Change of fallse bottom

[Timmsy]

Ive been doing a few partials of late and i have the stainless still braid that i am using as a false bottom. Tho it works ok to me it doesnt seem to drain of the wort fast enough. My idea is that the braid has shrunk and has tightened up. It takes a while and i use the mash spoon to circulate the wort to get a faster flow. But from reading up the oxidating the wort isnt the best. Now i am curious what could i use besides the braid? Maybe a copper style?? It is for use in a 27ltr esky

[rwh]

If your runoff is too slow, it's much more likely that your crush is too fine rather than your manifold.

[Cortez The Killer]

I'm using a BeerBelly false bottom - it's pretty cool!



Cheers

[hoohaaman]

+1,best bit of gear I have bought.

[James L]

+2... its awse...

[warra48]

I'm perfectly happy with the manifold I made myself.
It's given me over 90% efficiency into the kettle for my last 4 brews.

[Cortez The Killer]

Batch or fly?

Cheers

[James L]

90% thats rather gurd....

I get 80 - 85%, but i would love to get higher... i fly sparge... more time consuming but its quality time you are spending with the grain (in the shed away from the missus)....

[warra48]

I mill my own grain, I'm the lucky owner of one the the MillMaster mills, so I get to play with the settings, and mill just to my liking. I do stir my mash every 10 to 15 minutes while mashing. I generally mill wheat seperately first up on a finer setting, then mix that back to my main grist, and mill it all on a slightly larger setting. My settings are not that tight, between 1 and 1.2 mm.

I batch sparge, with a mash out, and then the sparge. I do my run off very slowly, it takes between ½ to 1 hour, rather than doing a fast as I can. Don't know whether that makes a difference.

My last brew was a dunkelweizen, with a protein rest at 52ºC and mashed at 66ºC, and then a mash out decoction to raise it to 78ºC for the sparge. That gave me 104% efficiency into the kettle. Even I was amazed at that.

However, anything over 80% efficiency into the kettle is doing well.

[Tipsy]

That gave me 104% efficiency into the kettle. Even I was amazed at that.

However, anything over 80% efficiency into the kettle is doing well.

How is your brewhouse efficiency Warra?
The reason I ask is that I don't check my efficiency in the kettle maybe if I got a refractometer

[warra48]

Because the batch of dunkelweizen I did was only 18 litres into the fermenter (to fit a smaller 25 litre one, rather than the usual 30 litre job), the usual losses from evaporation and trub etc are the same as for a normal or larger batch.
That means my brewhouse efficiency is only about 75%. I guess that brings me back to the field, but I'm quite happy about it.

[Tipsy]

That means my brewhouse efficiency is only about 75%. I guess that brings me back to the field, but I'm quite happy about it.

I'm quite happy about that too I average only 70%

[Ed]

The only difference between mash efficiency and brewhouse efficiency is the volume left behind in the kettle. Evaporation, for example, makes no difference at all because the loss of fluid is made up by the gain in gravity (there being no loss of extracted sugars in that process).

Cheers, Ed

[tazman67]

I have had enough of my s/s braid and simple AG tun.
Just ordered myself the complete Beerbelly mash tun..complete with inbuilt dial thermo.
Thanks to the people at the ATO.

[rwh]

how much?

[Cortez The Killer]

What is the tun made of - SS?

Will you be insulating?

Cheers

[tazman67]

Sorry..should have posted more info.
Its a 55ltre Esky with Beerbelly false bottom fitted with a steel probe thermo, ball valve tap, 2m of F/G hose.
All set up ready to go....$329 plus freight.

[BierMeister]

Ive been doing a few partials of late and i have the stainless still braid that i am using as a false bottom. Tho it works ok to me it doesnt seem to drain of the wort fast enough. My idea is that the braid has shrunk and has tightened up. It takes a while and i use the mash spoon to circulate the wort to get a faster flow. But from reading up the oxidating the wort isnt the best. Now i am curious what could i use besides the braid? Maybe a copper style?? It is for use in a 27ltr esky

Timmsy,
Now given the date of the original post you've probably moved on to better things, but for the sake of others who might be interested. I'd say whats happening is that there is a combanation of the braid being clogged by the mash as well as being squashed by it too. Though saying that having a slow run off is not such a bad thing as it allows better flushing of the sugars from the grain. Slow and steady gets the result.

I made my own manifold out of copper pipe and get the store to crush my grain. I use a cheap esky that is now so warped that I have to put something heavy on the lid to stop it getting to cold, but still manage to get around 80-85% efficiency. It is definately brewing on more of a budget than getting one of the flashy stainless steel false bottom things, but does get the results. If you plan to make your own out of copper etc.. then still the best site (and free, so your wallet will still be your friend) is http://www.howtobrew.com the brewing manual by John Palmer. The relevant sections are http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD.html where Palmer explains why a deep mash is better and how things are working which effect efficiency and http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD-1.html with some good manifold designs for round and retangle tuns(eskies).

[Timmsy]

I have soughted this issue out. I had designed and made a false bottom out of 1.6 SS plate and punched it out at work to very simalar to the Blichmann False Bottom which work a treat.

http://www.blichmannengineering.com/Boi ... rMaker.htm

Today im dropping my kettle and urn of the beerbelly to deck it out so i can move forward into AG.