Budget false bottom.

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
O

onelegout

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Messages
248
Reaction score
6
Hi HBT!

Checking in from sunny England with some pics of the latest addition to my 10 gallon eHERMS, a budget false bottom for my mash tun.

Items needed:
Oxo 'Good Grips' Splatter screen with handle:

http://www.amazon.com/Oxo-Splatter-Screen-Folding-Handle/dp/B0007VO0DU


3x small stainless steel bolts and nuts.

a brass tank connector or similar

Total cost = around £20 or $30 at most.

I cut the handle off the splatter screen and then cut and flattened the handle mounting point securely.

I then cut the hole for the tank connector, and the 4 holes for the bolts (which are used as stilts to keep it from collapsing.)

I fitted the tank connector and bolts fixed with nuts on the underside. I then grabbed the angle grinder and cut two slots in each side of the mash tun's opening so that I didnt have to make the false bottom a folding one.

I plan to fix it with 15mm copper pipe using a small length of hose to join it to the outlet. Any tips for keeping it securely on the bottom of the keg?

Some pics:
2uf6a77.jpg

vsm15y.jpg

2lco3fs.jpg

2ugp2pv.jpg


- H

Here's some pics.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DAMN, nice, and I went and spent a boat load for my NB false bottom.

You crafty bastard, Ill raise a pint in your honor!
 
glad you guys like it :) I've yet to test how well it works but I can't see any reason why it would be worse than a commercial one as they're the same concept when it comes down to it. I'll be rebuilding my brewery this weekend and brewing on it again next week so I'll let you know how well it works!
bendavanza - Cheers for the tip yeah for some reason I had decided to use some silicone hose to join the two as I thought it would be easier to remove but now I realise that I dont have to worry about the compression fittings getting loose from being tightened and loosened all the time as it doesn't have to be a watertight seal! will definitely use copper.
 
there' s about 20mm of dead space, which isn't much wort at all. If you were worried about it you could always drill out the back of the tank connector (I think you guys call it a bulkhead fitting or something?) to 15mm and solder in a small peice of 15mm pipe so that it reached the bottom.
 
I'm not sure what a sanke keg is :D It's a keg that I got from a keg scrapyard here in the uk
 
This was a post on the "Green Board" last year sometime and from what I remember the results were very positive.
 
I am alos intrested in the effectiveness on this false bottom as I will be working on my keggles in the next few weeks.
 
we recycle ours into tin cups for orphans. :)
Excellent re-purposing of materials Onelegout. Very cool (and inexpensive).
I cant imagine that its efficiency would be anything different than any other false bottom. The holes on the thing look comparable to the false bottom in my MT...
 
So what's the size of this? Link says 7 and 8 inches, but open pics make it look more like 12 given how well it fits the keggle.
 
I have only read about false bottoms. I am assuming this is how it works to filter off all the stuff (drawn to represent this design.)
motionofbeer.png


Is this right?
 
I'm going to cut off the top of my keg tomorrow so I will see how this fits. Going to use some brass or ss steel fittings and use some rigid copper tubing to hold it down all nice and tight like.

Hopefully pix tomorrow
 
So I have one of the older style kegs that is bulbous, or pot belly I guess. Found it on the side of the road on one of the bulk trash pickup days (yes, I do that.) It was a bit hard to fit in, but it sat wonderfully against the bottom.

kegtop.jpg


filterzt.jpg


So I went down to the depot to try to find the parts. Was going to get a brass ball valve with a compression nut, almost 7 bucks. And some copper pipe and a 90 degree elbow. And then after trying to figure out how to mount this thing with a couple different brass fittings the price was getting close to 30 bucks. There has to be a better way to mount this to the stainless screen.

To the op: what is the part name you used on there (the base)? I couldnt find it for the life of me.
 
So I was thinking of doing something like this:
nipplel.jpg

However, I don't think I will need the O-rings if I am just getting it to clamp onto the ss mesh.
However, I cannot find those thin locknuts at home depot. I am in the tri valley and all I have is the depot and lowes (trash), OSH (double trash) and ace (expensive but has crazy parts.)

My idea was to have some rigid copper from the keg wall go to a 90* that will extend down and put a bit of pressure on the ss mesh to keep it against the base of the keg. I would just solder the brass to the copper for the connections on the interior.

Anyone know of an easier/cheaper way to accomplish this?
 
okay, i'm already a believer... I happened to be at target with the wife and picked up on for the BK and one for the MLT. I guess I will have to start using whole hops or use a hop bag but this is a great product that will be put to good use. Thanks for the idea.
 
timbudtwo said:
So I was thinking of doing something like this:
nipplel.jpg

However, I don't think I will need the O-rings if I am just getting it to clamp onto the ss mesh.
However, I cannot find those thin locknuts at home depot. I am in the tri valley and all I have is the depot and lowes (trash), OSH (double trash) and ace (expensive but has crazy parts.)

