I was told by a fellow brewer that he suggests stuffing an additional filter material inside the SS mesh tube to reduce the amount of grist coming through. I was thinking of only stuffing a coil of copper wire to keep it from collapsing but never thought of any additional filtering needs. I purchased the SS mesh tube from bargain fittings.com. My understanding is you just vorlauf until it runs clear and then good to go, the grain bed acts as the filter as well correct?

No need to stuff it. Very little grain gets in there and you are right that a vorlauf will take care of what does come out intially.

Also no need to pay so much for a braid. Go to Lowe's or Home Depot. Check out Denny Conn's website for cheap and easy.