[bo]

I start slow and then go wide open. It never sticks.

Maybe you need to lengthen your braid. I did that a few years back and it really made a difference.

I think you may be the only person I've ever heard say that.  I've experimented with braids from 3" to 2 ft. and not seen any difference.  It's not like the wort is flowing down the braid.  The braid is essentially porous.  All the draining happens at the exit. I've even heard from people who got better performance from shortening the braid.

Why would you think it only drains at the exit? What would keep it from draining into the other end?

Are you saying that if it drains at the end it runs back out before it hits the exit?

[sharg54]

Why would you think it only drains at the exit? What would keep it from draining into the other end?

Are you saying that if it drains at the end it runs back out before it hits the exit?

LoL I like that but I think the point is actually that up to a point making your braid longer will only work until you have maxed out the volume for the fitting you are using. After you have maxed that out making it any longer to introduce more liquid won't do you any good. You can only put so much through a given size opening, after that it will just pool inside your braid. 

[richardt]

I noticed a big reduction in sparging/lautering times when I switched from my 10 gallon round Igloo cooler Mash Tun with a 12 inch SS Bazooka braid to a 20.5 gallon (82 Qt) rectangular cooler with the same 12 inch SS Bazooka braid.  I do 10 gallon batches.  I definitely agree that the grain bed height should not exceed the grain bed width or else you'll get significant grain bed compaction regardless of initial runoff speed--the result eventually becomes slow runoff speed and very long lautering times.
Take this into account when selecting your mash tun size and design.  I highly recommend the rectangular cooler over the round cooler--It works for every batch size and gravity, and because the lautering times are consisistently short (I batch sparge), my brew day is shorter.  There's no way I'm going back to the round cooler for a mash tun.  I still use the round cooler for a HLT, though.