New Manifold Invention

[pablo_h]

g,day all. playing the devils advocate here,would;nt it be easier to just use the copper manifold on its own.
i am thinking that the braid covered copper would be a good place for nasties to hide and be pita to clean properly.
my 2 cents worth,dont mean to step on any toes.....cheers....spog......

Yeah, but beer is slightly acidic, I went to the s/s braid to minimise the amount of brass and copper in my tun. If I now have to use a bit of copper and brass, it's still better than a lot of copper and brass in there.

I'll be on the lookout though to replace the copper insert with a s/s spring, similar to the helical wound internal hosing you can buy.

 

[HoppingMad]

Just thought I'd throw this into the mix...

http://melbournebrewers.org/wiki/JohnAbbott

Cheers,

Hopper.

 

[Steve Lacey]

The slots cut to the width of one hacksaw blade at a spacing of every 10 to 15 mm around the pipe will certainly not clog up, nor will they pass chunks after only a minimal recirculation. I cut the slots to less than halfway and have them facing down. You might get slower/stuck sparges only if you go to high proportions of huskless grains like wheat. I'm pretty sure that the holes would be fine too. Just might need to drill more of them.

 

[ArnieW]

I built a pickup for the bottom of my kettle that works on the same principle. To create the slot I used a power nibbler. The slot is designed to sit downwards although it would work ok in a mash tun facing up.


This is then covered in some stainless mesh that I also used on my home made false bottom. It would be much easier to make a slot like this than cut lots of them with a hacksaw (unless of course you don't have a nibbler )


cheers, Arnie

 

[yardy]

Yardy, I have only seen two people's set up and one person actually brew. Andrew uses braid so that's the way I went. I always think of your manifold system and get a bit green with envy. I'll sling you a few bucks to make a round one for me to fit into my keg style tun.

Since i built the 48 litre jobby i've no use for the old 25 litre Tun ( HERE ) it's yours for a few beers if you want it, won't handle double batches though.

Cheers
Yard

 

[yardy]

meant to say the tun is minus the MM Thermometer, it went into the HLT

Cheers
Yardy

 

[Tony M]

Go to your favorite stainless fabricator and scrounge 3 metres of SS welding wire. Wind it tightly around a rod about 2/3 the diameter of your braid and voile! you have a coil insert which you can stretch to match the braid length

 

[dicko]

Hey Spog, I knew somebody would say this but my main concern with a copper only manifold was as I said whether I could get the slots thin enough so they didn't block up and I'd be back to the same stuck sparges.

If it turns out that the thinnest hacksaw blade is fine I will be trying one eventually. I have a honking big pump on my dam that puts out amazing water pressure. It should blast out most nasties from the new invention. If it doesn't my next step will be copper only and pray it doesn't get grain in the slots.

Hi All,

The filtering of the grain bed in a mash that is being lautered or just drained is achieved within the grain bed itself and not from the manifold/braid/falsie etc.

Stuck sparges are caused by the grain being compacted too tightly or the grain milled too fine.

As it has been shown on this forum before, you can use gravel to create a false bottom if you wish.

I have seen manifolds with slots 1/8" wide in 3/4" copper pipe drained flat out after a few litres have been recirculated to achieve a clear run off and produce the desired result.

Have a read of Palmers "How to brew" on manifolds and false bottoms and then decide wether you really need to overdesign these pieces of brewing equipment.

A copper pipe with hacksaw cuts at 1/4" intervals and made so as not to cause "channeling" down the sides of the lauter tun is all you need. If you think you need to fit braid over the manifold then do it, after all, it is YOUR money.
If braid is what works for you then use it. If you are concerned that it crushes up with a large grain bill then I suggest you use a manifold or a false bottom.

KISS and Cheers

 

[warra48]

BTW, does anybody know the internal diameter of those el cheapo Big W 19L stock pots? Would it fit a 12" false bottom?

I use one of those for heating my mash and sparge water.
At the lid end, they're 12" wide, but as they are slightly tapered, they are 11" at the base.
In the immortal words of Maxwell Smart "missed it by that much...."

 

[TidalPete]

Have a read of Palmers "How to brew" on manifolds and false bottoms and then decide wether you really need to overdesign these pieces of brewing equipment.

