False bottom pick up tube

[Crusty]

I've been trolling some of the American brewery threads & the USA brewers set up their vessels a bit differently to us.
The majority of brewers here use a false bottom on their mash tun & have the pick up tube connected from the middle of the false bottom like this. Quite a lot of our overseas buddies install their pick up tubes via a hole in their false bottom quite close to the exit of the mash tun, not extending all the way out to the middle, it just pokes through a hole in the falsie but it is quite a tight fit. Some of them I've found drain completely under the false bottom leaving the false bottom unobstructed about 2:43 into the vid.
Anyone see any efficiency issues doing it like this or with the pick up tube poking through the top of the false bottom. I assume you would need to make sure the falsie covers the entire pot though.

 

[roller997]

I used to have the Beerbelly setup and it worked fine. I then moved to a larger mash tun and bought a US based false bottom as per the one in the video. I have only done one brew with the new setup and the efficiencies looked close enough to be identical to the previous mash tun / false bottom.

What I like about the new false bottom is that there is much more surface area which should reduce a stuck sparge.
What I don't like is that with my false bottom, it sits about 5 cm off the bottom, which for the 98 liter pot is about 10 liters.

Cheers

Roller

 

[Crusty]

I used to have the Beerbelly setup and it worked fine. I then moved to a larger mash tun and bought a US based false bottom as per the one in the video. I have only done one brew with the new setup and the efficiencies looked close enough to be identical to the previous mash tun / false bottom.

What I like about the new false bottom is that there is much more surface area which should reduce a stuck sparge.
What I don't like is that with my false bottom, it sits about 5 cm off the bottom, which for the 98 liter pot is about 10 liters.

Cheers

Roller

Thanks Roller.
I'm trying to get my head around some of the Tri clover fittings. If 3V, the mash tun would be something like this, 1.5" ferrule welded into kettle,
1" pick up tube that slides in through the 1.5" ferrule & clamped in place. I am guessing that the pick up tube can be mounted in such a way that the false bottom will clear the pick up tube leaving just the falsie exposed with the tube underneath. The other way to install the pick up is to simply drill a 1" hole in the top of the falsie & just insert the pick up through the hole.

 

[hsb]

I've been trolling...

'Trawling' maybe, or maybe you're just being honest?

I prefer the pick-up tube to go through the middle of the false bottom. It seems cleaner to me. It also helps lock the FB in place, but as you note - this is the norm down under.
If you're running it all underneath the FB, then why not bottom drain the Mash Tun? Seems more logical than going out of the side at the very base?

The downside to me is there looks to be more to 'go wrong' with sockets and tubing etc. underneath the FB, and it looks awkward trying to squeeze the outlet in at the base of the vessel like that?
Plus it looks like a lot more 'dead space' to deal with. I can't see a benefit but it looks totally fine as a means to getting the good stuff out.
You can always run the pick up tube through the FB but at the edge of the pot, rather than the centre. Mine is a concave keggle, hence the centre pick-up.

 

[Crusty]

'Trawling' maybe, or maybe you're just being honest?

I prefer the pick-up tube to go through the middle of the false bottom. It seems cleaner to me. It also helps lock the FB in place, but as you note - this is the norm down under.
If you're running it all underneath the FB, then why not bottom drain the Mash Tun? Seems more logical than going out of the side at the very base?

The downside to me is there looks to be more to 'go wrong' with sockets and tubing etc. underneath the FB, and it looks awkward trying to squeeze the outlet in at the base of the vessel like that?
Plus it looks like a lot more 'dead space' to deal with. I can't see a benefit but it looks totally fine as a means to getting the good stuff out.
You can always run the pick up tube through the FB but at the edge of the pot, rather than the centre. Mine is a concave keggle, hence the centre pick-up.

Yeah, trawling is what I meant.
The benefit of the pick up tube underneath is there's nothing in the way when stirring the mash, it's not really a problem but I'd prefer the tube out of the way. Bottom draining would be ok if electric vessel but I might be running a third burner under the mash so that's not an option. If for some reason you missed your mash temp, you can add heat whilst stirring the mash to get it to rest temp so that would make more sense to me. I plan to recirculate but not necessarily with temp control, ( rims / herms ) & would rather rely on my mash tun being well insulated instead of relying on a fourth vessel. Re circulation works well but when dealing with such a large volume of grist, it becomes less efficient unless you want to run 6000watts of grunt.
Dead space would be identical to a central pick up as the pick up tube is basically touching the bottom of the vessel.
This false bottom in a custom size is another way I've seen it done. Drill the 1" hole in the false bottom on one side & slip the pick up through the hole. No need to extend the pick up all the way out to the middle.