rust in mash tun

[businesstime]

I followed a great tutorial on building a mash/lauter tun. But, one of the steps suggested using a steel wire and coiling it to snake inside the SS braid in order to give the braid structure against the weight of the grain bed and also to allow it to be shaped easily.

Unfortunately, the wire rusts because it's not SS! I'm concerned that my very first all grain batch may now be ruined. Anyone else run into this and have you done anything different in your construction?

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

The wire shouldn't be necessary, so you should be able to remove it.

While you're mashing, the grain is suspended in the water, so its weight is negligible. Once you start draining, the grain will compact around the braid and still not put very much weight on it.

[The above is conjecture... probably flawed based on the amount of alcohol I've consumed tonight.]

I used a stainless braid for several batches and never had mine collapse from the weight of the grain.

It did eventually collapse, but that was because I managed to mangle the heck out of it with my mash paddle. While trying to figure out a way to fix it, I did notice that 5/8 inch tubing fit nicely inside it, so slotting some of that and inserting it inside the braid would probably work well.

Before I tried that though, the guys at AHS talked me into getting a false bottom, so my braid is sitting lonely at the bottom of my toolbox now.