False bottom for rectangular mash tun

[craigmarshall]

Hi,

I ordered a 30l coleman cooler today to make into a mash tun, and after reading up on manifolds and grain strainers, it seems that a false bottom would be more efficient, easier to make and easier to clean than the standard copper manifold. I don't see many around though...

Has anyone here made or seen (online) a false bottom on a rectangular mash tun?

Thanks,
Craig

[craigmarshall]

http://www.beerbelly.com.au/mashequip.html

Thanks for that link - that looks interesting, I shall have a think...

Cheers,
Craig

[trucker5774]

This is a slightly different thread, but there is a photo of my mash tun,..............just may spark an idea for you viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24886&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

[craigmarshall]

This is a slightly different thread, but there is a photo of my mash tun,..............just may spark an idea for you viewtopic.php?f=6&t=24886&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Am I right in thinking you don't have a perfectly close fitting false bottom, but that you're using the raised lip of the plate/tray, upside down, to seal against the cooler floor and to hold the end of the copper pipe off the bottom?

If so, that is a nice idea, it makes it pretty much a universal false bottom, similar to (but easier to make than) the link Chris has posted.

How much smaller is your false bottom than the real bottom? I wonder if it might work less efficiently than a full bottom? I think I will have to try it anyway - that design is favourite so far, assuming it works okay. What efficiency do you get when using that?

Thanks,
Craig

[trucker5774]

The false bottom is a plastic pic nic plate from Asda. I looked for ages to find one the same size as the cool box I use. This was the nearest size! Despite that,it is just less than half the size ot the mash tun base. It is drilled with as many 2mm holes as possible and held against the bottom by the slight pressure from the pipe, which finished just short of the bottom and has castellations cut into it. It fits close enough to the bottom so as not to allow any matter to pass through the "seal". It leave just 200ml of dead space. I have found it works really well. I return the first litre or so of the runnings (but find very little debris in it and vitually nothing at all after that) There are no fixings. Everything just pushes together and is easily separated for cleaning.

If your question about efficiency was in relation to extraction, I get 85%. I have been caught out on a couple of times as most recipes are based on 70%......made some strong beer!

[aus069]

Hi;
This my false bottom I made out of half inch copper tubing. The long pieces have been cut with lots of slits. See John Palmers book on how to brew its free online.

Homebrew05.jpg (3.94 KiB) Viewed 732 times

Brew Well
aus069