I use my Bayou Classic stainless steel strainer basket to pull the bag from the wort. I have drilled extra holes in it to drain better and it worked great for over 50 batches.....
Saturday I was making a slightly higher OG beer so I had a few extra pounds of grain in the bag and the bag was setting in the strainer basket. I was mashing out and had raised the temp. up to about 168 degrees.
At that point I used the pulley I have attached to the ceiling to raise basket and the grain bag. When the basket was about 4-6" above the wort, one side of the handle popped out of one side of the basket letting it tilt down which then let the other side of the handle slip out of the hole on the other side.
I estimate I had about ~40 pounds of grain and absorbed water at that time.
The basket fell back into the wort, spraying me and everything within 15' with hot sticky wort. My face and back was completely covered in hot wort. I got my shirt off and I looked like a cooked lobster. Apparently no lasting affects but if the temp had been a little higher it could have been really bad. I'm lucky the basket fell directly back into the kettle. If it had hit the side it could have dumped the entire 10 gallons of hot wort everywhere.
If you look at the handle design you can see that the weight actually causes the handle to flex and causes the 'hooks' to pull towards the center of the kettle.
Today I went and bought 2 stainless S hooks and some stainless chain and replaced the original handle.
If you are using the handle like I was, please be careful.
Saturday I was making a slightly higher OG beer so I had a few extra pounds of grain in the bag and the bag was setting in the strainer basket. I was mashing out and had raised the temp. up to about 168 degrees.
At that point I used the pulley I have attached to the ceiling to raise basket and the grain bag. When the basket was about 4-6" above the wort, one side of the handle popped out of one side of the basket letting it tilt down which then let the other side of the handle slip out of the hole on the other side.
I estimate I had about ~40 pounds of grain and absorbed water at that time.
The basket fell back into the wort, spraying me and everything within 15' with hot sticky wort. My face and back was completely covered in hot wort. I got my shirt off and I looked like a cooked lobster. Apparently no lasting affects but if the temp had been a little higher it could have been really bad. I'm lucky the basket fell directly back into the kettle. If it had hit the side it could have dumped the entire 10 gallons of hot wort everywhere.
If you look at the handle design you can see that the weight actually causes the handle to flex and causes the 'hooks' to pull towards the center of the kettle.
Today I went and bought 2 stainless S hooks and some stainless chain and replaced the original handle.
If you are using the handle like I was, please be careful.
