Perforated Stainless Steel Sheeting, False Bottoms

[BrissyBrew]

borrot, the wheel, I want to see some pics, by your description it is exactly the idea I have in my head (but probably mark 2). (I wanna see some pics)

The only other thing I was contemplating was to make a coil that covered the entire base of the MT and the drain in the centre. I would think that if you left no gaps it would in effect form a false bottom however due to the ridges actually give you a greater surface area...

 

[Borret]

BB,
I might do some sketched of my manifold ideas over the weekend if I get a chance.

I'm not a fan of the coil. You are still relying on the outer runningds getting the whole way round that spiral. It's gott show more prefernce to the middle as far a flow.. Spokes arange in the same manner may be a better option. Even the 2 or 3 loop method does not make sense to me. Yeah its got better surface area but the distance to the outlet is going to mean better flow on the part of the loops connected closer to the t piece and hence flow with show prefernece to them anyway. Hence the spoked wheel tries to eleviate the prefernetial flow by placing everything more equally from the pickup in the centre.
Someone feel free to burn me down on that but that how I see it working.

Borret

 

[Borret]

Hey Pumpy,Here's your stainless balls
stainless balls

Cheers

Borret

 

[Wortgames]

Brissybrew;

These any good?

http://www.grainandgrape.com.au/brewingsystems_info.htm

If you have to put one in the bottom of a keg. They could probably be cut and hinged. They go up to 30cm diameter.

Warren -

[post="57589"][/post]​

Warren - I've seen these in the flesh and they are quite sturdy. The beauty of a beer keg is that the bottom is tapered - so forget hingeing it, just get one that is smaller than your cutout. This would be the best and cheapest way to convert a keg IMO.

 

[Darren]

Hey Pumpy,Here's your stainless balls
stainless balls

Cheers

Borret

[post="57945"][/post]​

Pumpy, Borret,
Marbles would be cheaper and lighter.
How would you empty your mash tun though? Imagine having to clean 200 or so marbles at the end of each brewday.
cheers
Darren

 

[Borret]

I'm not saying I would do it, I'm just humouring pumpy.

Borret

 

[Borret]

BB,
I might do some sketched of my manifold ideas over the weekend if I get a chance.

I did a sketch of what my manifold is going to look like (cause Brissy Brew asked and just to get feedback) So here it is. How do you reckon it will go? I have the centre piece half finished but still need to buy some more braid. I figure this arrangement shoulf give me some nice consistant flow and also be easy to remove from the drain riser to clean. Only draw back is the number of ss hoseclamps I need . I might experiment with something else for them.

Cheers Borret :blink:

 

[Wortgames]

It looks beautiful Borret (love the artwork too BTW) but I'm going to be negative here and say that it looks a lot more expensive, and no more effective, than the perforated stainless discs sold by G&G - and they will be easier to clean and less prone to a deep-stir disaster.

If you can get all the parts for nicks then go for it, but I reckon if I was faced with both options at the same price, I'd go with the perf disc.

 

[Borret]

Wort Games

I had taken into account the deep stir and hence the drain pipe is grub screwed in and it literally holds the hub to the base (ie you will have to spring it up to get the manifold out).
The only disadvantage I was trying to overcome on a false bottom was the dead space you have in the conical base of a keg. Becasue this all drains down to the centre and siphons out from the lowest point then you have pretty much no dead space below the drain.
But that's just in theory at this stage.

Borret

 

[Steve Lacey]

Hence the spoked wheel tries to eleviate the prefernetial flow by placing everything more equally from the pickup in the centre.
Someone feel free to burn me down on that but that how I see it working.

