My First Stuck Sparge, what do I do?!?
 

Sparging my 3rd all grain batch tonight and as I type it's trickling like an 80 year old with a prostate the size of Montana! What do I do?

I'm sure I can just wait it out over the next 3 hours, but is there another solution?

I'm a batch sparger using a braided hose MLT. What happens if I add more water to thin out the mash? will that help?

fyi It's a Mild ale, 7 lbs of malted grain, NO oats, rye, etc.
I got the order from a diff. company online and beat the heck out of my grains trying to aid in conversion, like I do when I order from a different store. Guess I just beat them too much.

Help....
Phillip

Have you tried blowing air back up through the drain tube? I have used that a couple of times and it worked.

stir and get it all back into suspention, vourlaf and try again

Make sure you don't have something silly going on like a liquid pressure block. Pull the hose off your barbed nipple on the cooler and see if it runs fast into bowl or something. If it runs fine then pull the hose up out of the liquid in your bucket till it starts running again. I've had this happen thinking it was a stuck sparge.

I didn't get a full drain of my first runnings, but about 80%. Just added my first sparge water. My grain bed is 165 degrees. Stirred and am letting it rest for 5-10 mins then I'll start again...

Thanks.... keeping my fingers crossed,
Phillip

First batch sparge went wonderfully. I'm sure the second will as well.

THANKS GUYS!

What causes a first sparge to be slow like that? This is my 3rd AG batch so most experiences are still "new" too me.

Schlante,
Phillip

Ps I'm drinking my first Hop Rod Rye, delicious! More balanced than I anticipated!

Letter Waster,

My last one git stuck and I just took my spatula and lightly drug it across the top of the grain bed. It flowed just like it did at first. I can only assume that it's wasn't the whole bed, but just the top 1/2" or so. Probably the really fine stuff from the vorlauf.

PhiLip

Well she drained out just fine. Almost done with boiling and am bottling my Crimson ale right now! Wooo Hooo for Bier multitasking!

Schlante,
Phillip

What the... Huh?

I think he could be referring to your gargantuan sig. It's bigger than most posts.