bazooka vs DYI braided for mash tun

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Matteo57

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So i have the parts to do either a bazooka type thing (it's the 18inch) bigger version or a DYI braided thing for my new mash tun I'm putting together. It's going into a 100qt cooler for high gravity 10-15g batches.
What would you all suggest from previous experience to not get stuck sparges and which overall works better?

Thanks for the input!

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I'm not really ready to make the leap to all-grain, but I've wondered about a comparison between these two methods. I'm definitely interested in assembling my own mash tun instead of buying one. Looking forward to info and thoughts for both of these.
 
I have tried both the ss braid and the bazooka screen. I find the the ss braid works better to filter out smaller pieces of grain but recently I started to wrap the ss braid in voile cloth and have found this to be near 100% perfect at screening out any small pieces of grain w/o having stuck sparges. I use in my larger mashtun with 20-25 lbs of grain in some batches and it works great. I basically made a long voile sock that slips over the ss braid and I secure it with a zip tie around the braid. You can wash these and reuse them.
 
msa8967 said:
I have tried both the ss braid and the bazooka screen. I find the the ss braid works better to filter out smaller pieces of grain but recently I started to wrap the ss braid in voile cloth and have found this to be near 100% perfect at screening out any small pieces of grain w/o having stuck sparges. I use in my larger mashtun with 20-25 lbs of grain in some batches and it works great. I basically made a long voile sock that slips over the ss braid and I secure it with a zip tie around the braid. You can wash these and reuse them.

Vorlauf. The "filter" should be the grain bed itself.

That being said, IME, bazookas are better intended as BK filters and SS braids are better for MLTs.
 
The reason I went with the voile cloth is that during the vorlauf process I would spend 15-30 minutes at times trying to get clear runnings. Using the cloth to help filter the runnings with mutlple sparges cuts an hour off my brew day.
 
msa8967 said:
The reason I went with the voile cloth is that during the vorlauf process I would spend 15-30 minutes at times trying to get clear runnings. Using the cloth to help filter the runnings with mutlple sparges cuts an hour off my brew day.

That's bizarre. Your crush must be awful, then.
 
msa8967 what is your efficiency usually?

Ok, I will try the braidd hose I guess and see how it goes.

Thanks all for the help!
 
I am SS braid in the mashtun and bazooka in the boil kettle. I love my SS braid, never fails me (knock on wood)! I keep a backup just in case though. I get 80-83.5% efficiency, no stuck sparges ever.
 
Many of those braids you get from your home improvement stores are not stainless but actually an alloy and are not food grade. I had to actually buy a dishwasher install kit to get real stainless.
 
Many of those braids you get from your home improvement stores are not stainless but actually an alloy and are not food grade. I had to actually buy a dishwasher install kit to get real stainless.
 
lame, I didn't even check if it was SS.... I didn't think about that! I didn't know some were SS and some weren't. Will have to check when I get home tonight! Thanks for that info
 
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