Warped Mash/Lauter tun plates

[RobZamites]

Heya, on my 3 plate Pub 7 bbl brewhouse, I noticed that my plates are ever so slightly warped, allowing a bit of grain/cruft/stuff to pull through, making my vorlauf take a much longer time. I hate pulling junk through to the boil kettle! Any ideas on how to re-flatten them to make them fit tight again, or am I SOL?

Cheers!

[Ted Briggs]

I new someone who had this problem and used rubber gaskets. Pain to clean but they sealed the gaps.

[kugeman]

Yeah, I worked in a brewery where we had homemade rubber gaskets around the outer edges of the plates. We used pieces of rubber garden hose that was split in half lengthwise, and just shoved it down around the edge of the plates to seal the gap. It had to be removed and cleaned with the plates after every brew. Kinda a pain, but it worked!

Strangely enough, this was also a PUB system (15 bbl).

[Jephro]

I had the same problem with a Bohemian MT. We installed an inline filter, very similar to a hopback, between the MT & BK. Pain in the butt to pull apart and clean but no grain in the kettle.
That reminds me i forgot to do it today and i already sprayed down floor. :mad:

[brewery master]

Heya, on my 3 plate Pub 7 bbl brewhouse, I noticed that my plates are ever so slightly warped, allowing a bit of grain/cruft/stuff to pull through, making my vorlauf take a much longer time. I hate pulling junk through to the boil kettle! Any ideas on how to re-flatten them to make them fit tight again, or am I SOL?

Cheers!
using a series of wood blocks and clamps with a very solid table,clamp using blocks ,work screens in oposite direction just a little farther than the wrorp and leave over night keep working on it and you should flatten things out . let me know results cheers don

[dlgore]

If you have the time I think reworking the grates is the best bet. There are stainless mesh inline filters available, but these would only work with a pump and not gravity. Be sure to calculate the proper surface area needed for the flow rate. Good luck!
DLG

[Jephro]

If you have the time I think reworking the grates is the best bet. There are stainless mesh inline filters available, but these would only work with a pump and not gravity. Be sure to calculate the proper surface area needed for the flow rate. Good luck!
DLG
The one we have does work on gravity. Our sparge times run about the same as the three other systems i have brewed on too.
jephro

[Michael Murphy]

I know that heat can warp stainless, I wonder if it can unwarp it?

try a blow torch on the curved side, maybe it will expand it to flat?


????? Maybe better you should ask a metal worker first

[liammckenna]

Any fabrication shop should be able to straighten these out for you quite easily and cheaply.

You may wish to re-inforce them at the same time to help prevent it happening in the future.

Pax.