Borret

[post="57737"][/post]​

I agree 100%. I had a manifold before I left Australia that was similar to your sketch, Borret. Only differences were i) It was made of drilled copper tube, not braid. ii) It only had two cross arms iii) The central vertical riser went all the way up and out of the top because I never got around to putting a bulkhead on my keg. So it was basically just cobbled together pieces of drilled copper tube and joiners. I never even soldered it, just fit them together with friction, which was usually adequate. It worked well and made a great steering wheel for driving my pretend car around the back yard :super:

Here in Japan I have another jerry-rigged manifold. It is a length of stainless steel tube (again all the way up and out the top) with a 90 degree bend and short section at the mash end. To that I have attached a stainless steel scrubby pulled out into a sausage shape and then enclosed in some s/steel mesh using copper wire to enclose the mesh. It is as ugly as anything and not super efficient, but it does the job well enough considering I only get to all-grain brew once in a blue moon.

To start a siphon of 70+ deg liquid, I advise filling the tube with water rather than sucking on it :unsure:

Edit: I should add, on the question of stirring, that because my siphon-style manifolds are not part of the tun, you don't need to put them in until you are ready to lauter. So stirring during the mash is not an issue.

Steve

 

[warrenlw63]

To start a siphon of 70+ deg liquid, I advise filling the tube with water rather than sucking on it :unsure:

[post="58550"][/post]​

C'mon Steve. You've gotta live for danger. h34r:

Warren -

 

[roach]

BB,
I might do some sketched of my manifold ideas over the weekend if I get a chance.

I did a sketch of what my manifold is going to look like (cause Brissy Brew asked and just to get feedback) So here it is.

Cheers Borret :blink:

View attachment 2665

[post="58538"][/post]​

Borret
I like the space station manifold design :lol:

Roach

 

[Wortgames]

Space ships aside, I think the dead space issue could probably largely be overcome by turning the perf disc upside-down, so that it was concave in the bottom of the keg rather than convex above it. Even in a convex position, just adding a short downtube to the underside of the take-off could theoretically reach much closer to the bottom of the keg than the lowest intake point on your manifold.

Not sure whether there's any mileage in the 'preferential flow' theory or even how you'd go about testing for it, so I couldn't comment on that other than to say it probably wouldn't be enough justification (to me) for the expense and complication of your design. I guess with a perforated disc one could experiment with various shapes of plastic sheet laid over it to see whether there was much difference in efficiency or conversion times, but somehow I doubt there would be much to it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it will make an excellent lauter tun, I'm just not convinced it will offer much benefit over simpler and cheaper options.

 

[RobW]

Don't the perforated screens have a drain tube that goes almost to the bottom of the tun to overcome the deadspace issue?

 

[Wortgames]

The ones I've seen at G&G only have a 90deg brass fitting on them, so there's only as much depth as a slim nut underneath. It would probably be close enough to the bottom in a flat-bottomed pot, but you'd need about 2" or so to get right to the bottom of a keg.

 

[RobW]

Can't speak for those but I'm pretty sure the plastic Phill's ones have a longer tube. Shouldn't be hard to fit something similiar to the brass elbow.

 

[Borret]

How does the dead space under the FB effect the likes of Ph etc in the mash when you have that extra liquid lying around. (I don't have a clue in this area that's why I'm asking)
As to cost I have got most bits free/cheap and working on the others. Small Items are easier to bring under the SWMBO radar than one big interstate purchase like the G&G FB.

Borret

 

[Wortgames]

Ah yes, the SWMBO radar - a formidable force.

I don't know of any effects caused by the deadspace either, but I think it's worth circulating some runoff during the mash regardless, just to keep those enzymes on their toes.

Don't forget to post some nice shiny stainless pics when you can...

 

[Borret]

Ah yes some pictures, will do. You may have noticed I am partial to some photography of my home crafted brewery items!

Borret :blink:

 

[Gulf Brewery]

Borret

Zymurgy did an article in the geeks section about the various manifolds designs and their efficiency. Regardless of design, the efficiency didn't vary a lot.

A certain vertically challenged sctosman has my magazines at the moment, so if we ask nicely, he may scan the relevant bits for you.

Cheers
Pedro