False bottom vs. a SS braid?

[Rubberband]

I'm going to make the jump to AG and I already have a 5 gal. drink cooler with a SS braid. I have been playing with AG techniques with cooler to see how my temperatures react, how to vorlauf, etc... while brewing Partial Mash recipes.

The braid seems to work well enough but, again, I don't have enough experience to say it works better or worse than a false bottom. I was considering the false bottom because it seems logical that it would perform better and give me a good rinse of the grains. The money isn't really an object but I don't want to throw it away either. I will be batch sparging for the forseeable future, so is there a great benefit to be gained by using a false bottom instead of my SS braid?

I assume a FB will not prick my fingers with frayed ends when I am cleaning the kit, that may be enough for me.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I like the braid method and would not even consider a false bottom for aa cooler. Just my opinion, and one of many as you will likely find out.

The false bottom concept IMO really lends itself to the type of tun that is heated and circulated to avoid scortching the grain.

Oh, and with regards to pricking your fingers, I trim the end of the braid w/ pair of sharp scissors, and then fold the cut end back inside the braid before crimping it shut to eliminate this problem.

 

[Rubberband]

Okay, I finally made the leap and made my first AG beer. I scaled down a 5 gallon recipe to 3.75 gal and used my 5 gal water cooler for a mash tun with a SS braid. I guess everything went well, the calculated OG was to be 1.040 and a measured 1.042. Feeling pretty good about the braid right now, I think I saved $30 today.:rockin:

I batched sparged by draining my grains completely after a 70 min. mash. Then I added the sparge water to rinse my grains. To drain the wort from the MT, I simply opened up the valve full and ran two quarts into a pitcher and then recycled this into the MT. Is this the normal procedure for a SS braid? It really seemed to work well and I was surprised. I still poked my finger on the frayed ends cleaning but if it works this easy, I think I'll stick with it. Does a false bottom work the same way or is there a different technique to draining the wort vs the braid?