After the last brew, I had decided that some of the kit I was using needed a bit of an upgrade. The main thing that needed sorting was the filter at the bottom of the mash tun. There is a tap fitted to the bottom of the mash tun, for draining out the wort. This needs a filter fitted to the inside, to stop the grains clogging up the tap. The filter should have some substantial surface area to it, as it helps when the sparge water is flowing down through the grain bed during sparging.
The mash tun I bought was supplied with this filter:
It was okay but doesn't have much surface area and was a bit wobbly and delicate. I had previously tried to make my own replacement, out of a length of stainless steel braided hose reinforcement from a plumbers' merchant:
This worked pretty well, and covered more of the bottom of the tun. I hadn't bought stainless jubilee clips though, and these started to get corroded. The braiding was also very hard to keep clean and had a tendency to trap bits of grain.
I bit the bullet and bought a proper false bottom from the homebrew shop in Stockport. This is made from a sheet of stainless steel, perforated with small holes to let the wort through. It's got a domed shape and the fluid actually flows back up through a fitting in the centre and exits the mash tun through a short hose going to the usual tap.
The false bottom came as a full circle, designed to fit bigger mash tuns. I had to cut slices off the edges and make a few tweaks to get it to fit, as the pictures show.
I also bought another coolbox, to use as a hot liquor tank (HLT). I'm going to fill it with 75C water to use during the sparge. Previously, I'd been heating water up to the required temperature in pans on the hob but this was really hit and miss. Hopefully these two upgrades will help out a bit.
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