My idea was to have some rigid copper from the keg wall go to a 90* that will extend down and put a bit of pressure on the ss mesh to keep it against the base of the keg. I would just solder the brass to the copper for the connections on the interior.

Anyone know of an easier/cheaper way to accomplish this?
Click to expand...

You don't need your dip tube to be liquid-tight fastened to the false bottom.
Just cut a hole large enough for you to slide your dip tube through.
 
Walker said:
You don't need your dip tube to be liquid-tight fastened to the false bottom.
Just cut a hole large enough for you to slide your dip tube through.
Click to expand...

Orly?
I was thinking though that I would need to have a little bit of positive pressure on the mesh so that it stays in place while I be stirring?
 
timbudtwo said:
Orly?
I was thinking though that I would need to have a little bit of positive pressure on the mesh so that it stays in place while I be stirring?
Click to expand...

Well, yeah, you don't want it floating around, but there are ways to do it without attaching the false bottom to the diptube,

What does your diptube look like?
 
Walker said:
Well, yeah, you don't want it floating around, but there are ways to do it without attaching the false bottom to the diptube,

What does your diptube look like?
Click to expand...

Just going to make the diptube out of the rigid copper. Nothing special.

Currently confused on how to get a ball valve attached to the keg side. I can only find tapered threads at the store, and nothing where I can get a tight compression against a keg wall (I would augment with a gasket of course.) How do I get the ball valve connected at the side, without having to buy a kit online?
 
timbudtwo said:
Just going to make the diptube out of the rigid copper. Nothing special.
Click to expand...

Then you can cut a 1/2" hole in the center of the thing. Cut your dip-tube a little short. Solder this onto it.

copper-fitting-female-adapter.jpg


On the under-side of the thing, screw this into it:

Copper_Fitting_male_adapter.jpg



It won't screw in far enough to make a tight grip on the false bottom, but if your dip-tube is the proper length, then the female threaded part will be pressing down on the false bottom and the false bottom will be pressing down on the bottom of the keg.

If you need more length under the false bottom, solder a short piece of 1/2" pipe into the male fitting to lengthen the under-side of the dip-tube.


timbudtwo said:
Currently confused on how to get a ball valve attached to the keg side. I can only find tapered threads at the store, and nothing where I can get a tight compression against a keg wall (I would augment with a gasket of course.) How do I get the ball valve connected at the side, without having to buy a kit online?
Click to expand...

I've never tried to DIY a bulk-head, so I'm no help there.

edit: it might honestly end up costing you the same as an online kit if you DIY. A stainless bulkhead kit is only like $12. A 1/2" brass coupling at Lowe's is like $5 or $6, so.....
 
Hmmmm.... I think BobbyM might have had a thread with a DIY bulkhead made out of copper that was super cheap, now that I think about it.
 
Walker said:
... I think BobbyM might have had a thread with a DIY bulkhead made out of copper that was super cheap..
Click to expand...

Thanks! Found it! I thought of doing something like this but I thought you could only solder SS to SS. I don't have acid flux and am trying to keep prices low. Would a quick muriatic dip work for the SS? I know it will for copper.

Quoting it across for others who read this:

Bobby_M said:
Ok, a few bucks, YMMV depending on what tools you have already.

$1 Nibco 604 Copper male adapter 1/2" NPT to 1/2" pipe (5/8" OD actual).
$2.38 for two pack. Hillman 3/4" stainless washers, item 21840 at Lowes

Short piece of 5/8" soft copper tubing but you can do it with a piece of rigid 1/2" pipe with a 90 degree elbow if you have to.

I already had the oring but a #314 is what you'd want to get.

The washer needs to be slightly filed open to get it all the way over the threads. After that, clean up the parts, apply an acid flux and silver solder the washer to the adapter.

The oring then goes on, through the kettle wall, then teflon tape, then the ball valve. If you can't get it tight, add the other washer between the kettle and valve.

JDbulkhead.jpg
Click to expand...
 

Similar threads

Ashv1
Turning my smaller kettle into a malt pipe
Replies
15
Views
1K
IslandLizard
IslandLizard
teamcoaster
North Carolina HOME BREW EQUIPMENT SALE -- Charlotte area
Replies
0
Views
544
teamcoaster
teamcoaster
todd_k
Virginia Richmond, VA area - free equipment
Replies
1
Views
337
todd_k
todd_k
NTexBrewer
DIY Kettle Hop Screen
Replies
20
Views
2K
Broken Crow
Broken Crow
passedpawn
Florida $999 10g Electric Brewery, SS Brewtech, RIMS, pump, chiller, stainless glory!
2
Replies
52
Views
5K
passedpawn
passedpawn
Yakima 300

Latest posts

Back
Top