Help with mash tun

[floyd]

I have a keggle with one of these installed:
http://morebeer.com/view_product/19807/ ... _Stainless

I at first had some issues with the false bottom slipping off of the pickup tube but I fixed that with some tubing/hose clamps. I had 3 successful brews with it but my last brew was a disaster.
I'll try to post a pic but I believe the problem is that I may have drilled the hole for the valve slightly too high. This creates a small gap between the false bottom and the keggle bottom, which allows for stuck sparges since the entire false bottom is bypassed.
I believe my first 3 brews with the system were successful because they had such large grain bills that the false bottom was weighed down and a successful seal was created. Upon brewing with a smaller grain bill the gap problem presented itself.

Anyone have some sort of genius solution to this sort of problem? Short of ditching the keggle and getting the hole drilled properly? Perhaps extending the pickup tube a little somehow would allow it to rest more flat on the bottom.. Hmmm

[BrewMasterBrad]

I had similar stuck mash issues with the MoreBeer false bottom when I first started using my keggle mashtun. I ended up switching to this - http://www.midwestsupplies.com/11-sanke ... ottom.html


It provides a tighter seal between the false bottom and the keggle bottom and won't collapse under the weight of your grain. I've been using mine for more than 100 batches now with no issues.

[JonW]

+1 to the link Brad posted. I had that FB (called an ABT FB) on my keggle mash tun also and never had a stuck sparge. I got it second hand from BrianC who I believe also never had any issues with it.

[maltbarley]

Or if you feel like dumping $100 on a false bottom, this one is built like a brick shit house:

http://brew-magic.com/ketl_acc_falsebtm.html

[DrDually]

One solution is to cut a section ouyt of the tube, maybe 2 inches, then attach silicon hose. This will allow screen to sit on bottom

[BrewMasterBrad]

Maybe Backyardbrewer can fashion a new dip tube for you. He's a pretty handy guy to have around.