clarifying/ tannin aid question

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mediumsk

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I brewed a bitter today and ended up with a ton of grain sediment in my kettle. my question is 2 fold.

how did this happen?

the recipe was 10 LBS 2row and about .5 LBS crystal.
mashed at 149 degrees, recirculated the first to gallons.
i allowed adequate time for the filter bed to settle.
oh and i use the standard 10 gal. braid MLT.
im stumped on this one?
it mainly looked like the more starchy part of the grain that got through, not the husks. doas that part have tannins in it that would have been leached out by the boil?

also.
what would be the best clarifier for dropping everything out? i dont need crystal clear, just not gritty


much thanks to anyone who can help.
 
You will get grain in your wort if you don't recirculate the first runnings, even if you let the mash settle (I'm assuming you're "fly" sparging). As far as removing the grittiness, try lowering the temp (ice bath if you don't have a fridge for this purpose) of the flat beer after fermentation is done... most of the gradoo will settle to the bottom of the fermenter. And be patient; some times it takes a few days, and the occasional knocking on the fermenter. Gravity will do its job!

cheers, -p
 
OOps, just re-read. You recirculated. You may be seeing protien coagulents from th boil. Again, no worries, just cool your fermenter and wait...
 
Have you checked your braid for damage? The reason I switched off the braid to a copper manifold was I kept hitting the braid with my mash paddle and opening up gaps that let grains through.
 
bradsul said:
Have you checked your braid for damage? The reason I switched off the braid to a copper manifold was I kept hitting the braid with my mash paddle and opening up gaps that let grains through.

I had the same problem. I have stone hands, so when I'm stirring I don't even realize that I'm hitting the thing!

And I don't want to even think about knocking the braid off the barb in the middle of a sparge.

That would SUCK!!
 
I'm redoing my MLT this weekend because of wear and tear on the braid. Piping in a false bottom and copper tube setup. Chances are that there was just a little bit of the hose that was bunched up and let the grain through. As for tannins, that shouldn't be enough to notice anything in the flavor. As far as gritty goes, it will all settle out in the fermenter. Also, if you are batch sparging and you turn off your spout after you recirc, then when you open it back up there is a great chance that the bed floated a bit without water flow. I normally leave mine running, and just recirc into a 1 gal pitcher.
 
i did smack the braid a few times ( its hard not to when your only mashing 10 LBS)
i wouldnt have thought that the holes caused by a bunched up braid would be big enough to let grain through. o well. i guess i will have to look out for that next time.
thank you for all the info
 
I chopped up my braid on my first AG too. It still had some larger holes in it when I brewed next. But I just recirculated a lot and it seems to have turned out fine. I figure that the holes in the braid (from the mash paddle) aren't any bigger than the ones that you'd see in a manifold. Am I right in thinking this or should I just be a little more ginger when I stir my sparge?
 
ranch said:
I chopped up my braid on my first AG too. It still had some larger holes in it when I brewed next. But I just recirculated a lot and it seems to have turned out fine. I figure that the holes in the braid (from the mash paddle) aren't any bigger than the ones that you'd see in a manifold. Am I right in thinking this or should I just be a little more ginger when I stir my sparge?
A manifold has its holes (or some people cut slots) on the bottom, that way there is no direct pressure from the weight of the grain pushing material into the pipes. It's only the syphon pressure of the wort exiting the tun that can pull grain in, which is much less force.
 

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