Miserable Brew Day: stuck mash with shiny new mill

**bradsul** · 05-24-2008, 06:51 PM

Well it was one of those days. I missed my strike temp, missed my mash temp and managed to pour hot water on my feet (fortunately with my boots on).

All that has happened before and didn't bother me. But the worst part was this was the first use of my new milling station and monster mill. I had my first stuck sparge EVER and man was that disappointing. I have been using a corona-style mill previously and I crush quite finely and manage to get upwards of 90% efficiency even on 70/30 wheat grain bills - with no stuck sparges.

I adjusted the monster mill crush to look as close as possible to my corona-style crush but obviously there is major difference in the consistency of the grain bed when lautering. It plugged up immediately and I spent the next hour doing a crazy sparge. I poured all my sparge water into the cooler and then took a pitcher full over and over and poured it through a strainer into a bucket. When the strainer was full I dumped the grain back into the tun and stirred it up really well, repeat as necessary. I ended up with a disturbing amount of grain matter in the kettle this way but figured what the heck and went for it.

The crazy thing is I hit my pre- and post-boil volumes and actually overshot my OG once chilled! The wort tasted as I expected so I'm hopeful the batch will turn out fine (this was a house beer I've made too many times to count). 89% efficiency the hard way I guess.

Obviously I'm going to have to dial back the gap on the mill, I currently have it set at 0.048" and running at 200RPM, I think I'll back it off to 0.051" for next time and perhaps suffer slightly lower efficiency.

This was more to blow off some steam than anything, I should have known better than to crush so fine with a new untested mill.

Hoosierbrewer · 05-24-2008, 07:06 PM

were you fly or batch sparging?

mr x · 05-24-2008, 07:10 PM

That seems odd to me Brad. I run my 3 roller at .017" max, and never have anything close to a stuck sparge. Are you sure you are using Imperial gauges? The first time I used my roller I picked up a set of metric feelers and ran the gap at .010" by mistake. But it still didn't stick.

**bradsul** · 05-24-2008, 08:08 PM

I was going to fly sparge, but I didn't even get that far. I couldn't even run off to vorlauf.

My gauges have both scales but I definitely used the imperial values. I was surprised too because the crush looked really nice, very close to the one I get with my corona. I wonder if the corona just leaves the husks in a shape that works really well with the drilled holes in my manifold. I'll just have to do some experimenting I guess, which means making more beer. I can't say that's a hardship.

I changed a fundamental part of my brewery that's been consistent since my 4th batch, gotta figure there's going to be some hiccups in the changeover.

mr x · 05-24-2008, 08:18 PM

Are you sure the manifold was cleaned out from the last brew? I had what I thought was a stuck sparge with a stout, but it turns out I had a hardened ball of crud in the manifold that I'm sure was there from the last brew. I think it held together even through steam heating. I clean my manifold every time now.

**bradsul** · 05-24-2008, 08:26 PM

I clean the manifold every batch so I don't think that was it. I blew into the manifold a couple times to get it flowing briefly but it would stick again immediately. When I was able to remove it from the tun I had no problems running tap water through it.

**bradsul** · 05-24-2008, 08:28 PM

I'm wondering if a single row of holes just isn't enough with the different style of crush you get with the roller mill. I'm thinking about making another identical manifold but cutting slots instead to see if it makes a difference.

**BierMuncher** · 05-24-2008, 08:31 PM

I'm telling you...10# of rice hulls will last you forever (10-12 batches) and they've made my brewing life a breeze.

**bradsul** · 05-24-2008, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BierMuncher

I'm telling you...10# of rice hulls will last you forever (10-12 batches) and they've made my brewing life a breeze.

I've never had to use them before so it kinda bugs me that I would need to after moving to a 'better' mill style.

**BierMuncher** · 05-24-2008, 08:39 PM

FWIW, I use slots and have never had real problems with stuck sparges. The rice hulls to me are like PH stabilizer...could I get by without?...yes. But I've sure grown accustomed to how easy my sparges flow...regardless of the grain bill or the crush.

Try the slotted manifold. I'd imagine that single row-holes may be part of the problem.