Mash Tun question

Hi there,

I just finished building my first mash tun from an Igloo 10 gallon cooler. Now that it's all finished I have a question.

Rather than a false bottom I used a braided stainless steel supply hose. I cut off one end and removed about half of the plastic interior lining. I crimped the end and voila!

My question about the crimped end. I'm worried that some stray stainless steel fibers might get into the wort. I'd like to put some tape or something around the end to prevent that from happening, but I doubt that will hold or be sanitary.

Has anybody else done this? Have you had problems with loose stainless strands?

Thanks!
Robert.

 

Maybe... put some silicone RTV around the cut crimped end to hold the stainless strands.

 

Awesome. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

 

Sanitary isn't such a big concern at this point since you are going to be boiling the wort you get from the cooler.

 

Any stray piece of stainless would surely stay behind after racking...I would have to imagine it would be at the botton of the fermenter under an inch of yeast cake...I say RDWHAHB

 

And if you are still worried about it you can always rack through a filter type bag. Just be careful of oxidation.

 

Try folding the cut end over itself a couple of times before crimping.All the loose
ends will be inside the fold.

Cheers

 

Why did you only remove half of the interior lining, wouldn't you want all of it removed?

 

I had similar concerns and took a 1/4 inch piece long of 3/8 inch copper tubing and hit it flat with a ball peened hammer. Then I took my grinder with abrasive sandpaper attachment and ground off the end that would be exposed. Result = smooth safe product for free!

 

Hardware stores sell a small brass plug that slides into the end. Then you can put on a ss clamp. It will weight the end down and keep it sanitary.

 

Thanks everybody for your thoughts! These suggestions will definitely help solve the problem.

Sorry for my lack of response. It's been a crazy week here in Boston!

To answer pannell77's question, I only cut half of the inner tubing because that's all I had access to without cutting off both ends. I wanted to keep one end intact so I could attach it to directly to the valve. After cutting off one end I scrunched the stainless and got access to as much of the plastic tubing as possible.

Thanks!