Filter system for mash tun. Advice

wizurd · Nov 29, 2015

Hi all.

OK so I've put a 1/2 inch ball valve tap into my igloo ice cooler. Now I've cut and put together the copper Pipe (22mm) on the inside to help filter the grains when it comes to getting the wort out. I've not fixed any of the parts together just slotted them in.

I wanted to know what people's thoughts were on the following.

Connecting the filter to the tap I've simply slotted a piece of 15mm pipe between a 22 to 15 t piece reducer and the inside of the tap. It's a close fit with only a small surrounding gap. Do you think this will work OK and not just end up letting too much unfiltered wort through the tap.

Secondly the pipes sit on the bottom of the mash tun. I'm going to be adding small slits to the underneath sides of the pipes. Will this all still work if the pipes are laying on the bottom of the mash tun? Otherwise I'll need to find a way to support the pipes just off the Base.

Anyone that's built one of these, any advice?

Thanks all.

I'll get some pics added in a min

wizurd · Nov 29, 2015

wizurd · Nov 29, 2015

So that's the pipes all together. There's a 22mm to 15mm reducing t piece on the left of the pic. A 15 mm piece of pipe into this that slots into the rear of the tap.

The pipes all pretty much sit on the bottom of the mash tun.

Any advice welcomed :)

stevej · Nov 29, 2015

Looks like the one i have just made a few weeks ago, looks good to me:thumb:

ManseMasher · Nov 29, 2015

No dramas sitting on bottom of tun. In fact probably better that way.....

wizurd · Nov 29, 2015

Thanks both. So even though the slits will be on the bottom it won't cause it all to block up then you don't think? Gotta say I do like the look of it and so simple to build.

ManseMasher · Nov 29, 2015

Mine is pretty much the same. Because the grain can't get between the tun bottom and the slits, they tend not to block (that's my thoughts on it any way, and I've not had a stuck sparge with it). Wort flows through fine - in fact too quick when I attempted a fly sparge.....

wizurd · Nov 29, 2015

That looks excellent and I'm glad to hear it flows well :)

LarryF · Nov 29, 2015

I don't know much about this but what about bigger drainage slits on the pipework and one of the hop mesh bags over the whole thing. Again I don't know anything about this but with increased drainage and a finer mesh would the process work better, just wondering.

wizurd · Nov 29, 2015

I wondered about a mess type bag around the whole thing as well. I've still to put the slits on the pipe sections yet but should be every cm and I think that'll be OK.

keat64 · Nov 30, 2015

I'm toying with either this setup or the stainless Bazooka.
My fear on the stainless Bazooka is, i guess it will crush under the weight, with potential to halt the flow.
Lots of people seem to be doiung the copper pipe thing, with success, so it certainly seems the way to go.

HisDudeness · Nov 30, 2015

wizurd said:
I wondered about a mess type bag around the whole thing as well. I've still to put the slits on the pipe sections yet but should be every cm and I think that'll be OK.

I wouldn't bother should work fine without, my one has not had any issues with slits cut into pipe and facing down. My connection to tap was a bit more elaborate to make it easy to remove but still well sealed (this was more important for me as the tap is a bit higher up and needs to maintain a good syphon down to bottom of the cooler).

wizurd · Nov 30, 2015

I wondered about a stainless steel bazooka as well Keat but also worried it would be crushed. By the looks of what people are saying the copper pipe solution seems to be OK. I'll know when I get my first brew going hopefully this weekend

wizurd · Nov 30, 2015

Damn. Just been doing some more reading (always a bad thing I find) and now I'm worrying about solder. The copper elbows and t pieces I've used are just the standard ones from screwfix. Do I need to worry about solder in these pieces? I can't really see any but then I know nothing about plumbing. Again any advice welcomed

Brewedout · Nov 30, 2015

The fitting with solder have a ring shaped bulge about a cm from the opening. You will see silver coloured solder in a ring shape on the inside. You shouldn't use solder ring fittings as the metal in the solder reacts with the acidic wort

stevej · Nov 30, 2015

keat64 said:
I'm toying with either this setup or the stainless Bazooka.
My fear on the stainless Bazooka is, i guess it will crush under the weight, with potential to halt the flow.
Lots of people seem to be doiung the copper pipe thing, with success, so it certainly seems the way to go.

Stainless Bazookas are fine i have used both copper set ups and stainless bazookas, infact i used the bazzoka on a recent brew that had 8/9 kg of malt in it and it was fine so dont worry about crushing it :thumb:

wizurd · Nov 30, 2015

That's one of the elbows. You can see the slight ring just in from the edge and I think a slight silver colour all the way around. I'd assume this is therefore solder? In which case I'll need to get all new elbows and t pieces as they are all the same. Screwfix site doesn't say either way if they contain solder or not as opposed to other ones on their site which specifically state solder connections.

ManseMasher · Nov 30, 2015

I've soldered some (not all) of my joints. As long as the solder is lead free I don't think it's an issue. Tbh the solder isn't there so much as to provide a water tight fitting, it's to stop the thing coming apart when doughing in.....

stevej · Nov 30, 2015

Lets look at this from a different approach! we all have copper pipes in our houses supplying water both hot and cold yeah:thumb:

So whos copper pipe water supply in the house has not been soldered? :hmm:

wizurd · Nov 30, 2015

That's a good point. Didn't even think about it that way! Panic over

Filter system for mash tun. Advice

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