Mash Tun: Braided Hose vs. Manifold

[GOV-]

I am trying to design an economical 5 gallon system to start with and cannot really find answers to my new guy questions. The only component I have now is the cooler pictured below that I plan on converting into a mash tun. Igloo 45184 Glide Pro Wheeled Cooler, 110 Qt. It was a gift and still in the box.

I've seen the modified braided hose assembly and copper tube manifolds for mash tuns. Which one is better in terms of function and consistency? I'm assuming the main difference is volume of outflow? Is there a reason no one wraps a single layer of metal screen around manifold?

I'm a brewb so bear with me! Thanks!

 

[MitDaseinBier]

I used a braided hose in the 52qt cooler a number of years ago. Worked fine. Decision was based on price as I would have need to buy a hacksaw. Not a whole lot of tools laying around the dorm.

 

[Kampenken]

I use a braided hose in my cooler and it works well for me, no complaints, no stuck sparge. I like the look of the manifold and may try that in my next tun, current holds ~15# grain bill max with a thick 1.2 qt/lb mix, which is fine for most brews, but I'd prefer a bit more room. The advantage is a full tun holds heat constant very well.

One question, that cooler looks too nice to use for a tun (though you can still use as a cooler too). I'd buy another one if price isn't an issue as they are cheap, not to mention 110qt is huge for 5 gal batches!

 

[GOV-]

I used a braided hose in the 52qt cooler a number of years ago. Worked fine. Decision was based on price as I would have need to buy a hacksaw. Not a whole lot of tools laying around the dorm.

Hacksaws at Harbor Freight are cheap.

...not to mention 110qt is huge for 5 gal batches!

LOL. No kidding. Would that size be ineffective for 5 gallons? I was tinkering around with putting a divider wall in the middle and trying to seal the edges without tainting the mash. Haven't really looked that far in advance yet. I might take my wife's cooler which is better suited for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[mabrungard]

The braided stainless mesh material is well-suited for mash tun use. It does not collapse in normal use. I have had a coil of the mesh off of a 5-ft long ice-maker supply line for over 10 years now. It has worked very well. It is coiled around the bottom of my tun and then I took some thin copper wire and lashed together several points of the coil so that it would generally maintain its shape in the tun.

 

[rlmiller10]

Is you think you might fly sparge you want a system that drains evenly from across the bottom. So for a rectangular cooler a manifold would be recommended. Batch sparge it is not an issue.

 

[jbb3]

The braided stainless mesh material is well-suited for mash tun use. It does not collapse in normal use. I have had a coil of the mesh off of a 5-ft long ice-maker supply line for over 10 years now. It has worked very well. It is coiled around the bottom of my tun and then I took some thin copper wire and lashed together several points of the coil so that it would generally maintain its shape in the tun.

Ingenious! Never seen set-up like that for a cooler MT

Do you use it for re-circulation or fly-sparging or both?

And that sucker has some miles on it!

How many batches would you say have been run through that bad boy??

 

[mabrungard]

It's coming up on about 110 batches. I do RIMS, so having the bottom of the tun fairly well covered with the intake braid is important. As mentioned above, if batch sparging, covering the bottom is less important.

 

[jbb3]

LOL. No kidding. Would that size be ineffective for 5 gallons? I was tinkering around with putting a divider wall in the middle and trying to seal the edges without tainting the mash. Haven't really looked that far in advance yet. I might take my wife's cooler which is better suited for a 5 gallon batch.

I use a 10 gal round beverage cooler so don't have any experience with a rectangular cooler. But would think the grain bed for a 5 gallon batch in that behemoth would be very thin which would reduce your efficiency. But you'd be ready to go for 10-20 gallon batches!

 

[MitDaseinBier]

Hacksaws at Harbor Freight are cheap.

True, but we were trying to do this as cheap as possible. I totally think that the manifold is likely to work better, but results with the ss braid worked. The hacksaw is worth it to me now, but for a 1off project while in school it was another cost addition.

 

[buzzerj]

I used an Igloo Cube cooler as my mash tun as it was more vertical than horizontal. It held 12 gallons. I used a copper manifold with a whole lot of half cuts in it with a hacksaw. I can't complain for how it worked. I'd highly recommend it. My son in law uses the SS mesh and it works too. The most important thing is get the milled malt for your next batch and mash it!

 

[GOV-]

How do you have the thermometers rigged?

True, but we were trying to do this as cheap as possible. I totally think that the manifold is likely to work better, but results with the ss braid worked. The hacksaw is worth it to me now, but for a 1off project while in school it was another cost addition.

I wonder if a 1 gal paint strainer filled with a few copper scrub brushes and clamped to the bulkhead would filter out enough grain. Just thinking outside the box.

I used an Igloo Cube cooler as my mash tun as it was more vertical than horizontal. It held 12 gallons. I used a copper manifold with a whole lot of half cuts in it with a hacksaw. I can't complain for how it worked. I'd highly recommend it. My son in law uses the SS mesh and it works too. The most important thing is get the milled malt for your next batch and mash it!

I've got another cooler about half the size of the one above that I'll probably end up using.

 

[Falcon3]

I built a manifold when I first started and I'm still using it. Square manifold with slits cut out on the bottom of it facing the cooler floor. Can't say it works better than a screen, but I can run my HERMS at 3 gallons per minute on a super fine crush and it doesn't even think about getting a stuck mash

 

[mabrungard]

The thermometers are inserted through rubber stoppers and the assembly is inserted into a Tee. I use thermometers on both the inlet and outlet lines for the RIMS flow so that I can monitor the temperatures at each end of the grain bed.

Those dial thermometers have since been replaced by Thermoworks RT 301 electronic thermometers that are similarly mounted. They are very nice and only cost $16 each. These are the same people that make the Thermapen.