2.5 gallons of dead space in a Blichmann?

wildwest450 · Sep 22, 2010

What the heck? I filled my 15 gallon mashtun and drained it, 2.5 gallons left! The pot was leveled side to side and front to back. The diptube was installed, as was the false bottom, what am I doing wrong? The website spec says .19 gallons.

Sea · Sep 22, 2010

wildwest450 said:
What the heck? I filled my 15 gallon mashtun and drained it, 2.5 gallons left! The pot was leveled side to side and front to back. The diptube was installed, as was the false bottom, what am I doing wrong? The website spec says .19 gallons.

Sounds like the pickup tube isn't working correctly. Any chance it didn't seal all the way? What level was the fluid at wHen it stopped draining?

snail · Sep 22, 2010

I had the same issue and realized I forgot to add a tube to the barb on the ball valve. After that it drained to the very bottom and didn't just stop at the hole for the ball valve.

RiverCityBrewer · Sep 22, 2010

Yeah you are dead on snail, you can gravity drain down to the level of the valve, but after that it needs to pull a siphon to get the rest out. If there was a hose on there it would have drained it down to about a quart or so left in the pot.

DeafSmith · Sep 22, 2010

And if adding a tube to the output isn't enough, try keeping the end of the output tube submerged to prevent air getting in from that point.

wildwest450 · Sep 22, 2010

Ah, that makes sense, i'll try it with a hose connected. Thanks! I kinda thought once a pump was connected it would drain a lot more out.

wildwest450 · Sep 22, 2010

From 2.5 gallons to 20oz. with a submerged tube. Nice!

klyph · Sep 22, 2010

That's what I don't like about diptube setups (including mine) if you lose the siphon right at the end, it's a pain in the ass to get it to drain completely.

2.5 gallons of dead space in a Blichmann?

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

wildwest450

Well-Known Member

Sea

Green Flash IPA on tap

snail

Well-Known Member

RiverCityBrewer

Well-Known Member

DeafSmith

Supporting Member

wildwest450

Well-Known Member

wildwest450

Well-Known Member

klyph

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Latest posts

2.5 gallons of dead space in a Blichmann?

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

Well-Known Member

Green Flash IPA on tap

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Supporting Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!