False Bottom Ideas For 100l Techniice Esky

[stux]

So, my Techniice 100L arrived the other day



Has a nice 1" BSP (I think) bung hole, well, its 32mm in diameter at least



The funny thing is the base is slightly concave... around the edges at least, this presents a bit of a channel. I had drawn up lots of nice diagrams with cross-sections etc, but I closed the document without saving

So, it looks that the corners are about 8mm or so deeper than the mainly flat center area

inner dimensions = 58 x 38 cm



I think this means the wort will flow to the edges, then sortof nicely drain around the edges... perhaps perfect for running a manifold just around the corners...

like this... but not. (thanks chappo cocko)



or, I could get a BB falsie... that will look exactly like this (thanks pocket beers)



Which looks a little small :-\

Amanda @ BeerBelly has said that Wayne can make larger falsies... and if that is the case... then what size should I go for?


Alternatively, I did have an idea to basically get an entire sheet of mesh which would be large enough to cover the bottom... I figured I could add angle iron or something along the edges, raising and lifting the edges, as well as helping to prevent edge wall channelling... i hope... and perhaps some standoffs etc. The idea would be to make an entire false bottom with full coverage, and then drain from underneath that. If i did that I might not even need a manifold/pickup arangement as it look like it will drain nicely out the bunghold with just a gentle angle

Again... i had lots of pretty diagrams

Edit: re-drew the full false bottom diagrams



Although I would start with batch sparging, I'd be wanting to go to a HERMS and even experiment with continuous sparging, which is why I like the idea of a false bottom

Any thoughts?

 

[Cocko]

like this... but not. (thanks chappo)

View attachment 59423



Any thoughts?

Umm.. Thats mine, not Chappos and I use to get about 75% out of it regularly.... Batch sparging. Once I started fly spargin, it was 82+ every brew...

You have thrown up all the options and I reckon the manifold is still the best. Not only because it served me so well for so many years but if you get your head around what you are trying to achieve, it works.

A Mesh bottom would be like draining a bag in biab and would take most the sparge to form a grain bed filter...

But, others will know better..

2c.

 

[stux]

Umm.. Thats mine, not Chappos and I use to get about 75% out of it regularly.... Batch sparging. Once I started fly spargin, it was 82+ every brew...

You have thrown up all the options and I reckon the manifold is still the best. Not only because it served me so well for so many years but if you get your head around what you are trying to achieve, it works.

A Mesh bottom would be like draining a bag in biab and would take most the sparge to form a grain bed filter...

But, others will know better..

2c.

Sorry Cocko , fixed

Thanks

 

[Cocko]

Sorry Cocko , fixed

Thanks

HAHA!.. just reconised the pic is all mate. Chappo did abuse me a lot during that build, so all is good! :lol:

All good, main point being the rest of my post...

Good luck with the build mate, I miss my 100L tun, it will serve you well.

What are you boiling in? 120L?

 

[stux]

HAHA!.. just reconised the pic is all mate. Chappo did abuse me a lot during that build, so all is good! :lol:

All good, main point being the rest of my post...

Appreciated

Good luck with the build mate, I miss my 100L tun, it will serve you well.

What are you boiling in? 120L?

Thanks

98L for now

Currently knocking out 65L with BIAB

Choice was basically between 80 or 100, and went with 100

See: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=69194

 

[stux]

The manifold does have the benefit that if I get an itch during the xmas holidays, or if the silly season makes a good size dent in the 10 kegs I have on standby... I can run to bunnings to buy the parts

 

[Cocko]

Yep, easy!

The manifold is forcing even channeling, if you go full mesh you are picking up from the closest point and the 'back of the mesh will be suffering..

3c.

EDIT: This

 

[Sammus]

I'm sure they'd both be fine, and I don't reackong the BB looks too small. It's only the performance that matters right, not the size?

I think Palmer did some flow analysis on mash tuns and his data sugeests that having your manifold all the way to the edge can give you highly non-uniform flow through the grainbed while you're sparging. If you're batch sparging then it doesn't matter what manifold you use in that regard

I haven't used a tube style one, but I've used a stainless braid (good for the price, but my least favourite), a round false bottom that we've all seen before, and one of BBs falsies. The BB falsie is about a thousand times better than the others in every regard. It requires much less circulation to get out bits of grain, and once that's done the wort coming through is unmistakably clearer. No affiliation or anything, I don't even own one, my mate bought one for his setup recently and I was so impressed by it I want to ditch my large round shiny stainless mashtun and build an esky with a falsie in it With the others I have had problems with stuck sparges too, flasie has no such problem same batch of grain, same mill, same everything except mash tun.

Edit: after reading CMs comments below, I should say that all my experiences were in smaller vessels, a falsie in a big esky may move around a bit and hence be a pita.

 

[brettprevans]

Having used a falsie in a 120L or larger ut was a nightmafe cause the ******* can move and u get grain struck under, stuck sparges eyc. When we then used a manifold it worked a treat.

Imo for a job like that there's nothing on earth Like a genuine, bona fide Electrified, six-car monorail

I mean manifold

 

[Silver]

Before i got my 40 ltr IGLOO, i had a rectangular esky which i fitted a full size woven stainless mesh filter and it worked a treat.

 

[stux]

Before i got my 40 ltr IGLOO, i had a rectangular esky which i fitted a full size woven stainless mesh filter and it worked a treat.

How did you do it? Any pics?

 

[MastersBrewery]

Imo for a job like that there's nothing on earth Like a genuine, bona fide Electrified, six-car monorail

Just so happens Sydney will have one going cheap in the near future....keep an eye on ebay :huh:

 

[Silver]

How did you do it? Any pics?

