[Bozinator]

Was wondering how many of you use a false bottom in your boil kettle? I'm sure there are two answers but was wondering what the majority is. Also if I go with a false bottom could I use whole hops in the boil to act as a filter like in my mash. I have only brewed extracts and will be going into all grain. I have a cooler mash tun and now thinking of the build on my keggle. Please advise

[redrocker652002]

Was wondering how many of you use a false bottom in your boil kettle? I'm sure there are two answers but was wondering what the majority is. Also if I go with a false bottom could I use whole hops in the boil to act as a filter like in my mash. I have only brewed extracts and will be going into all grain. I have a cooler mash tun and now thinking of the build on my keggle. Please advise

Let me first start by saying I am very new.  I have done a few BIAB All grain brews so take what I have to say as such.  I have a false bottom on the Gas One kettle that my wife was nice enough to buy me as a gift.  For BIAB I don't think it is needed, but if I ever go full All grain I will use it.  I also have a bazooka screen that attaches to the ball valve.  To me, that is much more useful as it traps a lot of the crud that the false bottom misses.  If I was using full cone hops, yes, the false bottom would catch a lot of the crap from the hops.  My next "build" will be a Mash tun out of a 10 gallon Igloo cooler and use the Gas One kettle as my boil kettle.  But that is a bit off for now. 

Good luck, and I am sure you will get some great answers from the folks here. 

RR

[Kevin]

No. I have never used a false bottom in a boil kettle.

[Drewch]

I'm not that much less new than RR, but you asked for opinions...

When I do all grain batches, I do no-sparge BIAB (BIAB is "full all grain", thankyouverymuch 😉) which means my kettle is my hot liquor tank is my mash tun. I have found a false bottom can be handy for keeping the grain bag clear of heating elements, spigots, temperature probes, and other h/w at the bottom of the kettle.

So, I guess my answer is Yes, but not for any of the motivations you suggested. 🤷‍♂️

[soymateofeo]

Was wondering how many of you use a false bottom in your boil kettle? I'm sure there are two answers but was wondering what the majority is. Also if I go with a false bottom could I use whole hops in the boil to act as a filter like in my mash. I have only brewed extracts and will be going into all grain. I have a cooler mash tun and now thinking of the build on my keggle. Please advise

I have been brewing for 20 years ish and I have never used a false bottom in my boil kettle when I had a separate mash tun.  But I did use one in my mash tun.   Now that I use an all in one (M&B), I use one to keep my grain bags off the bottom so it won't scorch the bag.  I used to cram a stainless scrubbie onto the end of my pick up tube to filter out bits.  But they then invented hop blockers and hop stoppers.  I even made a filter out of the stainless braid covering from a toilet water supply line.  Some old guy wrote a Cheap and Easy sparge article before all of this fancy stuff was made just for brewing and gave me that idea. (thanks Denny!) But nope.  Never had a false bottom in a dedicated boil kettle

[Bozinator]

Thanks Guys:

 I have a false bottom in my mash tun and have a 15.5 keg that will be my boil kettle and was wondering who or if any one uses it in the boil kettle. There are so many places selling false bottoms for a 15.5 keg wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not. Trying not to spend my hard earned money on expensive and/or unnecessary s***. Im not buying a thermometer for the mash tun, cauce those cooler hold temp so good. Leaning torwards no false bottom.  I am also growing hops at home (second year) if I start to use whole hops in the batch. wouldnt a false bottom be essential??

[soymateofeo]

Thanks Guys:

 I have a false bottom in my mash tun and have a 15.5 keg that will be my boil kettle and was wondering who or if any one uses it in the boil kettle. There are so many places selling false bottoms for a 15.5 keg wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not. Trying not to spend my hard earned money on expensive and/or unnecessary s***. Im not buying a thermometer for the mash tun, cauce those cooler hold temp so good. Leaning torwards no false bottom.  I am also growing hops at home (second year) if I start to use whole hops in the batch. wouldnt a false bottom be essential??

Oh yah man.  That is exactly what I had it on.  So I have a keggle with a 1/2 FPT bulkhead welded in.  To that I have a elbowed dip tube that picks up 1/3 of the way to the center.  Back in the olden days, many brewers would put a stainless scrubbie on there and it would pick up all kinds of trub.  I still do that today but now recirculate through a hop spider to clean out some of that before I connect my plate chiller.  I do not let loose hops in my boil kettle.  I tried once and hated that experience.

[BrewBama]

When I used whole cone hops I used a false bottom in the BK. I quit using whole cone hops because I often can’t find the varieties I am looking for in whole cones. So, it now sits in the ‘old brew gear boneyard’ along with some other great ideas at the time.

[KellerBrauer]

No. I have never used a false bottom in a boil kettle.

Ditto.

My false bottom is in the mash tun.

[hopfenundmalz]

Yes. It is great for whole cones. It works well for low charges of pellets. I just had the idea to try a BIAB in the boil kettle to contain big loads of pellet hops while still using the false bottom. Will try it later this summer.

[ynotbrusum]

I have a false bottom in a brew kettle that was used with propane back in the day (all electric anymore).  The FB was part of the pick up tube and I assume it was done that way due to contemplated whole hop usage.  I don’t worry about trub much anymore….

[goose]

Yes, I have a false bottom in my boil kettle because I draw from the center of the keggle.  See my other post on transferring from the kettle to the fermenter.

[denny]

When I used a traditional kettle, I used a side pickup tube rather than a false bottom.

[Bozinator]

Always open minded to new ideas. A hop spider might be a good idea