JonClayton
Well-Known Member
Yesterday was my second brew on my new equipment. I am having some issues getting used to the new toys and working out some bugs and would really appreciate your help as I am pretty sure i probably just made 10 gallons of bitter undrinkable beer.
The first problem of the day also plagued me on last weeks initial brew with this system. I had to fight the march pump all day because it kept sucking air and would not pump. I had no trouble pumping from HLT to Mashtun, but when recirculating mash or pumping from mash to boil kettle it would work well for a few moments and then start sucking air. Sometimes up to 15-20 mins and then randomly start sucking air causing me to shut it down to prevent burning up the pump. I was fairly convinced that the false bottom was not working clogging up the dip tube with grain but after dumping the grain and removing the bottom there was very very little grain under it. My best guess is that the grain compacted on the false bottom preventing wort from getting through and causing the pump to run dry. Has anyone else had this problem?
When doughing in we were very careful to stir well to prevent doughballs and also stirred the mash periodically while running the recirculation. Is there anything else I can do better to try to prevent the compacting?
Second, the issue that probably ruined this batch.Boil volume according to beer smith was 14 gallons to be boiled down to 10 in 90 mins. This seems right because last week i boiled off 7.5 to 5 on a 90 min boil. At any rate, 14 gallons as measured on my sight glass goes into the kettle and we start the boil with the 90 min hops. My 10 tip NG burner is a bit under powered so it boils the 14 gallons but not very hard. A hour into the boil we are still sitting at just a touch under the 14 gallon mark and start to panic as we realize we are just not getting boil off. An hour and a half comes and we are still at the same spot on the sight glass. Keep in mind by this time its dark and cold so there is a good amount of steam coming off the kettle preventing me from really seeing the level inside so I am just watching the sight glass. 2 hours in, still 13.5 gallons ish on the sight glass. 2.5 hours in, same level so we decide at this point the beer is probably done for but lets try to do what ever we can to boil it down. We hooked up the pump and started to pump half hte wort into the now cleaned out mash tun so we could run 2 burners on smaller amounts of wort hoping to get better boil office. Well... pump starts pumping and out of no where the level on the sight glass drops from 13.5 to 8 before the pump had really had a chance to move anything, i pull back over the little bit that and end up at 8.5 gallons total in bk. I added the irish moss and the 15 min hops and shut down after 15 mins.
Is it common for the sight glass to get clogged up and cause false readings? I feel like a idiot for not just paying closer attention to the actual kettle level but again pretty hard to see in there with steam rising. Another question we had is will boiling wort measure higher on a sight glass for any reason?
So at any rate my 90 min boil was about a 3 hour boil, the 90 min hops were in for the whole time and the 15 min additions went in at the last fifteen. Specific gravity was hit, 1.090 before top off 1.076 afterward. Was shooting for .073. What affects do you think the extend boil will have? I am guessing increased bitterness due to the 90 min hops staying in much longer. I think extended boil also affects the breaking down of (insert brew science words i am not familiar with here..)
Finally, how the heck can I fix the false bottom issue? I am willing to call the sight glass issue a fluke as it worked well on my first brew. The false bottom issue will have to be resolved though. Open to any suggestions.
The first problem of the day also plagued me on last weeks initial brew with this system. I had to fight the march pump all day because it kept sucking air and would not pump. I had no trouble pumping from HLT to Mashtun, but when recirculating mash or pumping from mash to boil kettle it would work well for a few moments and then start sucking air. Sometimes up to 15-20 mins and then randomly start sucking air causing me to shut it down to prevent burning up the pump. I was fairly convinced that the false bottom was not working clogging up the dip tube with grain but after dumping the grain and removing the bottom there was very very little grain under it. My best guess is that the grain compacted on the false bottom preventing wort from getting through and causing the pump to run dry. Has anyone else had this problem?
When doughing in we were very careful to stir well to prevent doughballs and also stirred the mash periodically while running the recirculation. Is there anything else I can do better to try to prevent the compacting?
Second, the issue that probably ruined this batch.Boil volume according to beer smith was 14 gallons to be boiled down to 10 in 90 mins. This seems right because last week i boiled off 7.5 to 5 on a 90 min boil. At any rate, 14 gallons as measured on my sight glass goes into the kettle and we start the boil with the 90 min hops. My 10 tip NG burner is a bit under powered so it boils the 14 gallons but not very hard. A hour into the boil we are still sitting at just a touch under the 14 gallon mark and start to panic as we realize we are just not getting boil off. An hour and a half comes and we are still at the same spot on the sight glass. Keep in mind by this time its dark and cold so there is a good amount of steam coming off the kettle preventing me from really seeing the level inside so I am just watching the sight glass. 2 hours in, still 13.5 gallons ish on the sight glass. 2.5 hours in, same level so we decide at this point the beer is probably done for but lets try to do what ever we can to boil it down. We hooked up the pump and started to pump half hte wort into the now cleaned out mash tun so we could run 2 burners on smaller amounts of wort hoping to get better boil office. Well... pump starts pumping and out of no where the level on the sight glass drops from 13.5 to 8 before the pump had really had a chance to move anything, i pull back over the little bit that and end up at 8.5 gallons total in bk. I added the irish moss and the 15 min hops and shut down after 15 mins.
Is it common for the sight glass to get clogged up and cause false readings? I feel like a idiot for not just paying closer attention to the actual kettle level but again pretty hard to see in there with steam rising. Another question we had is will boiling wort measure higher on a sight glass for any reason?
So at any rate my 90 min boil was about a 3 hour boil, the 90 min hops were in for the whole time and the 15 min additions went in at the last fifteen. Specific gravity was hit, 1.090 before top off 1.076 afterward. Was shooting for .073. What affects do you think the extend boil will have? I am guessing increased bitterness due to the 90 min hops staying in much longer. I think extended boil also affects the breaking down of (insert brew science words i am not familiar with here..)
Finally, how the heck can I fix the false bottom issue? I am willing to call the sight glass issue a fluke as it worked well on my first brew. The false bottom issue will have to be resolved though. Open to any suggestions.