HOWTO: Vacant's £3 stainless mesh grain basket

[vacant]

Did you know that a £3 Ikea splatter guard is the only thing you might not already possess that is stopping you from
making a stainless-filter grain bucket? I've been using one as a filter in my thermopot and they are excellent quality.

Why not spend 15 minutes fettling yourself a VGB (Vacant Grain Basket)?

As I have two splatter guards I also made a grain-proof mesh lid should I need to submerge the basket, but in my 50 ltr boiler with today's 23 ltr brew length I didn't need it.

VGB

vgb1.jpg (19.56 KiB) Viewed 3507 times

The splatter guard forms a tight fit as you push it into the bucket at around 24 cm from the top. To secure it, I drilled some holes and threaded strimmer line to form a supporting web. I want to replace that with something specified as food safe (suggestions? fishing line?)

supporting web

The splatter guard rests on the web. I had to cut the 30 ltr "Euro" bucket's plastic handles back and decided to make a wire lifting handle from a coat hangar.

stainless filter in place

vgb3.jpg (17.02 KiB) Viewed 3507 times

The next picture shows the bucket in 32 ltr of water before the grain was added

in 32 ltr liquor before grain added

The picture below shows the bucket draining on two aluminium poles from a window cleaning kit.

* I got my boiler second-hand. It was used as a HLT and the elements are mounted quite high
* You can see from the wort residue the mash came to about 6cm from the top - no need for a mesh lid for a 4.5 Kg grain bill

draining on rods while heat on for boil

HOWTO make a VGB:

Stuff the splatter guard down into the bucket until it forms a tight and level fit
Mark and drill four or more holes just below the guard
Run some line through the holes to form a supporting web
For a 50 ltr pot cut back the bucket's handles a bit with a stanley knife
For a 50 ltr pot cut off the base of the bucket about 3cm from the bottom so the boiler lid will close over the bucket lid (if you want a lid)
Now cut out a space for your boiler tap/bazooka filter - not too generous, to help keep the bucket from twisting
Now cut out a wider space for the element(s) - a few cm space to stop the plastic touching
You may want a wire coat hangar handle, align the holes for this with the handles of the boiler - another check to keep the plastic away from the element

That's it. I also cut shallow notches so the aluminium draining poles don't slip around.

In use I recirculated with a 5 ltr jug when I needed to add heat. I overshot the mash temp doing this at around 45 mins so decided to just continue with a mash out.
I suppose applying heat in short bursts then letting it stabilise is the answer?

Anyway, that's the first prototype working great. Let's have your suggestions, questions, improvements!

[vacant]

Place the splatter guard on the lid. It is too large to fit on the flat part of the lid
Work around the lid, cutting out notches such that each "tab" has about a 2mm recess
Cut out the flat part of the lid but leaving a border of a couple of mm
The splatter guard should snap under the tabs

Flip the lid over and make the stainless/plastic boundary grain-proof by forcing a piece of thin hose around the gap. I used spare hose from my RO filter system

vgb7.jpg (8.86 KiB) Viewed 3505 times

[Fil]

Copper wire pulled from some old 2.5mm sq twin n earth could perhaps replae the strimmer string?? a bit of copper in the brewkit can be beneficial on the hot side..

I especially like the simplicity of the drain stand solution.

Great application of budget materials for a premium brewkit solution ..

[vacant]

Thanks. 2.5mm copper is a good idea. When I was planning I thought another solution would be a few metal rods in parallel, bent with pliers at the ends.

After posting, I splurged £1.80 to get 5m of 1mm marine grade stainless wire rope from eBay. Maybe I'll spin a proper looking spider web when that arrives.

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Good idea... Homebrewers are great at making something from Bits N Bobs...

[vacant]

Time on my hands so I made a howto web page.

edit: zoho sites will stop being free soon so that page will go

[Paulchef]

I’m liking this idea, much cheaper than a £170 grain basket

[vacant]

The plastic strimmer cable showed no signs of stress but I swapped it for marine grade steel cable for peace of mind.

I was still using the VGB for the occasional BIAB up to a few months back when I sold all my shiny stuff (boiler, thermopot mash tun and corny kegs).

All my brews are now BIAB though I've reverted to using a grain bag as the basket doesn't fit well with the heater element layout in my old larger plastic boiler.

For the last brew I added a pulley and a sturdy hook in the carport roof to leave the grain draining over the boiler.