A copper pipe with hacksaw cuts at 1/4" intervals and made so as not to cause "channeling" down the sides of the lauter tun is all you need. If you think you need to fit braid over the manifold then do it, after all, it is YOUR money.
If braid is what works for you then use it. If you are concerned that it crushes up with a large grain bill then I suggest you use a manifold or a false bottom.

+1 dicko.

Doing my 68th AG on Thursday using the square manifold shown in Palmer's "How to Brew" without a stuck sparge or any mishaps & average 86% efficiency. Mind you, I cover the manifold with a home-made nylon mesh bag to eliminate any bits & pieces that might get through.

PS ---- Of course, there are a few other factors involved that add up to a good efficiency in your system.


TP :beer:

 

[Screwtop]

Have a read of Palmers "How to brew" on manifolds and false bottoms and then decide wether you really need to overdesign these pieces of brewing equipment.

Years ago Bindi was using a piece of 1/2 inch PVC hose with holes drilled in it inside SS braid.

Aint Rocket Science it's CDF really - NASA design specs are wasted on such an old practice :lol:

 

[alexbrand]

Hey mates!

Won't the effective filtering (lautering) surface of the braid be reduced to the total size of the holes in the copper tube? If yes, the effective surface would be reduced to a fraction of the braid's surface...

Alex

 

[yardy]

I'm going to have to disagree with the nay sayers on over engineering of manifolds, i just can't see a single piece of braid or maybe even a FB coping with a %100 rye mash.

Cheers
Yard

 

[LethalCorpse]

Hey mates!

Won't the effective filtering (lautering) surface of the braid be reduced to the total size of the holes in the copper tube? If yes, the effective surface would be reduced to a fraction of the braid's surface...

Alex

Worse yet, the holes are partially covered by the braid, so you're getting the worst of both worlds. The braid will just collapse against the surface of the pipe, same as it collapses against itself without it. Plus you've got the bacterial problem mentioned, and, of course, folks would consider it remiss of me not to mention galvanic corrosion in a thread like this. Use the copper instead of the braid if you must, but using both is silly.

This has given me an interesting thought about helical wire wound silicon tubing with holes cut in it though...

 

[Henno]

Worse yet, the holes are partially covered by the braid, so you're getting the worst of both worlds. The braid will just collapse against the surface of the pipe, same as it collapses against itself without it. Plus you've got the bacterial problem mentioned, and, of course, folks would consider it remiss of me not to mention galvanic corrosion in a thread like this. Use the copper instead of the braid if you must, but using both is silly.

This has given me an interesting thought about helical wire wound silicon tubing with holes cut in it though...

Had to dig up this thread for a mate I'm about to give this system to. It ended up with slots cut into a new piece of pipe and worked fantastically, when I bought a FB it was just to be in with the in crowd really and it caused me even more grief as the holes were so large grain went straight through the ******* of a thing.

Nobody likes being told something they have done is silly and here we are 18 months after the invention of my silly system and it still works fine and there is not one iota of galvanic corrosion, or disimilar metal corrosion as it was also referred to in my 12 year aircraft maintenance career. The only thing that looks a bit suss is the screws on the clamps as they were cheapies.

 

[Tony]

I have been using something similar for years and i recon your on the money with your setup Henno!

I really need to improve mine to something like you have built but it works so why mess with it hey

I origionly just used the pipe with small holes drilled in the bottom but it blocked fast after about 50ml's went through. So i emptied the mash into a big bucket, cut a bit of SS mesh and cable tied it on, poured the mash back in and off it went. I have been using the same setup now for several years.

cheers

 

[Henno]

I have been using something similar for years and i recon your on the money with your setup Henno!

I really need to improve mine to something like you have built but it works so why mess with it hey

I origionly just used the pipe with small holes drilled in the bottom but it blocked fast after about 50ml's went through. So i emptied the mash into a big bucket, cut a bit of SS mesh and cable tied it on, poured the mash back in and off it went. I have been using the same setup now for several years.

cheers

How often do you need to clean off the galvanic corrosion though Tony?

 

[Tony]

How often do you need to clean off the galvanic corrosion though Tony?

:huh:

Only when the lights start to dim on the multiflux-reverse-transmodufier.

In all honesty mate....... whats galvanic corrosion? Im just a dumb sparkie

i just hose it out after mashing in it. It could prpbably do with a PBW hit though. Its a tad browner in there now days but its made AABC gold medal beers!