False bottom or Bazooka tube?

[BigLeeFromSC]

I'm currently using a bazooka tube but considering a false bottom for my igloo. Could any of you users of false bottoms or both give me any insight or pros and cons? Is there better efficiency with false bottoms over bazooka tubes ? Or anything that might help.

 

[Barnum_Brew]

I can't say much along the lines of efficiency, But my set up started with false bottom in the mash and I had quite a few stuck sparges. Made a diy bazooka tube and swapped and I haven't had a stuck sparge since.
There's always the factor of the false bottom type though (how many holes/how large of holes).
Bazooka style also leads to less mash tun dead space than most false bottoms so I would assume more efficient.
I could be wrong about this, interested to see what others might have to say. I just know my bazooka style works great.

Happy Brewing!

 

[BigLeeFromSC]

Thanks for the great feedback! You have opened my eyes to things I haven't thought about, like a stuck sparge. That's what is great about this forum.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

I believe the manifold would be more even flow than the bazooka leading to more sugars extracted.

 

[rorypayne]

Recently built a new 10G tun with bazooka tube, I have never used one in the past so I thought I would give it a shot. I have had no issues and my efficency is pretty close to using my false bottom... Biggest difference is price, false bottoms are much more expensive.

Switching seems somewhat pointless I think.

 

[RM-MN]

Brewhouse efficiency depends on two things, your mash efficiency and how much wort you leave behind when transferring it to the fermenter with each step leaving a little bit counting. To increase the mash efficiency, you mill finer...uh, until you find that you can't drain the tun. OK, you do soon come to a dead end there.....or do you. I mill my grains until they look like cornmeal with the husks ripped to shreds. That gets me great efficiency but I'd never be able to use a manifold or bazooka screen. Instead I use something else to filter the grains out of the wort, a fine mesh bag. You can get one made from nylon or polyester. When time comes to drain the tun, open the valve. If the wort stops flowing out before the tun is drained, lift the bag. That bag forms a huge filter area so it doesn't clog. No stuck sparges, not even with wheat or rye. With that I can get a brewhouse efficiency of 85% EVERY TIME!

 

[chezhed]

Brewhouse efficiency depends on two things, your mash efficiency and how much wort you leave behind when transferring it to the fermenter with each step leaving a little bit counting. To increase the mash efficiency, you mill finer...uh, until you find that you can't drain the tun. OK, you do soon come to a dead end there.....or do you. I mill my grains until they look like cornmeal with the husks ripped to shreds. That gets me great efficiency but I'd never be able to use a manifold or bazooka screen. Instead I use something else to filter the grains out of the wort, a fine mesh bag. You can get one made from nylon or polyester. When time comes to drain the tun, open the valve. If the wort stops flowing out before the tun is drained, lift the bag. That bag forms a huge filter area so it doesn't clog. No stuck sparges, not even with wheat or rye. With that I can get a brewhouse efficiency of 85% EVERY TIME!

Not clear where you put this bag.....
I use a rectangular mash tun and a bazooka tube (formerly a manifold) and I GRIND the grain pretty fine myself...have never had a stuck sparge with the tube...had them with manifold. My efficiency is consistently between 78-80%, which is acceptable to me. But I'm curious about this ole bag....

 

[cease]

I gotta say, I've been hitting 80% efficiency and never had a stick sparge using a diy stainless braid. Unless I were switching to fly sparging I see no reason to switch.

 

[BigLeeFromSC]

Thanks for all the great input guys! You have changed my mind as far as changing to a false bottom, especially with the cost involved. It was going to be more experimenting than anything else, because I just didn't know.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks for all the great input guys! You have changed my mind as far as changing to a false bottom, especially with the cost involved. It was going to be more experimenting than anything else, because I just didn't know.

