2 hrs spent for nothing... Help

So today I set out to brew my first all grain batch and had everything planned out since thursday. Yeast starter was going great equipment was set up perfect(or so I thought) and all I needed was the grain and aqua and I was set. So everything is going perfect, Im hitting my temps and and then it happens. I mash out 209* per beersmith and wait 10. I open the valve to Vourlof and nothing happens. A slight trickle came out maybe 4-8 oz and it just stopped. I tried stirring I tried googleing my situation in efforts to save this batch and in the end I basically wasted 30$ I inspected my gear and I noticed the false bottom had grain clogging the elbow fittting. now arent these things supposed to keep most grain out of the space in between the dome and bottom of the MLT? What could have caused this? not stirring enough? mashing out to fast? I am pretty irritated but I at least want to come from this learning how not to have this happen again. Any ideas?

What do you have for a false bottom and mash tun? Setting it up properly is critical, in my experience. It sounds like yours could have been set up incorrectly. If you've not done one before, and it didn't have solid instructions, then it's easy to have bad things happen.

Do NOT throw this out!

Take the whole mash and put it in a bucket or two and fix the false bottom/braid/whatever.

That happened to me- I knocked off my tubing from the ballvalve with my mash paddle.

But we can fix this!

Can you blow into the hose to dislodge the stuff in the elbow? You just have a stuck sparge. It'll happen to anyone. All is not lost bub.

I second Yooper if your have converted the sugars and have wort this can be saved. Boiling will cure all sins. I disassembled and cleaned my mash tun before last brew and as I added all the water for the saccrification rest I see my steel braid sitting on a counter top. you can just take the whole thing and put it in your brew kettle/ bucket and fix the false bottom and the put it back in wait 15-20 min for things to settle and then lauter off the wort. Its a pain in the ass but most everyone equipment is non standard and need the kinks worked out of it.

To late yooper. Its gone and Ill just have to take a second crack either later on or tommorow, I did just take a second look at my false bottom.... It was slightly un level on the bottom if that makes sense? I just bent it so as to have it lay flush on the bottom. could the little gap been the issue?

If you have too you can rack the wort to another container fix problem then pour back in. Don't panic you can save it!!!!! I have faith it really wants to be beer you just have to help it along a little.

Well **** looks like i made a huge mistake tossing it

The wort I did taste was so good too

jdjtexas said:

Well **** looks like i made a huge mistake tossing it

Click to expand...

Yep. Stuck mashes and/or sparges happen all the time.

Sometimes it's just a clump of grain, so the first thing to do is blow into the output and often that will clear it. If not, you just need to pour the mash into a bucket/cooler/container, and fix what's wrong. I've knocked off the tube from the false bottom to the diptube, and others have had braids collapse. Fix the issue, and pour the mash back in. Vorlauf and drain. It's sort of a pain, but it happens all the time.

Well, let's troubleshoot your issue now. Put it back together and use water and see how it goes. If your false bottom is collapsing, that could be the issue.

When will congress do something and make beer abortions illegal... damn Wort V. Wade... Anyway its all a learning experience. I hope your next batch goes better. Just a suggestion before you invest a whole batch take something cheap like a few pound of rice and throw some water in there and see if your false bottom keeps the grains out of your tube.

jdjtexas said:

Well **** looks like i made a huge mistake tossing it

Click to expand...

Yup... I had assumed you had either reserved the wort in something else, or already tossed it since you could see what the issue was in the mash tun.

Personally, I really like my NorCal/Jaybird false bottom in my keg mash tun (it's the 15" diameter, hinged and with the handle model). I didn't install it properly the first time I used it, but was given the information on how to install it by Jay when I reached out to them. They (he and his business partner I believe) created documentation so that others wouldn't have the same issue that I did.

Since then, I've not had any hardware malfunctions related to the false bottom. I have had a few times where I've needed to shift the grist around in the mash tun to get good flow going again, but I think most of us have batches like that.

Post up what you're mashing in, and/or pictures... It could be something really easy to resolve for your next batch. But with as many false bottoms out there, and things that are used as mash tuns, it's nearly impossible to give advise without knowing what you're using.

Ok Yoop, I installed the false bottom and It sits just about completely flat (way flatter than before) I put 4 gal in and opened the valve. it comes out fine. But it did before as well. so you think it was my false bottom having too large of a gap on the bottom of the tun allowing grains inside?

My equipment is the standard 10 gal rubbermade cooler with false bottom. I bought it from highland brewing the one with a built in thermo and sparge head

jdjtexas said:

My equipment is the standard 10 gal rubbermade cooler with false bottom. I bought it from highland brewing the one with a built in thermo and sparge head

Click to expand...

That's not all that helpful. The cooler I know, no idea what the false bottom configuration is.

How does it connect to the ball valve?
Are the fittings TIGHT?
Does it use a compression fitting for the dip tube to the valve??
How does it go into/through the false bottom??

If the material/metal is too thin, then it will flex far more than it should. If the fittings are not all tight, then when you're stirring the mash (to dough-in) you'll probably knock something loose and have the issue again.

fitings are tight, it connects to the valve by surgical high temp tubing, and the false bottom is pretty heavy duty

Hope this helps... I'm going to get the grain again

It looks alright. I wonder if somehow when you stirred, the grain DID get under it.

Next time, add the water first and stir in the grain. Stir well, but don't knock the false bottom about. You can sort of "scrape" it to stir the grain.

That is what I did water then grain... I'm goin round two wish me luck strike water is heating now

Is that silicone tubing connecting the bulkhead/ball valve to the false bottom?? If so, use hose clamps on either end to make sure it's secure.

I've had solid results using a bent stainless dip tube through the false bottom in my keg mash tun. For the other mash tuns I've made/used, I've had hose clamps on the silicone tubing to prevent it from coming separated. Of course, those were connected to torpedo/bazooka screens, not false bottoms. But, if the fitting on the false bottom is secure/tight (any o-rings with it?) then making sure the silicone tubing doesn't shift/move could solve your issue.

Did you add all the grain at once, or split it up, getting it fully mixed before adding the rest?? I've found that it's easier to get rid of the dough-balls (for thicker mashes) if you go that route. By thicker, I'm talking about under 1.3 or 1.4 qt/# water/grain ratio. At 1.5qt/# and above, it doesn't make as large an impact (but still a good idea IMO).

I mashed in just 5 min ago... Went slower this time and loss 2* cause of it but I'll mash longer. Now when I mash out do I do it slow then stir or no stir?

jdjtexas said:

I mashed in just 5 min ago... Went slower this time and loss 2* cause of it but I'll mash longer. Now when I mash out do I do it slow then stir or no stir?

Click to expand...

If you add mash out water, you want to stir.

You need to stir when mashing out, but not so vigorously that you dislodge the false bottom, or knock the connecting hose off.

-a.

Very well. I missed my temp by 3* so I'm mashing a bit longer then I'll add my mash out then stir . I'll keep y'all posted thanks for the help

If the dip tube that runs through the false bottom is flat on the bottom of your cooler, you will fail again. Plenty of material will go through the false bottom.

I know, I've been down this road.

I took an angle grinder to the tube to raise it off the bottom and it fixed all my problems.

Just add a bit more strike Water to raise your mash temp... Don't fear adding a bit more strike water; think of it as no sparge brewing.

So round two went 100% better. My sweet wort is heating to a boil now and I must say this relieved a lot of undo stress. I'll report #'s later as far as my process went. Thanks for the responses so far. I guess my false bottom was bent originally to much as so to let grain under neath

Man my citra came in today as well. Day is gettin better and better