I need a good False Bottom. Please help

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eager_brewer

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I have a 10 gal Gott cooler that I have converted for mashing. I tried my first all grain 2 weeks ago and it was horrible. The grains kept clogging the stailess steel braid. So I have looked into false bottoms but I am really confused so any help would be great. I used the cooler conversion that I found in the DYI section. Thanks again!
 
Yeah I have the same thing, except you can't buy it from morebeer because they're out of stock on frickin everything. So I got mine from midwest:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4123

When you get it it'll have an annoying piece of tape and label on it you'll have to remove with goo-gone or goof off or something. See, what'll happen is you'll come home after a rough day of baby sitting ingrates (Working in IT) and the puppy will take a leak on the floor right in front of you, and then you'll get your new false bottom out of the shipping box only to discover the labels they put on there won't be removed with acetone or mineral spirits, the sticky is atomic-grade. So save yourself some grief and get some goo-gone now before you order the false bottom.

Oh, and that false bottom works GREAT with the cooler.
 
eager_brewer said:
I have a 10 gal Gott cooler that I have converted for mashing. I tried my first all grain 2 weeks ago and it was horrible. The grains kept clogging the stailess steel braid. So I have looked into false bottoms but I am really confused so any help would be great. I used the cooler conversion that I found in the DYI section. Thanks again!

Are you positive it was real stainless steel. A lot of stainless steel looking hoses at the hardware store are actually plastic, painted to look like stainless steel. What kind of recipe were you brewing. Sometimes the grain bill is the culprit and any thing you use will be a problem.

I only ask because most SS user have pretty good success.

Personally, I use a manifold and have never had a problem.
Manifold_Unfiltered.JPG
 
I tried the braid once (bought the plastic one first) and didn't like it, it stuck the whole sparge. Back to the false bottom and its worked perfect. When I go 10 gallon cooler I'll surely be looking for a false bottom.
 
I use braided ss and it works great! I would do like biermuncher said and check if it is really just plastic. If it is SS them I'd say go with a larger diameter ss line. I like cheap and easy.:ban:
 
I use a mani too and I've only had one problem, and that was my fault: it was my first AG and I dumped in all my grains without adding any water.

I'm really interested in trying out my turkey fryer basket with screen in it. Not only am I expecting a better, cleaner draining but it'll make removing the spent grains ridiculously easy.
 
mward said:
Yeah I have the same thing, except you can't buy it from morebeer because they're out of stock on frickin everything. So I got mine from midwest:

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/products/ProdByID.aspx?ProdID=4123

When you get it it'll have an annoying piece of tape and label on it you'll have to remove with goo-gone or goof off or something. See, what'll happen is you'll come home after a rough day of baby sitting ingrates (Working in IT) and the puppy will take a leak on the floor right in front of you, and then you'll get your new false bottom out of the shipping box only to discover the labels they put on there won't be removed with acetone or mineral spirits, the sticky is atomic-grade. So save yourself some grief and get some goo-gone now before you order the false bottom.

Oh, and that false bottom works GREAT with the cooler.


I took a look at this and I just have one more DUMB question. Assuming my cooler it approx 2-3 ft above my boiling kettle, how it the mash drained. Will I need a pump or will gravity to the work for me? Thank you to all who have helped!
 
eager_brewer said:
Will I need a pump or will gravity to the work for me? Thank you to all who have helped!


Gravity will work just fine. It's odd to hear that you had a problem with that SS braid though, the only time I have ever heard of something like that was someone was using a plastic one by mistake. I've been using a braid for over a year without any problems, and that includes some pretty big wheat grainbills.
 
Gravity will do the job every time. I find I just BARELY crack the valve on mine to not dump faster than the sparge arm puts it in.
 
Can you use sch 40 pvc for the manifold? Making one out of copper would cost a fortune at current market pricing. Maybe the false bottom is the way to go for 25 bucks.
 
I've always used SS braid. Never had a single problem. The ones that are for your bathroom sink are almost undoubtedly plastic. They really look like SS and can be deceiving. at home depot the SS are the ones that go to your washing machine. I swear by these and have better luck than friends who use expensive false bottoms.
 
Don't use a plastic braid and then discount using a stainless one based on that failure. It's shoddy logic. I bet there are hundreds of brewers batch sparging all day long using stainless braids with no problems. I guarentee, anything that would stick a braid sparge would stick a false bottom sparge as well (high wheat content maybe). No, you can't use PVC, sparge water is too hot. You could use CPVC, but I'd suggest trying the braid again.

My favorite saying about telling plastic braid from stainless is, "if you don't cut your finger during the project, you have the plastic one".
 
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