Drainage issues

[deserter]

Hi all,
I have completed my first brew in my new setup a while ago.. I had one of those trial runs that just became a debacle..

The biggest issue was draining the mash:
The gear I'm using is the tri-keg setup consisting of a water heating keg, an insulated keg for a mash tun and a 3rd for the boil.
The taps are affixed to the steel just above where the curve starts. I have a SS false bottom, and it moved around during the mashing process. When it came time to drain that bad boy the bloody tap was clogged. I am new to the AG thing and wonder if I am just missing something really obvious or if there is a trick to it. What typ of hose should i be using for the outlet - tap. I have some of the spring reinforced hose so I dont think crushing is the issue. the other thing is that the hose seems to go uphill from the elbow on the FB to the tap, again, this may be a silly question. In the end i had to use a seive and a saucepan as a ladel which gave the brew the unmistakable oxidised vibe, although not completely undrinkable, but I digress. Any pointers here would be appreciated. there seems to be a monstrous amount of info out there on the technical stuff but not much on the simple stuff that you would expect to be self explanatory.

There were other issues like boiling capabilities and other simple ones like it that I can probably sort, however any insight from anyone that has encountered issues of this minor magnitude and may save me a headache next time would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and if anyone has any good resources on how to properly enact the use of my plate heat exchanger, like maybe the locations of some tutorials or something would be awesome..

Thanks in advance.

 

[nala]

I have had your problem !
Unless the false bottom is held down onto the base of the mash tun, grain gets underneath and clogs the run-off tap hole.
Some brewers attach a Bazooka braid filter to the end of the run-off attachment which is placed under the false bottom.
The false bottom in this instance is merely to hold back the bulk of the grain.
At one time I abandoned my false bottom and used a perforated copper manifold, this eliminated the problem.

 

[Logman]

I use a copper pipe between the falsie and the wall of the keg - the pipe is bent just enough to kind of 'spring load' the falsie to the bottom of the keg as it's screwed on. You need to replace the barb on the falsie with a thread etc, I think it's all available at Bunnings in the plumbing/copper pipe section, probably less than $10 to convert.

 

[nala]

I use a copper pipe between the falsie and the wall of the keg - the pipe is bent just enough to kind of 'spring load' the falsie to the bottom of the keg as it's screwed on. You need to replace the barb on the falsie with a thread etc, I think it's all available at Bunnings in the plumbing/copper pipe section, probably less than $10 to convert.

Brilliant !!!

 

[deserter]

Thanks a heap for your help guys.. i will endeavour to do this conversion before i run my next batch..
stay tuned for more issues..

 

[pscarazza79]

Hey mate,
Im just getting ready to do a trial run on my 3v herms rig and the way i have done the mash tun is by draining from the bottom, there is a 90 degree fitting you get with the false bottom that uses two nuts remove the nuts and oring and discard the 90 degree fitting. With one nut i screwed that onto a half inch ss nipple first then put the nipple through the bottom of the vessel and threaded the other nut plus oring onto the nipple to create a bulkhead fitting (pic 2). I then sourced some ss flat bar and cut it into 3 pieces, i then welded two of the flat bar pieces either side of the inside bulkhead nut and the third piece on top to form a bridge. Drill a hole through the bridge and weld a ss nut on the underside of the hole on the bridge (pic 1). Weld a ss washer over the hole on your false bottom. Then its just a matter of using a bolt to fasten down the false bottom to the bridge (pic 3).
I see two benefits to this design one is that the false bottom wont move and second there is no dead space. The only problem i see is the ball valve is underneath rather than on the side.

 

[iralosavic]

No affiliation, but I have no channeling issues, never had a stuck sparge, and I can drain out to the last 10ml every single time. Expensive, but one of those "it just works" solutions. Norcal brewing USA makes perforated stainless steel false bottom kits that can include additional filtration (ie optional) surrounding the pick up, which blicks any cheeky grains that get under the FB. I've got these in my mash and boil kettle (which is gas powered) and I have practically zero losses to drainage issues - only loss is to hop debri absorbs ion of wort!