False Bottom Recommendation?

[Luckbad]

I managed to stretch my stainless braid in my mash tun yesterday so I'm looking at false bottoms.

I have a 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler and my bulkhead has a 1/2" NPT female fitting on the inside.

Any recommendations? Should I just get another screen? Never had the problem, but it did end up introducing some bits of grain into my kettle.

[lexuschris]

I used this false bottom with my orange 10-gal. Rubbermaid cooler for a couple of years.

The only issue I had was after some side wall deformation of the cooler, I could no longer keep the particles from getting under the bottom, and it would clog every time. I suspect buying a new cooler would fix it, but I just used a rolled out copper scrub pad to filter out the detritus.

I have been admiring the design of Blichmann's false-bottom, but they are all matched to their pots.

Currently, I'm using Brewer's Hardware MT & false bottom, and have not had any issues with them!

-=-LexusChris

[SamIam]

I have a copper manifold for those 10 gallon coolers that you can have but if you want a false bottom then I'd go with one from Brewer's Hardware.

[Luckbad]

Oh sweet. What type of manifold design is it? I've been looking at instructions on how to make one but keep deciding not to bother due to time.

[SamIam]

It's just 1/2 " copper with slits cut into the bottom every 1". It's square with a couple of pieces running through the middle and it's all loosely fitted, not soldered. You put it together inside the cooler and when you push it down it's held together by the inside diameter of the cooler. I'll dig it out of the rafters and take a pic for you if you’re interested or just come by for a beer sometime and take it home with you.

[SamIam]

Here is a pic of the manifold, let me know if you want it.

IMAG0002.jpg (1.03 MiB) Viewed 2221 times

[Luckbad]

Oh nice. Yeah, that is what I was looking for. Hopefully I can come by next weekend and share a brew. Have family out this weekend.