FB Gasket for 10G Rubbermader MLT

I often read of folks having grain get past their domed false bottoms used with Rubbermade coolers and plugging up the down stream works. The causes are usually due to a less than truly flat FB or a warped liner, or inadvertent movement of the FB while stirring the mash.

One tip has been to split a length of tubing cut to the circumference of the FB and slip around the edge, to take up the gap between FB and cooler liner. I gave that a try with a couple of types of tubing but in both cases the fit was less than impressive, and the tubing was too firm to really mold to the liner anyway.

A couple of weeks ago while in the grips of the flu I came across another mention of the grain/FB problem, and it inspired me to get onto the Mcmaster site and wade through their listings of silicone gaskets, looking for a profile that would work. I found a couple of contenders (at the bottom of this page) and ordered four feet of both.

The strips arrived and languished in my shop 'til body and soul were resurrected - which brings us to this morning.

I pulled my 12" domed FB out of my 10G cooler and laid everything out. Shown is the smaller of the two types of stripping I received.


I immediately realized the smaller type wasn't going to bridge the gap between the edge of the FB and the cooler liner, so I moved to the larger stripping (Mcmaster part number 12335A63). After giving it a good soap and water wash in the sink I cut it to just make it around the FB and held it in place with a piece of tape. You can see the gasket profile in the small piece at 10 o'clock.


I sprayed the liner with some water as lubricant and slowly worked the FB down to the cooler floor, pulling the tape off along the way. Once the FB rim hit the bottom I massaged the gasket as far down as it would go, holding everything tight together down there.




I obviously haven't had a chance to give this a real test drive but it sure looks promising. There's plenty of flexible "lip" in the gasket profile to take up sidewall distortion as the liner ages, and that FB isn't going to move a lick even if it gets nailed by a mash paddle. And being silicone it's not going to have any issues with the mash...

Cheers!

 

Does the false bottom just stay in there, or can it come out for cleaning.

I have the braided hose set-up in mine it just stays where it is.

Is that a quick connect to the FB hose and the spigot?

 

As I was slipping the FB down into the tun I was thinking I should have added a stainless handle to the FB opposite the ball valve, because without that I'll have to unscrew the barb and use the elbow fitting to get a grip.

Normally I don't do much more than give the MLT a good blow out with a hose nozzle, being pre-boil and all.

The previously free-floating FB would likely yield to debris better than the gasketted FB will. Otoh, not much is going to get under the FB now, and perhaps I'll be able to flush what small stuff that does out the dip tube.

We'll see, but I think this mod would easily be worth a minor bit of cleaning hassle.

Yes, that is an SS male camlock fitting...

Cheers!

 

A new, related thread reminded me I left this one hanging.

I've done two brews with the gasket mod so far and it works great! Zero problems with grain sneaking around/under the fb, as one would have predicted. I'll be doing two more batches this week. Cleaning turned out to be no big deal, I raised the edge opposite the outlet enough to flush the dead space out easily enough, and there was hardly anything there to flush anyway.

I do plan on finding something to attach to that side of the fb as a lifting handle, but otherwise I'm very pleased with the results of this experiment. It's a keeper...

Cheers!

 

Reviving an old thread...thanks for the part number. I might try this. It is not cheap however!

 

Today I rigged an alternate solution up. I had a jaybird false bottom from Norcal, the kind you use in a keg so it's flat. I used stainless wire to attach it to the bottom of the domed fb to make a chamber. Only problem was the hole in the jaybird so I soldered a bit of ss screen on it. EDIT I had some pics but I moved them here.

 

Thanks for this walkthrough and the part number, I will absolutely be doing this as soon as my false bottom comes in.

Cheers,

 

How'd you order 4 feet? All I can find is 10+.

 

When I ordered the two different profiles, both were sold by the foot, so I just ordered four foot sections of each to try out.

Hmmm....I just clicked the McMaster link I provided in the original post and they still show those two profiles listed by the foot. Indeed, everything on that page is still listed by the foot....

Cheers!

 

Yeah it's listed by the foot, but try ordering it.

 

Already did, obviously

I guess they must've implemented a minimum purchase since then. Perhaps contacting them directly you could work it out with them...

Cheers!

 

Yeah, guess so. Looks really nice, and thanks for the info!

 

Call them and recite this to them:

"At McMaster-Carr, we do not have order minimums."

That was taken directly from their web site help pages...

Cheers!

 

I've spent quite a bit of time trying to find the manufacturer of that silicone edge gasket. I've used it for all my large flat bottom false bottom projects and it works great. On large false bottoms, I've adhered it to the disc with food safe RTV silicone and even used nylon snap-together rivets to keep the edging in place. Mcmaster marks up by 300% so I'd love to find the manufacturer so I can offer the stuff for half the price that mcmaster does.

 

With the Adventures In Homebrewing setup, they use a stainless steel pipe instead of tubing to connect the valve with the center of the domed false lid. After you drop in the bottom, just attach the pipe to the fitting inside the tun, snug up the compression fitting and then spin down the stainless nut and the whole false bottom is snug to the bottom without floating around. No issues with grain sneaking past and no need for any kind of edge gasket.

 

Probably works great on a brand new cooler, but once the liner has warped from use, maybe not so great. The reason I looked for a gasket solution was because of the liner warping over many many mashes, which made a simple slit tubing "gasket" solution ineffective due to insufficient compliance to take up the varying gaps.

The dip tube assembly alone also looks expensive - probably cost more than my 10g cooler...

Cheers!

 

I agree with trippr. The gasket was meant to help fix any small gaps that arise from the cooler wall warping over time

-Rooster

 

Ordered mine on Saturday, and it came today...4 ft, just like the OP quoted. I noticed that in the description they said 10 ft, etc., but when I put in the qty of 4, I got 4 feet. I do wish BobbyM had been able to get this, I'm sure his would have been a better deal.

 

I contacted McMaster-Carr about the per foot pricing. They said they wouldn't sell one shorter than 10'. I went ahead and bought the 10' of it and I'll save the extra for just in case.

I did my first fly sparge with a false bottom last month and had a lot of grain getting around the bottom and into my boil kettle. I probably vorlaufed the entire contents of my mash tun twice. I wish I had seen this thread before. This seems like a good solution.

 

Bobby_m

could this be the manufacturer that you're looking for?

http://www.westcoastgasket.com/doorframeextrusion.html

NealM

 

Original image links have gone to digital Heaven for some reason.
I think these are what I originally posted...



Note the tiny cross-sectioned sample in this pic.
It should indicate the degree of potential compliance in the gasket...







Cheers!

 

Should have mentioned this as well: a couple of brews in (back 3 years ago) I attached a loop of SS solid wire opposite the ball valve side as a handle to pull that edge of the FB up, creating a large enough gap to flush any debris out from under the FB. Works great...

Cheers!

 

reviving an old thread but just wanted to add my experience. I was initially unable to order just 4 feet, like some others have mentioned. I simply persisted. When i got the error message that i needed to specify a length of 10 feet or more i just ignored it and clicked place order again. Eventually it let me order the 4 feet and i got an email confirming this. Just putting it here in case someone stumbles across the thread in the future.