DIY full false bottom

[nicknoty]

things needed....
-time and the want to not spend money
-pot and extra lid
-tape measure
-cabient scribe
-drill corded would be best
-sharpie
-assorted drill bits - i used 3/32 for the mojarity
-sander to removed burs
-jig saw
-grinder to trim lid after jig saw if needed
-hand full of SS nuts and bolts for elevating the false bottom

lets beging...............

pot that needs false bottom

lid drilled and screwed on center, note: holes are big enough for drywall screw

use scribe to mark area to be cut off

jig saw. Note: hold jig saw steady and move line towards the blade so you can worry about the line.
then test fit and mark areas that need to be trimmed with sharpie and use grinder to trim, move lid and hold grinder steady. repeat till satified

now use the scribe to create lines around a 1/4 inch apart or hold pencil steady and move lid

now mark out your intersecting lines. yeah i got lazy you could use a straight edge

drill, then sand top to remove burs and grind then sand bottom to remove burs, i also had to use a drill bit to clean out the holes after sanding

almost completed just needs the SS nuts and bolts installed to support it off the bottom of the pot and some tweeking with a vise grip to bend the edge tighter to the outside of the pot.

Note if you use a non-dished lid try to be spot on when trimming lid


Not my best work but if you took more time drilling and marking out the holes you could have a perfect false bottom for less then $20

 

[BlackTieBrewing]

Man that's a lot of drilling

 

[nicknoty]

Man that's a lot of drilling

a friends luckied dropped by and wanted some homebrew and just picked up another drill and started making swiss aluminum cheese with me


my main conserne is channeling because it got sloppy, lets face it i felt like i was was in my own personal sweetshop

 

[android]

looks nice, let us know how it works out.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

How long did it take to drill all of those?! You must have ripped through a lot of homebrew with all that drilling.

 

[nicknoty]

How long did it take to drill all of those?! You must have ripped through a lot of homebrew with all that drilling.

I didn't have any homebrew cause my buddy that helped me with the drilling beat my keg. The drilling took a few hours but I weent and did some other things around the house too.
I still think I lost braincells from the thoughtless process of drilling that much thank good it was aluminum.

 

[brewnickbrew]

maybe to prevent channeling you could split some high temp tubing down the middle and wrap it around the outer edge. that way you could get a tight seal.

 

[Kahler]

Dead post....

But how did this work out for you?

 

[Homercidal]

Interesting concept. I have access to a CNC mill at work that could drill those holes automatically. I'd only have to program a pattern... But alas, since it's at work, I could not drink homebrew... Decisions, decisions...

 

[KingKlong]

I was thinking of doing this with an extra lid I have. Should the OD of the fabricated false bottom match the ID of the mash tun as closely as possible? Will this channeling that is talked about be created if it doesn't?

 

[helibrewer]

I was thinking of doing this with an extra lid I have. Should the OD of the fabricated false bottom match the ID of the mash tun as closely as possible? Will this channeling that is talked about be created if it doesn't?

If you batch sparge, channeling isn't an issue but if you fly sparge you want the flow through the grain bed as uniform as possible.