Maris Otter Crisp stuck sparge?

Hey everybody,

I traded a tap shank for a bag of Maris Otter. Ive finally brewed with it and had a stuck sparge. I was kinda able to recover from it by stiring the mash and using a grain bag to filter the output in the boil kettle.

Is this because I brewed a Pumpkin Ale that was kinda thick (used canned pumpkin) or because of the Maris Otter grain? Ive had stuck mashes before but quickly learned it was bc i had oats stuck to my false bottom. Today I was expecting an obvious 'oh that's why it was stuck' but when I cleaned up I couldn't identify the problem.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,
Brandon

Pumpkin will give you a really bad stuck sparge. I use a pound of rice hulls when I brew with pumpkin...

Awesome!! Thanks!

That makes me feel better. The pumpkin was the only thing I could think of but wasnt sure because it wasnt apparent.

Yeah... I used 5 cans of pumpkin today. Big mistake. Stuck sparge HELL... I did manage to make it through the brew day, but next time I'll just add it to the boil kettle.

My one and only stuck sparge was with a recent bag of MO. I've used MO a lot and on the stuck batch, I knew I had problems going into it with the huge dough balls at mash in. I've never had it dough up like that before. I picked up some rice hulls to use with the MO for another batch and had no problems.

Just a followup. I did a English brown today with MO. I had no problems with the sparge so I am thinking it was the pumpkin in the previous batch.

+1 On the pumpkin. Definately need rice hulls...