Mash Efficiency With Ss Braided Hose

[KillerRx4]

My setup is 55lt rectangular esky & 1/2" braid.
The valve is about an inch off the bottom but its plumbed with a length of copper that reaches to the bottom, this its tee'd off & the braid does a big loop. Can get a pic tonight if thers interest although its nothing spectacular.

The last brew, after sparge had run off completely while i fired up the kettle I left the hose to drip into my jug. It ended up collecting a litre over about 10 mins until it stopped completely. When I emptied the tun, I found no liquid at all pooled at the bottom like i usually do.

My point i guess is if your valve isnt at the very bottom (which i suspect would be the case for everyone with similar setups) you want to plumb it to the bottom with some copper pipe before attaching the braid.

 

[DarkFaerytale]

My point i guess is if your valve isnt at the very bottom (which i suspect would be the case for everyone with similar setups) you want to plumb it to the bottom with some copper pipe before attaching the braid.

i use a small peice cut off from my racking hose and some hose clamps instead of copper pipeing, only 'cos i'm a useless plumber, don't use to much tho or your hose will collapse (i have a small peice of copper tubing inserted inside mine to stop it from collapsing) my efficiancy went up by 10+% after i made the braid sit on the bottom of the tun

-Phill

 

[Maxt]

After having eskies that leaked, I didn't want to play around with the already made hole of my new 66L esky. It has a deadspace of about 3 L, and like other posters, I tried tipping but not much help. I am designing today a false bottom for the esky. Not the false bottom that drains, but just one that raises the grain bed to level with the braid. I'll get back to you on the whats and hows (I am open to suggestions).

 

[delboy]

I have noticed that when it comes to efficiency there is alot of mention about malts that are used .
so are the malts used also part of the equasion of efficiency?
are so malts more efficiant than others ?
or dose it only come down to equipment every time?

I did read that modern malting techniques process more efficicient malts
can anyone shed any light on my questions?

thanx chaps

del

 

[winkle]

Re-hashing this thread as I'm putting some braided SS in my new tun and am interested in what produces the best efficiency. I have a round 36lt keepcold esky.

Most of the pic's etc show folk using a circular design on a copper T piece.

Has anyone tried any other designs / shapes with their braid?

I'm thinking of connecting a couple of T pieces together to get a circle shape with a line through it or doing a couple of circles around the tun.

(the diameter of my braid looks a bit small in the esky)

Cheers

I've got a similar keepcold. My braid manifold is circular but the t piece is opposite the outlet. A lenght of copper pipe, slightly bent, sits over top of the braid near the outlet and exits via a compression fitting. It can not float and the dead space/left over liquid might be around 1/4 to 1/2 a litre. I'll scare up a picture tonight if you want.

 

[therook]

I wouldn't mind seeing that winkle

rook

 

[Chad]

I'm using a round cooler with about 1.8m of braid wrapped around on it's self connected to a T piece at the outlet. Getting about 78-80% efficiency at the moment.

 

[T.D.]

I've got a similar keepcold. My braid manifold is circular but the t piece is opposite the outlet. A lenght of copper pipe, slightly bent, sits over top of the braid near the outlet and exits via a compression fitting. It can not float and the dead space/left over liquid might be around 1/4 to 1/2 a litre. I'll scare up a picture tonight if you want.

Weird, my setup is IDENTICAL to what you described!! :lol:

That said, I haven't tried it yet so I can't comment on the efficiency. But it should work well because the braid is held down at one end by the t-piece and copper pipe and the other end sits snug under the tap inlet.

 

[hockadays]

Using the copper as in the photo you can make the braid sit right on the bottom. The fitting are ss compression fittings...

 

[winkle]

Weird, my setup is IDENTICAL to what you described!! :lol:

That said, I haven't tried it yet so I can't comment on the efficiency. But it should work well because the braid is held down at one end by the t-piece and copper pipe and the other end sits snug under the tap inlet.

You should be right, last time I checked efficiency was around 75-80%

 

[jimi]

Great info Hockadays and Winkle

I'll try a couple of loops first.
My tap opening is pretty low down in the esky.
I don't think there'll be much dead space, but if I find the braid floating up (if it can do that) I'll try something like you've got winkle.
cheers

 

[nifty]

I use a circular shape connected to a copper tee piece which is then connected to a short length of bent copper pipe similar to those described above.

When I first started to use braid, I found that it floated up even with the weight of the grain on it. I found a length of about a quarter inch ss rod, bent it in a crescent shape and shoved it down the braid.

I consistently get 85 - 87% efficiency into the boiler, but I think it has more to do with the crush than using braid. I use a marga and send the grain through twice. I used to crush once but found I was only getting 75 - 80% efficiency.

cheers

nifty

 

[winkle]

Great info Hockadays and Winkle

I'll try a couple of loops first.
My tap opening is pretty low down in the esky.
I don't think there'll be much dead space, but if I find the braid floating up (if it can do that) I'll try something like you've got winkle.
cheers

Here's the pic
View attachment 12232
FWIW a few years back one of the yanks on HBD did say he'd experimented and found that a figure 8 braid cofig gave him the best efficency - my setup seems ok to me.

 

[Fents]

i'm getting ********* effic (usually 60-70%) using braid. maybe i need to clamp it to the bottom.

 

[domonsura]

just get a few oversized plastic u clamps from the plumbing shop and glue them to the bottom, then you can slide the braid in and out for cleaning.

 

[KoNG]

just get a few oversized plastic u clamps from the plumbing shop and glue them to the bottom, then you can slide the braid in and out for cleaning.

I think any system that alleviates the need for glue in your mash tun would be best.

 

[T.D.]

Here is my braid setup:

 

[aspro]

Gday

Mine is mounted on a bread board in a 55litre esky it is getting a bit tatty now but still works alright.

Cheers Aspro

 

[Vlad the Pale Aler]

Sorry chaps I'm a bit confused here.
We are talking about how your lautering method/system affects efficiency.
Is'nt efficiency from the mash tun all about how much of the potential sugars are extracted/converted from the grain?
A false bottom or a braid is a mechanical filter and should not affect conversion at all. It will make a difference to how fast the tun drains and maybe affect the clarity of the first runnings, but the actual mash efficency?

Please feel free to come and burn my house down.

 

[bayWeiss]

Sorry chaps I'm a bit confused here.
We are talking about how your lautering method/system affects efficiency.
Is'nt efficiency from the mash tun all about how much of the potential sugars are extracted/converted from the grain?
A false bottom or a braid is a mechanical filter and should not affect conversion at all. It will make a difference to how fast the tun drains and maybe affect the clarity of the first runnings, but the actual mash efficency?

Please feel free to come and burn my house down.

It affects mash efficiency due to how well the filter avoids channeling of the sparge water. For example, you can have a mass of grains in your tun, but if your filter only sits at the perimeter of your tun, and you drain quickly, the water flows where there is the least resistance, and that would be along the walls of your tun, through the filter, and then out.

The sugars that were converted would remain in the middle and would never make it out of the tun.

There are other factors as well, but this is the one related to the filter type IFF you are fly sparging.

cheers!