Mash Tun Drainage

[Maeldric]

Gday guys. My mate and myself are taking the step into all grain and doing it in a rather big way. Going for 100L brews. We have aquired a 200L esky to use as a mash tun and was just wondering as to the best method for draining. Whether to make a copper manifold, use braided hose, or to use a false bottom. I Was leaning towards using a false bottom. Saw there are some 12" ones on craft brewer. One of them would take up a little less than half of the bottom of the esky so was thinking of throwing two of them in there. Would the second one be even necessary and would the false bottom be the best way to go? Totally new to the whole all grain experience so any input is greatly appreciated. Cheers.

 

[Fents]

Techni Ice 200 Litre of evil bay?

There a mad esky. used one on the weekend and went to empty it last night and it still had ice in it from saturday.

If i were you i would go a copper manifold on somthing that big. Only reason i say that is i would want it draining from most of the bottom of the esky not just one point where a false bottom will sit, i dont know might not even make a pinch of difference..

will you be fly sparging or batch sparging?

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Might be worth contacting beerbelly

He can knock up a falsie bottom to your specs

http://www.beerbelly.com.au/beerequip.html

Cheers

 

[SJW]

"IMO" If you want to get into AG, I would not use and esky, esspecially if u want good efficencies. (Flame suit ON). I stated AG with a 60litre esky and used a copper manifold and a series of s/s braided hoses and it was the biggest pain in the ass. I never got good efficiency and I did everything to fix it but in the end I went to a 50 litres s/s vessel that looks like a keg with a false bottom and BOOM 75-80% every time.
I think that eskies have way too much horizontal surface area and you don't get a good enough sparge through the mash. Where a 50litre s/s vessel not unlike a keg gives a good grain bed depth for sparging and much better efficiencies.
If u want to get into AG dont get into eskies. (flame suit now on)

Steve

 

[Adamt]

I somewhat agree Steve... unless you are batch sparging where the rinsing effect of pulling through the grain is a minimal mechanism.

+1 for a Beerbelly false bottom. My shallowish rectangular esky with false bottom gets me around 85% efficiency with ~OG1.050 brews.

 

[BoilerBoy]

"IMO" If you want to get into AG, I would not use and esky, esspecially if u want good efficencies. (Flame suit ON). I stated AG with a 60litre esky and used a copper manifold and a series of s/s braided hoses and it was the biggest pain in the ass. I never got good efficiency and I did everything to fix it but in the end I went to a 50 litres s/s vessel that looks like a keg with a false bottom and BOOM 75-80% every time.
I think that eskies have way too much horizontal surface area and you don't get a good enough sparge through the mash. Where a 50litre s/s vessel not unlike a keg gives a good grain bed depth for sparging and much better efficiencies.
If u want to get into AG dont get into eskies. (flame suit now on)

Steve

Ignites flame thrower

I use a 55L esky with a big fat SS braid and batch sparge and consistently get 80-82% Efficiency.

Cheers,
BB

 

[SJW]

Ignites flame thrower

I use a 55L esky with a big fat SS braid and batch sparge and consistently get 80-82% Efficiency.

Cheers,
BB

 

[Stuster]

Ignites flame thrower

I use a 55L esky with a big fat SS braid and batch sparge and consistently get 80-82% Efficiency.

+1. Except I use a 36L esky.

We've also used Crozdog's Mother of all Mash Tuns for our club brew days. It's really just a glorified esky on steroids with a massive braid at the bottom. It turns out 350L batches. Last run it gave us 88% efficiency. B)

 

[ausdb]

Gday guys. My mate and myself are taking the step into all grain and doing it in a rather big way. Going for 100L brews. We have aquired a 200L esky to use as a mash tun and was just wondering as to the best method for draining. Whether to make a copper manifold, use braided hose, or to use a false bottom. I Was leaning towards using a false bottom. Saw there are some 12" ones on craft brewer. One of them would take up a little less than half of the bottom of the esky so was thinking of throwing two of them in there. Would the second one be even necessary and would the false bottom be the best way to go? Totally new to the whole all grain experience so any input is greatly appreciated. Cheers.

A fellow brewer I know tried two circular false bottoms in a big esky and it did not work to well, too much grain got under the bottom and clogged things up. Our brew club has a 165qt igloo esky on permanent loan from a member and I built a slotted copper manifold that works extremely well. There are some photo's here. Once you have vorlaufed we can run off with a 1/2" ball valve wide open with no problems.
http://westcoastbrewers.com/photo-gallery/10-

 

[Maeldric]

Thanks for the responses guys. Yeah got it off ebay and will be batch sparging. Given me something to think about.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

If you have decided on batch sparging (I'm not advocating it, just commenting on its features OK...)

Then quite a few of your problems go away. You don't have to worry about channeling or drainage patterns etc, which could well be an issue in a fly sparge in a "big" mash tun. You mainly want to make sure you can get a good run-off and not get a stuck sparge. For that, lots of surface area is a good thing.

You do have to consider that you need to stir and stir well when you add each batch of sparge water - and in a big tun you wont be able to be subtle with it. So whatever you use as your separation device - braid, manifold, false bottom - is going to have to be able to take a fair knock with the mash paddle without lifting or dislodging.

You might also consider the efficiency implications of a large amount of dead space. In a tall thin lautering vessel, an inch of deadspace might not be a large percentage of your total volume, not so in a long low rectangular one. So you will need to think a little about where it drains from.

Braid works and works well - but... just off the top of my head I reckon that getting a custom false bottom knocked up by beerbelly might be the best bet if you are going to jump in the deep end with a big eski system. Probably cheaper than building one out of copper tube anyway.

No answers for you, just more questions - sorry

Thirsty

 

[hoohaaman]

Just buy the Beerbelly falsie,well worth it.Best bit of brew gear I ever bought.

Then if efficiency is a problem..................it's you not the tools

 

[crozdog]

+1. Except I use a 36L esky.

We've also used Crozdog's Mother of all Mash Tuns for our club brew days. It's really just a glorified esky on steroids with a massive braid at the bottom. It turns out 350L batches. Last run it gave us 88% efficiency. B)

The MOAMT uses a loop of braid that's over 1" in diameter & is a heavier construction than what is used on ezy hookers - it needs to be with 50+kg of grain on it B). I bought it from Earles braided hoses (they make performance car radiator hoses and brake lines". Cost me about $50 for 1m & works really well as the ISB boys will testify.