abrasion sleeve for lautering: bad idea.

-Joe

FWIW, I have basically the same Ice Cube cooler, only mine came with a drain. Most heat loss I got was in my garage @ about 25 degrees F. I lost about 2 degrees over 1 hour. I have not filled the lid with insulation. I do put a couple of gallons of hot tap water in while getting everything else set up, before mashing in.

nostalgia said:

Well, I just had my first stuck runoff and stuck sparge - even after taking all of the grain out of the MLT and putting it in a grain bag. The mash was 50% flaked wheat and apparently formed a spackle, completely clogging the braid.

I took a side-by-side of a dishwasher hose I had in stock and the protective sleeve from McMaster that I used. Dishwasher hose on top. You can see the big holes in the weave. I'll be trying that next time.

Live and learn! Spring: great idea. Mesh abrasion sleeve for lautering: bad idea.

-Joe

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Ah, no loss. Cover your fuel lines with the sleeving.

I use the binding from a spiral bound notebook the same way, and its free!

thelorax121 said:

I use the binding from a spiral bound notebook the same way, and its free!

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. . . but is it stainless?

I tried...I thought that braid might be a bit fine?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/mlt-cooler-conversion-crushproof-braid-122433/#post1364709

Anyone try a braid and then have it cover a cooper pipe that has some slots/holes in it? Like a mini braided manifold.

The thought is that more of the braid will be used since less of suction will occur around the value and be distributed more.

thekingofspain said:

Anyone try a braid and then have it cover a cooper pipe that has some slots/holes in it? Like a mini braided manifold.

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Like this?

Yeah kinda like that. Does it work for you?

Would you do anything different? The holes are bigger than I imagined.

Is the end of the copper open or closed?

thekingofspain said:

Yeah kinda like that. Does it work for you?

Would you do anything different? The holes are bigger than I imagined.

Is the end of the copper open or closed?

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Works great. The end of the copper is open and the holes are big to not restrict the flow. The only thing that I am considering changing is the braid. If you look at post #45 of this thread you'll see that there are different levels of weave. Mine is very fine and can result in a slow lauter sometimes. But the other side is that it does a nice job of filtering and doesn't take much vorlauf time before the run-off is clear.

Edit:
The other nice thing about the setup is that it is very rigid. It never moves from the bottom, even when hit with the mash paddle.

Ok I made a hybrid one. 27 inches braid that covers 10 inches of copper with a machine gun hole pattern. The holes are much smaller than yours. The copper is open on the side and the braid is closed at the end with a hose camp and copper cap.

I also have a 20" stainless sping that support the braid. Only issue I have is the spring moves up and down the braid.

I never done AG before so I can not tell you how this comapres to anything else or how it work in general as of yet.

I left the joint between the threaded adapter and the copper pipe un soldered for easy removal and cleaning, but not sure how easy it could be knock off during stirring.

thanks for the update.

Finally brewed something and the tube and mesh combo worked great.

Actual I used the mesh also in the brew kettle and the wort chiller dented it. (it also clogged as well). I might use a stub of copper tube there as well in addition to a hop bag.

nostalgia said:

...
20" stainless steel spring, p/n 9663K27 $4.55
10-pack of all-stainless clamps, p/n 5321K17 $6.79
2 feet of 1/2" stainless steel expandable mesh sleeving, p/n 1478T3 $5.72

-Joe

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I order these parts yesterday from McMaster-Carr at 9:25a. My wife sends me a message at 2:40p that a delivery has been made, I'm stumped as to what it could be but it's my McMaster-Carr order!

$5 shipping in a box large enough to hold 20# of grain and hops (and probably more) all for these few items. That's the fastest delivery I've ever seen even if it was in an oversized box.

I like this setup, can't wait to try it out.

Hey Mike, hope it works out for you. I did find that the expandable mesh sleeve was a little too fine for some mashes: see post #45 above.

I'm still using the setup with great success though. I've done 16 batches with it so far.

-Joe

Love the spring idea. I'm using it on my next mash tun.

MikeG said:

I order these parts yesterday from McMaster-Carr at 9:25a. My wife sends me a message at 2:40p that a delivery has been made, I'm stumped as to what it could be but it's my McMaster-Carr order!

