Show me the bottom of your Mash tun manifold

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WishboneBrewery
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Show me the bottom of your Mash tun manifold

Post by WishboneBrewery » Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:25 am

Show me your Manifold from underneath, and let me know how it works :)
Having had 2 sticking mashes out of my 3 mashes in my Thermos coolbox I'm wondering whether its my Mashing / Batch Sparging technique or the Manifold that's causing the problem.

My first mash of Black Sheep Ale went brilliantly, nothing stuck and lovely clear wort - http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... 24&t=25750
My Second mash of my Otter Dark Stout stuck like a bugger - http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... 24&t=26609
My third mash of my Munich Blauer Vogel did the same and stuck, though I think the slow run off made my effeciency pretty good - http://jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... 24&t=26797

The manifold was made with a Junior hacksaw for the slots, which was opened up to a regular hack saw blade before my yesterdays mash. I'm now contemplating bringing my grinder and a 1mm slitting disk home from work and grinding out the slots as cleanly as possible to ensure they are even and a little wider than a Hacksaw blade's cut.

Here's mine from my Thermos coolbox:
Image
The Large picture: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3503/395 ... ed6f_o.jpg

chris_reboot

Re: Show me the bottom of your Mash tun manifold

Post by chris_reboot » Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:54 am

Mine looks basically the same, just bigger as my coolbox has a bigger footprint.
One thing I notice is that the joints are soldered.

could it be that crud is blocking the tubing inside?
All my pieces dismantle (it's just loose fitted) so I can flush them under the tap and look down the barrel so to speak to check they are clear before the next mash.

chris_reboot

Re: Show me the bottom of your Mash tun manifold

Post by chris_reboot » Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:06 pm

forgot the pic.

Image

Chiltern Brewer

Re: Show me the bottom of your Mash tun manifold

Post by Chiltern Brewer » Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:18 pm

My instinct would be to make the slots wider like you say.

Perhaps the larger proportion of dark malts in the 2nd and 3rd batches were ground finer or was the pale malt used towards the end of a sack and therefore more floury?

Personally, I've only ever used a "bucket in bucket" or a 12" domed stainless steel false bottom and I crush/mill my malt. I've never had a stuck mash. :wink:

The false bottom I have now is a joy to use, it is easy to clean and I have it connected to 1/2" BSP thread of a tap using compression fittings and a short length of 15mm copper tube so there is no chance of the connection coming loose during a mash.

chris_reboot

Re: Show me the bottom of your Mash tun manifold

Post by chris_reboot » Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:19 pm

maybe I've been lucky so far, but mines worked fine!

WishboneBrewery
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Re: Show me the bottom of your Mash tun manifold

Post by WishboneBrewery » Sat Sep 26, 2009 3:07 pm

Cheers :)

I'll give the wider slots a go first, a step up to 22mm or I'll throw in the net curtain next.

subsub

Re: Show me the bottom of your Mash tun manifold

Post by subsub » Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:09 pm

When I used a standard coolbox I cut up a s/s splatter guard and placed it over the manifold. Hey Presto! no more stuck mashes :D

WishboneBrewery
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Posts: 7874
Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2008 9:06 pm
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Re: Show me the bottom of your Mash tun manifold

Post by WishboneBrewery » Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:36 pm

I wondered about sewing up a Net Curtain bag to tie around the manifold, see how that does.
What are you mashing in now, false bottom??

subsub

Re: Show me the bottom of your Mash tun manifold

Post by subsub » Sun Sep 27, 2009 1:15 pm

Yep, a big s/s one :D

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