Mash colander/ false bottom

[jae]

G'day All,
I'm looking for some advice on mash colander setup. I'm planning on lifting the grain bed out after mashing/sparging and using the same vessel to boil in. My main concern is mesh size for the bottom of the colander to avoid as best as possible a stuck mash/sparge any advice would be great? I'm thinking 2mm woven stainless mesh. TIA

 

[sp0rk]

Why not BIAB?

 

[homebrewkid]

Or at least a variation of biab, got some polyester voille from spotlight or any fabric supplier and wrap the colander in it, will only cost a few dollars.

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

I'm thinking 2mm woven stainless mesh. TIA

If by 2mm mesh you mean that the apertures (holes) are 2mm across, that's far too large. Mesh is normally specified by the number of wires per inch, what you are describing sounds like a standard #10 mesh with 24 AWG (0.56mm) wire, which comes out to a nominal aperture of 1.98mm.

I've been playing with a new lautering method and tried a #40 mesh (nominal aperture 0.4mm), I found it ran too fast to work well. As a temporary work around I made a removable filter pad out of a placemat to restrict the flow rate and things improved a lot.

 

[jae]

Hi thanks sp0rk and homebrewkid but I'm setting up for all grain traditional sparging ect and my mash tun is a bit too big for that option thanks also to lyrebird_Cycles yes I was referring to aperture with the 2mm reference if you've used 0.4mm and think it flows to fast is that in relation to your mash size or purely the aperture is just to big? Would 0.2mm be closer to the mark in your opinion? Cheers

 

[timmi9191]

G'day All,
I'm looking for some advice on mash colander setup. I'm planning on lifting the grain bed out after mashing/sparging and using the same vessel to boil in. My main concern is mesh size for the bottom of the colander to avoid as best as possible a stuck mash/sparge any advice would be great? I'm thinking 2mm woven stainless mesh. TIA

Sounds like what you want is a malt pipe.

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

I think mesh just has too much open area which causes the flow through the bottom of the bed to speed up and encourages channelling. My lauter efficiency improved when I reduced the flow rate by inserting the extra filter pad: I'm now getting about 71% malt conversion (94% mash efficiency) with a DP under 1 kPa.

I'm still working on the lauter plate but the three options I'm investigating all have about 20% open area and slot width of 0.6mm.

 

[sp0rk]

Hi thanks sp0rk and homebrewkid but I'm setting up for all grain traditional sparging ect and my mash tun is a bit too big for that option thanks also to lyrebird_Cycles yes I was referring to aperture with the 2mm reference if you've used 0.4mm and think it flows to fast is that in relation to your mash size or purely the aperture is just to big? Would 0.2mm be closer to the mark in your opinion? Cheers

You obviously haven't seen the 200L BIAB rig on here then...
But like timmi said, I'd say you're best off with a maltpipe

 

[jae]

Cheers Timmi that's exactly what I'm after. Forgive me as I haven't herd it called a malt pipe (where have I been) Sp0rk a 200l BIAB is a big effort is it a braumiester? And lyrebird are you playing with flat sheet/plate with holes drilled in it for the lauter plate?

 

[timmi9191]

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/92273-version-2-ss-400-micron-mesh-brew-basketshortwider/

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

And lyrebird are you playing with flat sheet/plate with holes drilled in it for the lauter plate?

No. As above, I'm looking for slotted style plates as that's what I've always had.

Version 1 is SS sheet laser cut to my dimensions. The laser cutter I normally use is looking to see if they can do it neatly.

Version 2 is custom made SS wedgewire plate. They they got back to me today and the price looks good if the quantities are large enough, about $100 each for 315mm diameter, plus shipping. I'm trying to squeeze a one-off out of them to check if they are any good.

Version 3 I am making myself out of carbon fibre. I should have that one done next week.