Stuck sparge help

Sparge is compelely stuck. open drain valve, nothing. 53% wheat malt, maybe the cause?

anyway how do i unstick? i've tried blowing in the valve, unsticks for a moment then stuck again. my next corse of action is to dump the mash out into a bucket, clean, then dump again....

dumped mash into bucket. false bottom became disconnected from the valve.

fixed, but....well, we'll see.

I use a screen and it has come off a couple times. It was probably easier for me to fix than to dump the batch into a bucket like you had to. It will still be fine. Continue sparging and boiling.........

It's always a good idea to add some rice hulls when mashing significant quantities of wheat, oats, rye, rice, etc. Those grains don't have intact hulls like barley to create a good grainbed filter, and they also have higher protein content which makes them extra sticky. My general rule is rice hulls when more than ~15% of the mash is sticky grains, especially with rye since it's super sticky. I also like to soak the hulls in water beforehand so they don't soak up as much precious wort.

i then got a "real" stuck sparge. worst. brewday. ever.

Yeah, stuck mashes suck. It is from the wheat. I suggest doing a protein rest at about 122 for 30 minutes next time you use wheat in a significant portion of the bill. I have used this technique for all my wheat beers now and don't (up till now, anyways) have stuck mashes. Rice hulls are another good option, like juan pointed out.

You may want to think about modifying your setup to allow you the ability to force air back up into the grain bed, if needed.

i thought about a protien rest. i will do that next time for sure. and rice hulls, lol.

my setup includes a 5gallon picnic cooler with a hose. i can certainly blow air back into the hose, but that's about all I can do.