As always: thanks to all the members who share their experiences here and post lots of pictures!
I was trying to figure out how to avoid paying the big bucks for a false bottom...here is the solution:
Fortunately, we have a large scrap metal outfit in town, with 15 acres of stuff to pick through. I found a few pieces of this 3/32" thick stainless steel perf in one of the bins. It was $1.50 / LB for a total cost of about $5. The holes are about 1/8" diameter. I marked two 7 1/2" semi-circles and cut the material with the cutoff disc on my angle grinder. I attached two small SS hinges with SS nuts and bolts to the two halves of the FB.
Slipped it into the bottom of the keg, and it seems to fit pretty good!
Soaked it overnight in a solution of Straight-A and came out looking great.
After reading many threads about False Bottoms there is still one thing that I don't quite understand: how to incorporate the pickup tube? I assume that I just drill a hole in the middle of the False Bottom and drop the tube in and attach to the drain fitting. What I don't understand is: can I still remove the False Bottom with the pickup tube installed? Would I even need to remove the False Bottom? Or, do I need to remove the pickup tube to remove the False Bottom? I was planning on using a small length of copper or stainless tube with compression fitting on the keg for the pickup tube. Any Ideas??
Thanks for the comments!
I was trying to figure out how to avoid paying the big bucks for a false bottom...here is the solution:
Fortunately, we have a large scrap metal outfit in town, with 15 acres of stuff to pick through. I found a few pieces of this 3/32" thick stainless steel perf in one of the bins. It was $1.50 / LB for a total cost of about $5. The holes are about 1/8" diameter. I marked two 7 1/2" semi-circles and cut the material with the cutoff disc on my angle grinder. I attached two small SS hinges with SS nuts and bolts to the two halves of the FB.
Slipped it into the bottom of the keg, and it seems to fit pretty good!
Soaked it overnight in a solution of Straight-A and came out looking great.
After reading many threads about False Bottoms there is still one thing that I don't quite understand: how to incorporate the pickup tube? I assume that I just drill a hole in the middle of the False Bottom and drop the tube in and attach to the drain fitting. What I don't understand is: can I still remove the False Bottom with the pickup tube installed? Would I even need to remove the False Bottom? Or, do I need to remove the pickup tube to remove the False Bottom? I was planning on using a small length of copper or stainless tube with compression fitting on the keg for the pickup tube. Any Ideas??
Thanks for the comments!