So a few brews back I decided to make a couple upgrades. I went to a thrift store and found the kind of false bottom hat usually goes in a steamer, but it had the same size of holes people put in the false bottoms built for home brewing. 1 dollar and an hour or so of snipping later, voila!

A false bottom that fits perfectly into the bottom of my mash tun. I used the scraps that I snipped off to form the supports for it

They just sit underneath the false bottom, holding it about 2 inches from the base of my MT. I also make sure to wash them out and sanitize them really well before every brew... all those crevasses scare me a bit. 

I also wanted to make some kind of manifold, so that the wort wasn't being sucked through just the one hole in the MT. That was my main problem... if that one exit point got clogged, it was all over. I needed something with multiple holes in it so that it would draw water evenly from the bottom of the mash, making a more efficient sparge and lauter while reducing the chances of a stuck sparge.

So with a little research (thanks HomeBrewTalk.com!) I decided on the stainless steel braids that cover those faucet hoses. I went and picked out a longer one, cut off the ends, pulled out the inner plastic tube thing, and ended up with this

One end I crimped up to close it off as best as I could

then I stuck the open end into the outlet of my mash tun

7 dollar manifold!

So now when I brew, I stick the braid in, arrange the little stands to support the false bottom

And then stick my false bottom in.

Ever since I made this 8 dollar upgrade, I have not gotten a slow or stuck sparge. Just smooth runnings all the live long day. All my brews have been exceedingly easy, even the triple decoction I did last night... all that boiling turned parts of the mash into a kind of mush, and still the sparge was constant and went without a hitch.

What to do today... Im thinking about kegging my last two brews so I can do a saison and stout next week. Or I could just sit here and watch Lord Of The Rings all day...

Ya, Lord Of The Rings it is.