Braided hose for mash screen in a keggle

[Leblais]

As I continue to build my new brew rig, I ended up buying this

http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=46&product_id=171

braided mash screen for my keggle mashtun.

I thought it through and I am having some difficulty figuring out if this will really work for my setup. I assumed there would be a pipe or something inside to keep it together and to allow some flow, but that is not the case. I will be direct fire heating the mash and recirculating but I am thinking that if I apply suction from the pump, the suction will only be at the beginning of the braided screen, not at the entire piece, therefore I think I will have a huge amount of dead space, since the bottom of the keggle is rounded and the valve (and the beginning of the braided screen) is about 1.5 inches higher from the center/bottom.

Does this make sense? Am I incorrect about the suction loss?

 

[augiedoggy]

As I continue to build my new brew rig, I ended up buying this

http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=46&product_id=171

braided mash screen for my keggle mashtun.

I thought it through and I am having some difficulty figuring out if this will really work for my setup. I assumed there would be a pipe or something inside to keep it together and to allow some flow, but that is not the case. I will be direct fire heating the mash and recirculating but I am thinking that if I apply suction from the pump, the suction will only be at the beginning of the braided screen, not at the entire piece, therefore I think I will have a huge amount of dead space, since the bottom of the keggle is rounded and the valve (and the beginning of the braided screen) is about 1.5 inches higher from the center/bottom.

Does this make sense? Am I incorrect about the suction loss?

Just an FYI, that is not braided stainless mesh, it is soldered stainless screen and is normally referred to as a bazooka screen.

Normally in a mashtun the hole were this is mounted is at the very base of the kettle...
These are not really meant to be used with keggles as the hole is much higher... most use a diptube with a false bottom over that or attach a real braided stainless mesh tube to the end of a diptube like the ones covering the small waterlines at the hardware store (often found on toilet supply lines). I have the same stainless steel bazooka tube from bargain fittings and I use it below my false bottom in my bayou classic Mashtun but also use a section of braided stainless sleeve /tube inside of the bazooka tube to catch any fine particles that get by the first two levels of filtering, I do this to completely prevent any chance of a stuck sparge and also to prevent any grain from entering my small dc pumps that I use...

I also use two 45 degree cpvc elbows which attach to my bulkhead to drop the opening down to the bottom of my MT... this makes it simple to just pull off the elbow section with the bazooka tube attached and clean it in the sink after each brew session.

In short the bazooka tube lays flat and yes its designed to stop sucking once part of the opening at the base is no longer submerged which leaves a half gallon or so of sparge water in the mashtun at the end... which doesnt matter at that point anyway...

 

[Leblais]

Just an FYI, that is not braided stainless mesh, it is soldered stainless screen and is normally referred to as a bazooka screen.

Normally in a mashtun the hole were this is mounted is at the very base of the kettle...
These are not really meant to be used with keggles as the hole is much higher... most use a diptube with a false bottom over that or attach a real braided stainless mesh tube to the end of a diptube like the ones covering the small waterlines at the hardware store (often found on toilet supply lines). I have the same stainless steel bazooka tube from bargain fittings and I use it below my false bottom in my bayou classic Mashtun but also use a section of braided stainless sleeve /tube inside of the bazooka tube to catch any fine particles that get by the first two levels of filtering, I do this to completely prevent any chance of a stuck sparge and also to prevent any grain from entering my small dc pumps that I use...

I also use two 45 degree cpvc elbows which attach to my bulkhead to drop the opening down to the bottom of my MT... this makes it simple to just pull off the elbow section with the bazooka tube attached and clean it in the sink after each brew session.

In short the bazooka tube lays flat and yes its designed to stop sucking once part of the opening at the base is no longer submerged which leaves a half gallon or so of sparge water in the mashtun at the end... which doesnt matter at that point anyway...

Hmm.. maybe i can use an extension piece of pipe and an elbow (i would use stainless though) to get closer to the bottom... I have not used this set up before, I was hoping to not have to go through the expense (etc) of a false bottom.
If this works for now I would be happy even if i leave about a gallon behind, but now i am afraid of getting my pump clogged too? ugg

 

[augiedoggy]

Hmm.. maybe i can use an extension piece of pipe and an elbow (i would use stainless though) to get closer to the bottom... I have not used this set up before, I was hoping to not have to go through the expense (etc) of a false bottom.
If this works for now I would be happy even if i leave about a gallon behind, but now i am afraid of getting my pump clogged too? ugg

since its just sparge water you just add a bit extra at the end... thats what I do... I only used the bazooka tub in my cooler MT and it worked very well... I had some efficiencies in the 90% range.

 

[Leblais]

since its just sparge water you just add a bit extra at the end... thats what I do... I only used the bazooka tub in my cooler MT and it worked very well... I had some efficiencies in the 90% range.

yeah I assume its not a big deal since it is dilute by then anyway. BUT why did you switch from a braided to what you use now if you were getting 90% efficiencies? Why not use the same set up in your new MT?

 

[augiedoggy]

yeah I assume its not a big deal since it is dilute by then anyway. BUT why did you switch from a braided to what you use now if you were getting 90% efficiencies? Why not use the same set up in your new MT?

simply put I upgraded to stainless for bling reasons (dumb) and easy cleaning. and I read the plastic warps over time (it already was getting a funky smell) .. they make a false bottom to fit my new MT so I decided to use that in conjuction with the bazooka tube and I had a piece of grain get stuck in my pump once which is not cool with a rims setup so I added the extra filter capacity to prevent it.
I still get really high efficiencies usually.

 

[Leblais]

so grain can get through a bazooka tube then? Ugg...

 

[augiedoggy]

so grain can get through a bazooka tube then? Ugg...

yeah small pieces still get through you need something really fine but best to have a course layer of filtering first (at least thats what works for me... I have never had a stuck sparge in almost 40 brews now...