No pics, sorry. Made a rough template using cardboard. Transferred to mesh and cut with 1mm thick cutting disc. Finished using 4" sander. Drilled a couple of holes and put a couple of small ss bolts in for lifting mesh in and out. I butchered that piece of mesh to use in my Igloo. Never had a stuck sparge and efficiency runs around 80% give or take a few points.

 

[Nibbo]

Umm.. Thats mine, not Chappos and I use to get about 75% out of it regularly.... Batch sparging. Once I started fly spargin, it was 82+ every brew...

You have thrown up all the options and I reckon the manifold is still the best. Not only because it served me so well for so many years but if you get your head around what you are trying to achieve, it works.

A Mesh bottom would be like draining a bag in biab and would take most the sparge to form a grain bed filter...

But, others will know better..

2c.

I knew i reconised those shady welds... h34r:

 

[Yob]

I use a sheet of Voille (sp ?) in my esky, mostly because I wanted a fine filter because of the brown pump I use and didnt want to run the risk of the wort return blocking..

it works an absolute treat and have never considered forking out for SS..dead easy to clean too (*ed) manifold similar to Cocko's

system has been upgraded from this piccie but you will get the gist.



Ghetto? Yep... work? You bet your ass it does :lol:

 

[jc64]

Yob, love it! Ghetto style for the win!

I use a stainless braid in a 80L Techni-Ice esky, I'm getting around 68-70% efficiency which is fine with me. Single batch sparge, really quick as a bonus.

 

[JDW81]

So, my Techniice 100L arrived the other day

View attachment 59419

Has a nice 1" BSP (I think) bung hole, well, its 32mm in diameter at least

View attachment 59420

The funny thing is the base is slightly concave... around the edges at least, this presents a bit of a channel. I had drawn up lots of nice diagrams with cross-sections etc, but I closed the document without saving

So, it looks that the corners are about 8mm or so deeper than the mainly flat center area

inner dimensions = 58 x 38 cm

View attachment 59422

I think this means the wort will flow to the edges, then sortof nicely drain around the edges... perhaps perfect for running a manifold just around the corners...

like this... but not. (thanks chappo cocko)

View attachment 59423

or, I could get a BB falsie... that will look exactly like this (thanks pocket beers)

View attachment 59424

Which looks a little small :-\

Amanda @ BeerBelly has said that Wayne can make larger falsies... and if that is the case... then what size should I go for?


Alternatively, I did have an idea to basically get an entire sheet of mesh which would be large enough to cover the bottom... I figured I could add angle iron or something along the edges, raising and lifting the edges, as well as helping to prevent edge wall channelling... i hope... and perhaps some standoffs etc. The idea would be to make an entire false bottom with full coverage, and then drain from underneath that. If i did that I might not even need a manifold/pickup arangement as it look like it will drain nicely out the bunghold with just a gentle angle

Again... i had lots of pretty diagrams

Edit: re-drew the full false bottom diagrams

View attachment 59426

Although I would start with batch sparging, I'd be wanting to go to a HERMS and even experiment with continuous sparging, which is why I like the idea of a false bottom

Any thoughts?

I had one of these and made up a copper manifold to the specs in how to brew. It also had the slightly funny shaped base, but didn't make any difference to efficiency etc. I put a brass plug in the outlet, with a 1/2 inch internal thread, which was easy to fit a weldless valve to.

Had great efficiency with both batch and fly sparging, and assuming you get your measurements right there will be no problems with channeling etc.

Looked something like this..

 

[kieran]

If the edge will bother you, apply some clear silicone to all the 8mm lower edges/corners, thick enough so it raises the edges to draw flow back into the middle.

There are food-friendly silicones able to adhere to rigid plastics, withstand "chemical attack" (I wouldn't call a mash acidic, but a pH of 5-ish is a little on the low side) and importantly resist heat.
e.g. http://www.selleys.com.au/trade/building-p...ilicone-401-rtv

 

[stux]

I had one of these and made up a copper manifold to the specs in how to brew. It also had the slightly funny shaped base, but didn't make any difference to efficiency etc. I put a brass plug in the outlet, with a 1/2 inch internal thread, which was easy to fit a weldless valve to.

Had great efficiency with both batch and fly sparging, and assuming you get your measurements right there will be no problems with channeling etc.

Looked something like this..

Lovely neat manifold, how big is your esky?

 

[stux]

So, at the moment I'm leaning towards the manifold, although perhaps if I can get a BB false for 50$ 2nd hand...

I've done a bit of searching on the US forums, and it seems a few people have made the full-perforated false bottom, with good success...

one example (yuri_rage)

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/how-do-i-b...652/#post794800

I made it out of perforated stainless from www.onlinemetals.com (3/32" holes, around .030" thick). Tin snips and a bench mounted sander made it pretty easy to shape. A few sheet metal screws provide standoff from the bottom of the cooler (less than 1").

And toecutter's, same thing really, sits on the old manifold, http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/finished-m...-bottom-280696/

Actually , just finished it up yesterday. I used 10-2 1/2 inch stainless steel screws to act as legs, so it sits slightly above the top of the back side of the spigot. Underneath the false bottom is the original copper manifold.

Seems like its a good idea to build a manifold as the base for a full false bottom anyway... So I should probably go with a manifold, and I can then always play around with mesh if I feel inclined later


I'm still wondering about the margin area on the full mesh false bottom, in my original plan I considered having a non perferated section around the edge... I've found figures anywhere from 10-50mm for the width of this non perforated section