Stainless Mesh Micron size?

[mark1964]

Hi Brewers, I have been brewing with BIAB using a voile bag for the past 2 years. I have recently upgraded my equipment to an eBiab 100 litre (26.4 Gallons) recirculating system, powered by Hosehead and CraftBeerPi. I am still using the bag but would like to upgrade to a basket. I built the rig myself with the help of a mate, and fellow brewer. The same friend was able to get me a roll of Stainless mesh. So, I'm thinking of getting it put together by a local engineering shop. We don't have these baskets available here in Australia, so we get them from the US then shipped to us. So you can imagine the cost of shipping and the conversion of the dollar, not a cheep exercise.
My question and concern is that maybe the mesh is to coarse? I wouldn't think I would want a real small micron size, otherwise the drainage would be terrible, my concern is that this mesh I have might be to large a micron size? I have no idea what size it is. I was hoping somone could help me out by looking at the picture.
Seeing its what I have at hand, would it do the job?
Thanks fella.

 

[Stillraining]

It looks about perfect to me, about the same as my Bazooka screen and it filters great!..I would think much less would cause stuck sparges and or clogging/draining issues. You have to remember your grains husks are doing the bulk of the filtering.
FWIW here is 300 micron and in my opinion way to small for my use as a hop basket ...500 would be much better as this will not drain with pellet hops in it. If I had to guess Id say yours is around 1000. But I know the bags are way tight compared to that SS cloth so what do I know.
Also keep in mind I dont sweat some grain partials in my wort ether.
Maybe Whistlebrewer will chime in.

 

[RedlegEd]

Hi Brewers, I have been brewing with BIAB using a voile bag for the past 2 years. I have recently upgraded my equipment to an eBiab 100 litre (26.4 Gallons) recirculating system, powered by Hosehead and CraftBeerPi. I am still using the bag but would like to upgrade to a basket. I built the rig myself with the help of a mate, and fellow brewer. The same friend was able to get me a roll of Stainless mesh. So, I'm thinking of getting it put together by a local engineering shop. We don't have these baskets available here in Australia, so we get them from the US then shipped to us. So you can imagine the cost of shipping and the conversion of the dollar, not a cheep exercise.
My question and concern is that maybe the mesh is to coarse? I wouldn't think I would want a real small micron size, otherwise the drainage would be terrible, my concern is that this mesh I have might be to large a micron size? I have no idea what size it is. I was hoping somone could help me out by looking at the picture.
Seeing its what I have at hand, would it do the job?
Thanks fella.

Hi. That looks really course to me, maybe a #15 mesh? I also use a basket for BIAB, and ordered mine from ArborFab. I got a 600 micron mesh (~#30 mesh,) which is a little courser than most folks use (I believe 400 is more typical.) That's okay because I use a fairly course grind (~0.045) on conditioned grain and it works fine. Below is a picture of a US Penny with a standard bottle cap. I also included a 30 mesh (~590 micron.) You can see yours is way bigger. Hope that helps. Ed

 

[RedlegEd]

I went ahead and took a pic of my basket so you could see the difference. Ed

 

[wilserbrewer]

The coarser mesh would certainly work, its finer than most false bottoms.

If I were in a position to "make a basket", I would start with either a strainer basket, or another kettle drilled with large holes in the bottom, and fix the mesh to that....just a thought.

 

[mark1964]

Thanks for your input fellas. So what I can get out of your advice is maybe my mesh could be too corse. I would imagine maybe some flour would get through but non of the husks. I'm going to think about it some more before get it made. I might even keep looking around for some finer mesh before spending coin on a build.
Cheers

 

[Stillraining]

Make a mini mash on the stove top with 1 or 2 pounds of grain directly in a pot with 1.25 quarts per pound of water..then once mashed for your hour take another container with your mesh loosely draped over the rim forming as much of a bowl shape in the mesh as it will easily conform without distorting the mesh and dump your Mash onto the mesh, let drain and see what your wort looks like. If its chocked full of particles then go smaller if there is only scattered particles you should be good to go. You might even sparge it once just to make sure. As stated some partials in your wort means nothing, nor does cloudiness. It all settles out in ferment.