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Just another reason to love MMC!

nostalgia said:

Hey Mike, hope it works out for you. I did find that the expandable mesh sleeve was a little too fine for some mashes: see post #45 above.

I'm still using the setup with great success though. I've done 16 batches with it so far.

-Joe

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Thanks for the info, I might just go ahead and use my old braid but I don't brew wheats anyhow.

Great idea nostalgia and a good thread for me to subscribe to *Done* so that I can come back to it. I just went through a stuck mash experience that added an hour + to my brewing time. I think my perhaps overused braid from a plumbing line flattened out and made life suck. SWMBO just got new baseboards installed by yours truly so I shouldn't get the arched eyebrow when I come back from the hardware store with some new stuff.

AnOldUR said:

Like this?

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Hard to tell in the pics, but did you drill the holes bigger near the open end, and smaller near the valve? I'm thinking then you could pull sweet wort more evenly from the bottom of the MLT. I'm getting ready to mod a cooler to be my MLT, and don't know if this is terribly important.

Thanks. This is an awesome thread.

Just a little update for anyone who's thinking about doing this... I just did a mash with 1.5lbs of flaked corn and minute rice (25% adjunct) with the braid in the original post. I used 1/2 pound of rice hulls and my sparge was quite slow but steady and very very clear. This is my first mash with the braid and I was afraid of it getting stuck after reading the entire thread... so I figured why not do a cream ale and find out if I need to go back to a toilet mesh hose. I'm happy to say that it worked well even though my mash turned into a goop and I'm planning on sticking with this one.

I love having the spring in the mesh braid, not only is it collapse-proof but it also doesn't float around in the mash tun anymore.

Nice! Closing in on two years later, and I've put dozens of batches through this braid. I don't have a single complaint. It even stands up to the beating I give it with the mash paddle

-Joe

Glad to get some long term feedback on this project. I'll be tackling this on my own in the very near future.

In case anyone is curious, I spent 90 bucks for parts and shipping for this set up vs 65 for a 'bulkhead', ballvalve and bazooka screen set up from the cheapest vendor. Money well spent IMO.

I suggest at least a half pound of rice hulls with the braid in the OP... or else your sparge will be really, really slow.

Maybe I'm just spoiled by fast sparges.

nostalgia said:

Well, I just had my first stuck runoff and stuck sparge - even after taking all of the grain out of the MLT and putting it in a grain bag. The mash was 50% flaked wheat and apparently formed a spackle, completely clogging the braid.

I took a side-by-side of a dishwasher hose I had in stock and the protective sleeve from McMaster that I used. Dishwasher hose on top. You can see the big holes in the weave. I'll be trying that next time.

Live and learn! Spring: great idea. Mesh abrasion sleeve for lautering: bad idea.

-Joe

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Perhaps post 1 of this thread should be revised, rather than mention on post 45 of unsatisfactory results w/ the specified materials.

wilserbrewer said:

Perhaps post 1 of this thread should be revised, rather than mention on post 45 of unsatisfactory results w/ the specified materials.

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The question is, has he done a mash with the other material using 50% flaked wheat? If he had a spackle like mass form in his MLT, I don't know that the other braid would have helped all that much.

nostalgia said:

Nice! Closing in on two years later, and I've put dozens of batches through this braid. I don't have a single complaint. It even stands up to the beating I give it with the mash paddle

-Joe

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By "this braid" I assume you mean the toilet line since you switched it? Or did you go back?

All those responses and no one got the metallica reference.

IrregularPulse said:

By "this braid" I assume you mean the toilet line since you switched it? Or did you go back?

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Hey sorry IP, I never saw this post. Yes, I mean the toilet line since I switched it.

Now that I have 2 years experience under my belt, I'm fairly certain the stuck runoff I had wasn't the fault of the original braid, but we'll never know

-Joe

I'll be building this exact cooler into a MLT this week. It doesn't have a drain from the factory so I'll be using my own "Bulkhead" fittings to fab this up... Preliminary fabs have worked great. I'll do a build thread when I do it.