Screen for mash tun

[carrisr]

I bought a bazooka screen for my 5 gallon mash tun, which is an igloo cooler with a ball valve added on. The ball valve bulkhead kit came with a stainless 1/2" F-F coupler. The problem is, the screen (which is 1/2" M) won't tighten more than a quarter turn onto the coupler. I had them send me a new screen thinking there must be a flaw in the threads. I have two of the ball valve kits and the screen won't go on either one. However the other screen they sent does not fit either. So now I don't know WTF to do. I figured this would be easy...

Is there something I need to specify when ordering parts for this kind of setup that's not obvious?

Second Question: It looks like when installed on the valve, the screen will sit about 3/4" to 1" above the floor of the mash tun. Is that too high? I wasn't sure if it should be pretty much on the floor of the tun or not.

Thanks!

[DrPaulsen]

The problem is, the screen (which is 1/2" M) won't tighten more than a quarter turn onto the coupler.

I recommend taking all the parts to the hardware store. Try each of the fittings against their set of standards (typically attached to a piece of plywood in the fittings aisle). I've had good luck ferreting out thread issues in the past by doing this. At a minimum, you should be able to identify the problem, if not solve it by purchasing an adapter.

Second Question: It looks like when installed on the valve, the screen will sit about 3/4" to 1" above the floor of the mash tun.

That will probably be dead space -- i.e., you might have some issues getting all of that out of the tun (tipping the mash tun will help). To lower the screen, you could buy a piece of copper tubing, bend it to ramp down the 3/4", then attach compression fittings to mate with your bulkhead adapter and bazooka screen.

[carrisr]

Update: I managed to get the screen on tight enough using some teflon tape. It's not screwed in very far but I think it's enough to hold for now.

I've used the screen for two batches now, and wow what a difference! This was SO much easier than f'ing around with the BIB. No lifting the bag and waiting forever for it to drain. It probably cut 20 minutes from my brew day.

I was also able vorlauf and get clean wort after only about a quart of runnings. With the bag I was getting a lot of grain pieces and hull fragments into the BK. It was so easy on that on the last brew I decided to split the batch sparge in two. I ended up getting more wort than I needed which is a first. I usually have to top off the BK prior to boiling.