False Bottom or Slotted Manifold for Brew Kettle?

False Bottom or Slotted Manifold for Brew Kettle?

Post by Todd Bracke » Mon, 10 Nov 1997 04:00:00



Which is more effective in the bottom of a 15.5 gallon converted keg brew
kettle, a false bottom or slotted manifold?

I hope not to open a can of worms but I am interested in the strengths and
weakness of both alternatives.

Any design suggestions would be especially appreciated.

Todd

 
 
 

False Bottom or Slotted Manifold for Brew Kettle?

Post by reirgj » Tue, 11 Nov 1997 04:00:00


Quote:

> Which is more effective in the bottom of a 15.5 gallon converted keg brew
> kettle, a false bottom or slotted manifold?

> I hope not to open a can of worms but I am interested in the strengths and
> weakness of both alternatives.

> Any design suggestions would be especially appreciated.

> Todd

I built a false bottom out of a wok steaming rack and some aluminium
screening. The pickup tube is 1/2" soft copper tubing, and pushes
down onto the screening and hold the whole thing in place during the
boil.  

It works rather well.  Every once in a while it takes forever (alright
only about 50 minutes) to drain 12 gallons from the kettle.  I have
found that skimming the hot break get rid of this problem. (Then it
takes 25 minutes to drain the 12 gallons)

Brian

 
 
 

False Bottom or Slotted Manifold for Brew Kettle?

Post by Todd Bracke » Tue, 11 Nov 1997 04:00:00


Thanks for the reply.

Any idea which method results in the greatest brewing efficiency (False
Bottom, Slotted Manifold or Easymasher)?


Quote:

>> Which is more effective in the bottom of a 15.5 gallon converted keg brew
>> kettle, a false bottom or slotted manifold?

>> I hope not to open a can of worms but I am interested in the strengths
and
>> weakness of both alternatives.

>> Any design suggestions would be especially appreciated.

>> Todd

>I built a false bottom out of a wok steaming rack and some aluminium
>screening. The pickup tube is 1/2" soft copper tubing, and pushes
>down onto the screening and hold the whole thing in place during the
>boil.

>It works rather well.  Every once in a while it takes forever (alright
>only about 50 minutes) to drain 12 gallons from the kettle.  I have
>found that skimming the hot break get rid of this problem. (Then it
>takes 25 minutes to drain the 12 gallons)

>Brian

 
 
 

False Bottom or Slotted Manifold for Brew Kettle?

Post by J.P. Boile » Thu, 13 Nov 1997 04:00:00


On Mon, 10 Nov 1997 12:52:42 -0500, "Todd Bracken"

Quote:

>Thanks for the reply.

>Any idea which method results in the greatest brewing efficiency (False
>Bottom, Slotted Manifold or Easymasher)?

This question will generate a LOT of flack and personal information
from everybody here...

My personal experience:

I've used a homemade easy masher in the past, and I would get a
consistent 75% extraction. Not too bad. This was used in a 5-gal Gott
cooler.

I then upgraded to a 12-gal picnic cooler, fitted with a homemade
copper manifold. My extraction rate immediately jumped to 80%. After
some tweaking, I've reached my upper plateau at 84 to 86%, consistent.

I've never used a false bottom, but I would tend to believe that it
could potentially beat my 84-86%.

As for empirical data, it may be wise to get the back issue of Zymurgy
called "The great grain issue" (or something like that). They did a
side-by-side of a Zapap (two buckets), a grain bag, a copper manifold,
a false bottom, a real Easy-Masher and another one (I think). The data
was quite interesting.

J.P.