Bent false bottom

[rudylyon57]

Did my fist brew on an electric system I put together over the past few months. Everything went well. I did notice mash circulation flow diminished quickly over the two-step 90 minute process. I did have valves to the chugger recirc pump wide open. Maybe by doing this I compacted the grain bed too quickly? When I cleaned the MT out my 16" diameter three-legged false bottom had one ear bent over at least 1-1/2"!

While I know what caused it, I am curious what others do to manage the pressure that can build as resistance to flow through the mash increases?

 

[Bobby_M]

You have to put a valve on the outlet of the pump to throttle the flow way down.

 

[rudylyon57]

You have to put a valve on the outlet of the pump to throttle the flow way down.

Thanks Bobby. That's what I'll do next time for sure, but is there a simple way to measure the pressure drop so it it can be controlled? I'm thinking like a U tube or slack tube...maybe I'm over-thinking this.

 

[donbrew]

I use my eyes and ears.

A correct crush of the grains also helps. Too much fine flour clogs the bed up.

 

[Bobby_M]

Thanks Bobby. That's what I'll do next time for sure, but is there a simple way to measure the pressure drop so it it can be controlled? I'm thinking like a U tube or slack tube...maybe I'm over-thinking this.

Not that I think it's absolutely necessary but people have put vacuum gauges on the line between the mash tun and pump.

 

[rudylyon57]

Not that I think it's absolutely necessary but people have put vacuum gauges on the line between the mash tun and pump.

Nice idea. I have a handful of old Magnehelic gages from HVAC work, need to see if I have one in the range needed (20 inches H2O?).

Donbrew...I did think the crush was pretty fine so that may correlate also.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Nice idea. I have a handful of old Magnehelic gages from HVAC work, need to see if I have one in the range needed (20 inches H2O?).

Donbrew...I did think the crush was pretty fine so that may correlate also.

Will a Magnahelic gauge work on the liquid side?

Just curious, as I have a few laying around myself, being the consummate scrounger that I am............

 

[rudylyon57]

Will a Magnahelic gauge work on the liquid side?

Just curious, as I have a few laying around myself, being the consummate scrounger that I am............

Maybe the approach would be to keep one side of the Magnahelic (MH) open to atmosphere and the other on the pump suction but raise the gage well enough above the MLT so there's no way to contaminate it...that would be messy. What you would be reading would be the static head from the wort surface in MLT to the MH tap in point less the dynamic head of the wort flowing across the grain bed. It should tell us something?