9" False Bottom Doesn't Fit??

[tsb22]

Just recieved my 9" False Bottom from MoreBeer's site:
http://morebeer.com/view_product/15569/102309/Stainless_Steel_False_Bottom_9"_Diameter

Spent about an hour yesterday trying to get it into my Home Depot 5gal Cooler.

I assumed based on reviews on HBT that this thing would just drop right into the cooler, no worries. Unfortunately the False Bottom doesnt fit at all. I started by taking the whole valve assembly out so I would have a clean hold to drop the False Bottom all the way down.

Initially I decided that since the edges were sharp, I would slice some 5/16" tubing lengthwise to go around the rim of the false bottom so it would not scratch the sides. With about 10mins of pushing and pulling the false bottom only got about halfway down the cooler.

Next I decided to take off the tubing and try to carefully push it to the bottom of the cooler. After another 10mins I had a partially scratched cooler and the false bottom was touching bottom on one side & still at about a 20deg angle off the bottom.

Then I took the FB back out and attempted to bend the edges a little more in hopes of getting the dome smaller, fail #3.

Finally got it back into place where one side was touching bottom & the other side about 20deg of the bottom of the cooler, added 150deg water & with some kitchen utensils, pressed the edges of the FB down on the side that would not go down.

False bottom is in and sitting maybe 3-5deg off the bottom with a slightly forward tilt now, the sides near where the false bottom sit have some massive gashes in them & all the while I am sitting here wondering why this has never gotten any bad reviews before.

Is everyone just using these on 10gal coolers? Do they make 8.5" False Bottoms I should have got instead? Are the scratches going to affect anything as it is just for mashing & the boil will kill anything hiding in the scratches?

 

[certaut]

buy a good pair of wiss snips and make it fit

 

[LVBen]

Ummm.... Custom false bottom...

http://morebeer.com/view_product/17241//Custom_False_Bottom

 

[jspence1]

ask the simple question did you measure it? maybe you got one that's too big.

 

[tsb22]

Certaut: With the wiss snips, how would you suggest getting an even cut all the way around. A few wavy cuts around the diameter and im stuck with a false bottom that doesnt sit flush on the bottom.

LVBen...the custom false bottoms are $94.95...that's a little out of the budget for me, good to know in the future if I ever get a large brewpot. But at this point I could just buy a 10gal cooler for that price difference, I know the 9" screen would work in that.

Jspence1...I actually did not measure it, I guess I just assumed it couldn't have been a 10" or 12" because those would not have even partially fit down into the cooler.

 

[outside92129]

Another fellow on the forums had something similar, he put it on a paint can and bent/beat into it to give a better dome shape. Made it smaller and stronger.