steel braid for mash tun floating!

[ekjohns]

I got a steel braid for my mash tun (not the plastic kind) and because im using the pre-drilled hole for the spigoit which is at about a 45 degree angle up the steel braid lifts up off the bottom as i stir the grain bed. Anyone have any ideas how to keep it at the bottom?

 

[BargainFittings]

Use a copper wire formed into a coil and insert it in the braid. Form braid as you like.

 

[shamrock]

Put a big stainless steel bolt in the loose end of the braid and secure it with a stainless hose clamp.

 

[BargainFittings]

Put a big stainless steel bolt in the loose end of the braid and secure it with a stainless hose clamp.

Thats a good idea. Easier too. If you don't have a bolt, an old stainless spoon from the kitchen would work.

 

[noreaster40s]

I just did my first AG today and while the process didn't go very well I can say that my SS braid worked fine. I made a 48 qt cooler into my mash tun and used the braid from a 48" washer hose in a loop design. No floating and drained well when I tip the tun just a bit.

 

[bendavanza]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/floating-ss-braid-155805/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/how-keep-braid-floating-25063/

 

[raceskier]

After eventually seriously distorting my original braid manifold, I tried a SS false bottom in my Rubbermaid cooler. I never was able to make it work to my satisfaction. One of the issues was that I am one of the idiots who poured boiling water into the MLT, just to try it out. Well, the the bottom and sides distorted enough that the false bottom no longer fit as intended. The edges would not seat well on to the bottom and the cooler bottom was sufficiently distorted, so as to partially block the the pickup in the center of the false bottom.

So I went to a supported braid much like the one shown in the other floating braid thread.

Slots in the bottom of the internal copper tube provide lots of inlet area and the tube itself not only prevents floating, it prevents the braid from being distorted while stirring the mash.

Works like a charm. I can just open the spigot and drain away, no stuck sparges, knock on wood.

 

[bendavanza]

raceskier
do you still have the FB and do you want to sell or trade it?
-Ben

 

[nostalgia]

Slots in the bottom of the internal copper tube provide lots of inlet area and the tube itself not only prevents floating, it prevents the braid from being distorted while stirring the mash.

Very nice! I did almost the same thing, but instead of slotted copper I used a stainless spring. Really works a treat (after I swapped out the braid for something less fine mesh) and only cost $5.

-Joe