False bottoms.. prices are all over the place....

[MrBaloo]

Hi all, just thought I would be lazy and ask, in place of reading all the posts.. so at least i get a point for honesty....

Looking for a false bottom for my keggle conversion mash tun project. Seeing ones for $35 at 11.5 inches, and others that are 90 and even 120 bucks... seems the 90 and above are either 2 piece or have a hinge. I am just curious if the smaller ones from midwest supply and williams brewing are good enough, or if I need to shell out the bucks for the $100 ones...

thanks, as I continually over think this project.

Cheers,

Baloo

 

[GoeHaarden]

Anything that separates the liquid from the grain will work, how efficiently do they they do that? Who knows? Some people get great efficiency with those braided stainless steel hoses and thats probably the cheapest route you could go.

I use one of those cheap domed false bottoms, as they have a relatively low deadspace. I also use a biab bag on top of it so I can use a pretty fine crush and still prevent stuck sparges...

 

[estricklin]

Unless your going to be applying heat directly to the mash, any false bottom will work. I have a nice stainless one, but I prefer to build them from aluminum pizza pans.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I have 2 false bottoms, 1 for a large (round) 7 gal Rubbermaid cooler and another for the smaller (but taller) round cooler.

I stopped using them and use only the brained stainless steel tubes. They're much better IMO.

 

[d3track]

are you using bottom drain or a pick up tube?

 

[MrBaloo]

I am in the unending design phase... but planning on a pick up tube.

 

[calgary222]

I have heard that some folks have problems with the ones that sit on the bottom sealing properly, especially if knocked while stirring the mash, but when I had one I didn't have an issues. I have the raised one now and that works well with the flow required for rims (I just have to put a priming valve somewhere in the system because it can sometimes be hard to start the flow).

 

[mirthfuldragon]

I have a keggle with a false botton, and its only real use now is as a pickup tube since I mash in a bag. The finer crush boosts efficiency with no real downside, and it is a lot easier to clean afterward, and there are no grains in the wort.

Also, to make your life more complicated: have you thought about electric keggles? That would require a standoff of some sort off the bottom. That's the direction I am going now.

 

[MrBaloo]

I have a keggle with a false botton, and its only real use now is as a pickup tube since I mash in a bag. The finer crush boosts efficiency with no real downside, and it is a lot easier to clean afterward, and there are no grains in the wort.

Also, to make your life more complicated: have you thought about electric keggles? That would require a standoff of some sort off the bottom. That's the direction I am going now.

I like the way you are thinking, I can see how it would be easier to clean.... yes, I am planning electric, but going the way of a HERMS system.....

 

[Jayjay1976]

Unless your going to be applying heat directly to the mash, any false bottom will work. I have a nice stainless one, but I prefer to build them from aluminum pizza pans.

I've been thinking about ditching my bayou grain basket in favor of adding a false bottom to keep my bag off the heating elements. Is there anything in particular that I need to consider before choosing or making one? I guess I need max open area to promote good flow around the elements?

 

[madscientist451]

I use a steamer basket I got at my local Goodwill store for $1 and a BIAB bag in my round cooler, works great. If the flow slows down, I just pull up on the bag a little, no worries of stuck sparges.
I do have a false bottom in my big keggle mash tun, but I'll probably get a big BIAB bag for that also.

 

[swampbrewcrew]

I've been thinking about ditching my bayou grain basket in favor of adding a false bottom to keep my bag off the heating elements. Is there anything in particular that I need to consider before choosing or making one? I guess I need max open area to promote good flow around the elements?

If you have one of the Bayou brew kettles they sell a raised false bottom that will go over the elements.

 

[Jayjay1976]

If you have one of the Bayou brew kettles they sell a raised false bottom that will go over the elements.

I have a 44qt bayou pot that I converted to a kettle; the groove inside that the false bottom would sit on is near the top so I don't know if it will fit.

 

[Blazinlow86]

I originally had a keggle outdoor propane system using the typical 10inch domed false bottom which worked fine and I was batch sparging at that time. When I switched to my indoor electric Herms system I was getting very poor flow rate/ stuck sparge using the same false bottom. I switched to a jaybird false bottom and immediately could run my chugger pump's full speed without issues. Fwiw when I built the new system I ditched the keggles and bought normal kettles as I wanted to go to 1/2 barrel batches so I don't have any experience with the jbird keggle false bottom but the one for the bigger kettle's worked excellent

 

[Blazinlow86]

 

[Blazinlow86]

Forgot my point. If you're recirculating get a better/ larger FB. If not I would probably just get the cheaper version. Also keep in mind though if you buy a keggle specific FB and wanna upgraded later on your gonna be rebuying another expensive FB and in my experience homebrew stuff has terrible resale value