Fin-lander
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- Oct 24, 2009
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I am posting this to see if anyone has gone through this and can shed some light as to why this happened: (sorry for the length)
I have a brutus 10 system using keggles. My mash tun has a full diameter false bottom made out of approx. 1/8" thick perforated stainless sheet. It has no hinges as I cut slots in the top of the keggle to get it in and out. It is supported at the bottom of the keg by the sides as the keg narrows at the bottom. It's fairly strong stuff. Last night I brewed my first 10 gal. batch on the system (24 lbs grain). I have done numerous 5 gal. batches with no problems. Half way through the mash, with the pump recirculating, I noticed the mash was getting pretty thick on the bottom 1/3 or so of the keg when i went to stir it. I mashed at 1.75 qts/lb of grain. I stirred it and mixed things up a bit, but about 10 mins after that I noticed grain in my lines. I knew something was very wrong and tried to clear the lines numerous times, but every time, more grain in the line. I finally had to physically move the mash into another keg and remedy the problem. The problem was that the false bottom collapsed on itself. It was crinkled in one corner, and I have a feeling the failure was due to a vacuum being created rather than sheer weight. As it is a direct fire mash tun, I had the pump on almost full blast to recirculate. After hammering the false bottom back to shape the best I could, I reassembled everything, and actually saved the brew. I was sure to stir the mash several times during the remainder, and knocked the pump down to about 1/2 or less.
Has this happened to any of you? Do you think if I keep the pump at a lower level I should be fine next time? I was afraid of scorching the wort, and trying to keep a uniform mash temp, so I had the pump on wide open. I really don't want to go through this again! I've seen others use a false bottom like this without issue. I also don't want to worry about constantly stirring the mash every couple of minutes.
Thanks.
I have a brutus 10 system using keggles. My mash tun has a full diameter false bottom made out of approx. 1/8" thick perforated stainless sheet. It has no hinges as I cut slots in the top of the keggle to get it in and out. It is supported at the bottom of the keg by the sides as the keg narrows at the bottom. It's fairly strong stuff. Last night I brewed my first 10 gal. batch on the system (24 lbs grain). I have done numerous 5 gal. batches with no problems. Half way through the mash, with the pump recirculating, I noticed the mash was getting pretty thick on the bottom 1/3 or so of the keg when i went to stir it. I mashed at 1.75 qts/lb of grain. I stirred it and mixed things up a bit, but about 10 mins after that I noticed grain in my lines. I knew something was very wrong and tried to clear the lines numerous times, but every time, more grain in the line. I finally had to physically move the mash into another keg and remedy the problem. The problem was that the false bottom collapsed on itself. It was crinkled in one corner, and I have a feeling the failure was due to a vacuum being created rather than sheer weight. As it is a direct fire mash tun, I had the pump on almost full blast to recirculate. After hammering the false bottom back to shape the best I could, I reassembled everything, and actually saved the brew. I was sure to stir the mash several times during the remainder, and knocked the pump down to about 1/2 or less.
Has this happened to any of you? Do you think if I keep the pump at a lower level I should be fine next time? I was afraid of scorching the wort, and trying to keep a uniform mash temp, so I had the pump on wide open. I really don't want to go through this again! I've seen others use a false bottom like this without issue. I also don't want to worry about constantly stirring the mash every couple of minutes.
Thanks.