The only time the shape/type of bottom or braid even matters is when someone is fly sparging (continous sparging). With no-sparge or batch sparging, it doesn't matter how the lautering is done, but when a brewer is doing a continuous sparge, it's important to use a false bottom to "spread" the drainage over the bottom and avoid channeling. If you're not fly sparging, it doesn't matter a bit and whatever works is the way to go!

 

[Bobby_M]

False bottom to fly sparge or batch, bazooka only for batch sparging. The false bottom actually has less deadspace as it has an elbow that faces down through the hole in the center. A lot of the stuck runoff issues people have with these false bottoms are the center elbow fitting using just about the tiniest inside bore you can imagine. Here's how we do it

 

[rlmiller10]

I will add that is using a bazooka or a DIY stainless sheath from a hot water heater hose that best thing you can do is put in some internal support. Take a copper or stainless wire and make a spiral to insert in the strainer. This will keep it from flattening and greatly help prevent stuck sparges or draining problems.

 

[RM-MN]

Not clear where you put this bag.....
I use a rectangular mash tun and a bazooka tube (formerly a manifold) and I GRIND the grain pretty fine myself...have never had a stuck sparge with the tube...had them with manifold. My efficiency is consistently between 78-80%, which is acceptable to me. But I'm curious about this ole bag....

The bag lines whatever you use for a mash tun so the water and grains go inside it. You drain as you would with any filter method but if it refuses to drain properly, you just lift the bag to expose more filter area. Almost impossible to get a stuck sparge unless you mill extremely fine and recirculate.

 

[ericbw]

The bag lines whatever you use for a mash tun so the water and grains go inside it. You drain as you would with any filter method but if it refuses to drain properly, you just lift the bag to expose more filter area. Almost impossible to get a stuck sparge unless you mill extremely fine and recirculate.

This works great. My only problem is that the bag can cover and plug the drain hole. So you have to lift it just a little to keep it flowing.

 

[Hoosierbrewer]

I had been thinking about a bag. I currently use a false bottom. I love it I will occasionally have an issue but I think it was that I was using less water and I had a lot if wheat.

I cut off part of a sheer curtain to filter coffee grounds on a cold brew. It worked awesome. I think it would make an excellent bag for grains. I thought about a custom size bag made out of it for a 3 gallon water cooler that I have. It is a lot finer holes that a lot of stuff out there. Maybe it is similiar to paint strainer bag

 

[xben]

what's the difference between your bag method and BIAB?

 

[RM-MN]

what's the difference between your bag method and BIAB?

Mostly the cooler. It adds one more item that you have to clean but the cooler will keep the temperature closer for the mash period. It may be easier to remove the bag of grains from the cooler than from the boil pot and BIAB is typically thought of as full volume/no sparge whereas a conventional tun starts with a thicker mash and a sparge step.

 

[RM-MN]

I had been thinking about a bag. I currently use a false bottom. I love it I will occasionally have an issue but I think it was that I was using less water and I had a lot if wheat.

I cut off part of a sheer curtain to filter coffee grounds on a cold brew. It worked awesome. I think it would make an excellent bag for grains. I thought about a custom size bag made out of it for a 3 gallon water cooler that I have. It is a lot finer holes that a lot of stuff out there. Maybe it is similiar to paint strainer bag

I've used a paint strainer bag for BIAB and have had up to 60% unmalted wheat or rye in the mash and still could lauter. The rye batch was more sticky than the wheat and took a bit of squeezing to get all the wort out. The sheer curtain material (Swiss voille) may be just a bit finer material so you might get less flour into the mash tun.

 

[ericbw]

what's the difference between your bag method and BIAB?

BIAB usually means full volume and heating the tun to keep it at temp. The cooler lets you walk away for an hour after you get the grain and water mixed.

 

[Mattmill]

Hi,
in germany and its neighbor countries is since 2013 an other new, innovative system usual:
Called Läuterhexe or Lauter Helix.
It is possible to use in a mash tun or a heated kettle as well, and it works great in any shape, because it is flexible. Easy to use, easy to clean and will work a lifetime.