Mash Tun 'Cooler' w/false bottom .. tubing issues

[lexuschris]

Hey all,

I have a 10-gal Rubbermaid (orange) cooler, which I put a false-bottom into with a ball-valve to make my mash tun. Using a little piece of thermoplastic tubing to connect the falsebottom to the valve, I've had over 18 months of flawless lautering. A few months ago, I had a stuck lauter, and ended up pouring the batch out when I could not figure out why it would not drain. The next batch, another stuck lauter, and that time i replaced the little 3" tubing (as it had compressed) and it drained fine.

Now just about every batch (with a new piece of tubing) compresses and I get little to no draining. I brewed on Sunday, and had to transfer out the mash (again) and cut a new 3" section of tubing (again), etc. etc.

What is a better way to connect the falsebottom to the valve? Any ideas why that 1st piece of tubing worked for nearly 20 batches before crushing, then now, I have a new piece of tubing each session..??

Any advice is appreciated....
--LexusChris

[JonW]

I like using a stainless dip tube with a compression fitting attached to the bulkhead fitting.

The silicone tubing is soft and flexible by nature. You might want to try a piece of thermoplastic tubing as it is more rigid. I use all thermoplastic on my rig and could give you a piece to try it.

[DrDually]

You can also try cutting the plastic tubing into two pieces about 1-1/2 long then place s/s or copper tube between pieces. The goal is to have a gap between metal tubing that is about 1/4" with plastic tubing acting like a flex joint. With gaps this small, tubing cannot crush

[lexuschris]

Some great ideas! Thanks!

The thermoplastic tubing I am using is stiffer than silicon tubing, but apparently can compress under the heat/weight of the mash. I think I can find some copper tube inserts to stengthen that up!

Cheers!
==LexusChris

[dhempy]

What size tubing do you need? I might have some small pieces of stainless ...

Dan

[lexuschris]

I've been using some 3/8" ID thermoplastic tubing, so I figure anything with a 3/8" diameter would make a good coupler for two pieces of 1.2" tubing. I need to be able to easily bend the assembly to attach & detach it from the falsebottom out barb, and the ball valve interior barb port.

Thanks!
--LexusChris

[dhempy]

Let me see what I have ... a pic would help me understand what you're trying to accomplish ...

[lexuschris]

proposed tubing fix

FB_tube_before_s.jpg (89.26 KiB) Viewed 4045 times

So I did get a brass coupler, and inserted it between the two halves of the tubing (fresh cut of tubing) and was very confident this would address any tubing compression issues.

Today, I mashed up 11# of grain for a pale ale with this new tubing, and when I opened the ball valve for my 1st runnings..... trickles.... nada...


WTF?!?! Again? With the barbs on both ends of the halves, this really cannot be a compressed tube issue... I don't think. Something else is going on. I have noticed that the walls of my cooler have buckeled some and flexed so that the interior cavity is no longer a perfect cylinder. Perhaps it is effecting the dynamics of draining somehow??

At this point, I don't know what to do. For today, I transfered all the grain & wort into a seperate bucket, then replaced my new coupled tubing with a straight piece of new tubing and it was barely better than a trickle. It took over an hour to drain my sparge water.... argh...

Maybe its time to upgrade to something better than a plastic mash tun..??

Thoughts?
--LexusChris

[backhousebrew]

Have you tried one of these screens?
I use these screens and only had a clog one time. I used compressed air and cleared the clog then it was fine. Now I add rice hulls to all my mashes.

Bazooka_Screen[1].jpeg (24.01 KiB) Viewed 4036 times

[oleolsson]

Don-
Tried those and don't like them. The draw of wort is too concentrated. I use a very similar setup to the one causing so much grief, but I've never had the grief. I'd recommend getting some of the double thick walled tubing with nylon reinforcing that they sell at Home Depot/Lowes I use it for all my hot tranfer hoses and it stands up to hot work pretty darn well. It may discolor a bit after a couple years, but I think the nylon webbing will eliminate the problem with the mash. If the wort is drawn out at the rate of 1 pint per minute there should not be any issue with the short piece of tubing though. If the wort is being sucked out using a pump I can see a problem...slow and steady should solve the problem either way.

[lexuschris]

Time for an update.

DrDually helped me out and fabricated a copper tube length that just fits between the false-bottom out and the ball-valve intake, plus some stiff tubing pieces as couplers. That seemed to work fairly well for 1 session, but with slightly longer draining times. 4 weeks ago, I replaced the coupler pieces and just slide the copper tube inside a full length of termoplastic tubing. That worked only about as well. Slower drain times.

Last night, when I brewed up a batch, it was completely stuck. I transferred the wort & grain to a bucket, and examined the false bottom & tubing. The tubing was completely clogged with grain.

After removing any grain from under the false bottom (I think the real source of the problem) and refitting with my brass barb coupler tubing (see above), I poured the grains & wort back on top. It flowed flawlessly and quickly! Yeah!

Mind you, this was the same coupler that I could not get to work a few weeks ago. So its probably not the tube compression, or construction. I've had all my tubining builds get stuck.. and now previous ones that got stuck, flow fine.

I really think my issue is the shape of the inner shell of my Rubbermaid cooler has warped over time. I can see bulges inward in several spots. I figure the false-bottom is no longer making a flush fit with the bottom, and allowing plenty of large grains to get under it. Those grains once down there, suck into the tubing (any tubing) and clog it. All my previous attempts at blowing, forcing hot water down there, and/or using a tubing brush to push through, would only push the loose grains back under the false bottom, to get sucked up and clog once again.

I need a new mash tun cooler.

Many thanks for all the help & suggestions. The single best thing this experience has taught me .... Relax. Don't Worry. Have a homebrew. Then consider your brewday problem and come up with a work around.

My 1st time with this problem was horribly frustrating and after an hour of failed attempts to fix, I poured it down the driveway. Now, when it happens, I just transfer, clean, replace & drain with only about 15 minutes wasted. AND I feel better about the brewday!


--LexusChris

[dhempy]

Good luck with your new "build"!

Dan

[JonW]

Maybe it's a sign to move on to different equipment? How about a keggle or kettle with a nice SS false bottom?

[bwarbiany]

Maybe it's a sign to move on to different equipment? How about a keggle or kettle with a nice SS false bottom?

That's a good idea, but I think I've started to experience a similar problem using a keggle w/ SS false bottom. Over time, the lip of the false bottom has deformed a bit, and my last batch got horrific (~60%) efficiency and a pretty poor sparge. I'll be able to bend it back (I think), but a keggle & SS false bottom aren't exactly immune to an issue like this...

[JonW]

Maybe it's a sign to move on to different equipment? How about a keggle or kettle with a nice SS false bottom?

That's a good idea, but I think I've started to experience a similar problem using a keggle w/ SS false bottom. Over time, the lip of the false bottom has deformed a bit, and my last batch got horrific (~60%) efficiency and a pretty poor sparge. I'll be able to bend it back (I think), but a keggle & SS false bottom aren't exactly immune to an issue like this...

I think it depends on the actual false bottom. When I used keggles, I used an ABT false bottom and never had any issues. I had picked up that false bottom from BrianC and he had used it for quite a while before I started using it and it never showed any signs of wear or deforming.

This is the one I'm referring to: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/abt- ... elbow.html