Making a False Bottom

[Petrolhead]

I was pointed in the direction of this company on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=the+me...be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&qid=1581331688&ref=sr_pg_1

Looks like a good source for perforated sheet steel at a fair price but can anyone give me a few pointers. I need to make up a false bottom for the mash tun and the boil kettle. My new 70l vessels are 450mm dia. so I need to make them up myself to save a few pennies.

I was going to use a sheet with something like 2mm holes for the MT as my thoughts are to hold back the bigger pieces of the malted barley and let the small pieces be filtered by the grain. Then I was going to use a fairly fine mesh for the BK just to filter out the hops as best I can.

Any contributions welcomed.

 

[simon12]

For the mash tun brew builder do 3mm holes in 1.5mm thickness so I assume that's recommended but don't really know.

 

[Richie_asg1]

There are a few companies on Ebay that will cut a circle out of punched sheet for you, so may be worth looking there also.
I would think if the mesh is too fine you will block it, so a larger hole may be better and allow the grain bed to form the main filter. 3mm sounds about right.

 

[foxy]

Kettle / mash tun same vessel for me, tried lots of things in the past, the best I have found is the helix, cheap and easy to clean.

Getting a clear wort in the fermenter is a good pointer to a clear beer in the glass.

 

[user 18729]

There are a few companies on Ebay that will cut a circle out of punched sheet for you, so may be worth looking there also.
I would think if the mesh is too fine you will block it, so a larger hole may be better and allow the grain bed to form the main filter. 3mm sounds about right.

+1 I managed to get some perforated stainless from eBay laser cut to exactly what I needed for £25 delivered a few years ago

 

[An Ankoù]

Kettle / mash tun same vessel for me, tried lots of things in the past, the best I have found is the helix, cheap and easy to clean.
View attachment 23029
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Getting a clear wort in the fermenter is a good pointer to a clear beer in the glass.

Is it though? The beer in your fermenter looks amazing, but when I do 12 litres on the cooker top, I've found the most efficient way is to jug the boiled wort through a cheesecloth bag stretched over the perforated section of a steamer. Everything goes into the bag which finally gets squeezed to within a inch of its life. Racking the beer off the mud into secondary after a week leaves about a centimeter of crud behind. No flavour or clarity issues at all even with pilsner and the beer is exactly the same as that from my clear worts done on the full size kit.
I was surprised by this as many other readers will be. Perhaps it's another one of those brewing myths like the supposed necessity to recycle the first running until the wort runs clear.

 

[Clint]

I made a ladder type copper manifold for the tun. Works really well, efficiency up 10%.
As for wort transfer...I use a bazooka filter in the kettle,let wort stand for half hour after chilling so all the break settles.
Gently crack the tap so flow only just starts,leave like this for a bit,the break collects on the filter mostly covering it. You can now increase the flow a bit so as not to disturb the trub. Carry on until kettle is drained leaving the settled trub behind. My last brew when finished had no more than 10mm of residue in the bottom of the fv.

 

[Richie_asg1]

I'm still looking at better filtering myself as I clogged the bazooka last time. Seems a common problem.... and room for experimentation. Should my last addition at flameout be a kilo of gravel?

 

[Petrolhead]

I think I am going down the eBay/Amazon route particularly if I can find a company to laser cut the plate to suit the mash tun. I am building a three vessel system so I will be treating the MT and the BK differently with a fines mesh on the BK.

I am also installing bottom drains so that brings a few issues in itself.

 

[Cyberjip]

I used the 2mm holes for my recent mash tun build. Works great.

As for kettle I did have a bazooka filter but I have taken that out and I'm just going to do a good whirlpool on my next brew