Beer Forum

I am searching around for a perforated 304 SS plate for false bottom. What is the ideal size of the holes? Is 3 mm to big holes?

espen wrote:Is 3 mm to big holes?

I think 3mm is too big. The figures I've seen say to use 1/16 or 3/32 inch holes. That's 1.6 to 2.4 mm.

The 12 inch false bottom I made has 3/32 holes spaced every 1/4 inch (~6.4 mm) and staggered so they look like a diamond pattern. That's about a million holes, or maybe it just seems that way when you're slaving over a hot drill press.

Charlie

Let me be the first to say go with the stainless steel braid
http://brewing.lustreking.com/gear/mashtun.html

i did mine almost exactly like this, except i have a circular cooler and used a stainless T fitting inside and a 33" braid that goes in a circle, instead of just a straight braid connected to the outlet. I doubt this really makes a big difference but i like it.

Phil wrote:Let me be the first to say go with the stainless steel braid

I haven't used that, but I did use a stainless screen which is similar. The thing was a pain in the butt to clean.

I am happy to report that the Blichmann louvered bottom (which I bought recently) works as well as (or maybe better than) my false bottom.

Charlie

I also think 3 mm is too big. The reason I asked was that I could get the 3 mm sheet for 1 case of homebrew. The retail price here in Norway is about 200 USD....

espen wrote:I also think 3 mm is too big. The reason I asked was that I could get the 3 mm sheet for 1 case of homebrew. The retail price here in Norway is about 200 USD....

Ouch!

I made mine out of a 14 X 14 inch piece of 18 gauge stainless I got at a local sheet metal shop. I cut it into a circle with a sabre saw, drilled a 1/4" hole in the middle, chucked it up in the drill press and got it perfectly round with a whet stone. Then I marked it off and started drilling holes. Then the holes had to be de-burred on the back side (I used a larger drill bit). I put a 1/4 stainless eye bolt in the center hole to use as a handle.

Edit: 9:22 CDT. This is it.



False bottoms only cost about $50.00 here. Maybe you could get one shipped in.

Charlie

Nice piece of work. 200 is for a perforated metal sheet that is 1 x 2 meters.

espen wrote:Nice piece of work. 200 is for a perforated metal sheet that is 1 x 2 meters.

are you trying to fit this to a circular keg, bucket, or cooler?
http://morebeer.com/search?search=false+bottom&=Search
you can see the cheapest ones are only $33 USD. the cost of shipping probably isn't so terrible. morebeer does ship internationally.