I had a hell of a brew day yesterday. It was my first attempt to do 2 batches in one day, essentially simultaneously. I figured I could handle it after 2 years.
I made an AB clone and an Oatmeal Stout. I had everything in place. All the grain crushed, the hops pre-measured and ready to go, and I'd worked out a pretty good plan for timing everything.
The problem started with a stuck sparge on my AB clone. I batch sparge. I've experienced a few stuck sparges, but a quick swirl with my mash paddle generally clears them up. This was the mother of stuck sparges. I couldn't get a drop out of the mash tun no matter what I did. I ended up pouring the contents of the mash tun through a paint bag into a 5 gallon pail and doing an impromptu hybrid BIAB. It was the only way to get the liquid out of the mash tun. Even when I tried to hose out the mash tun later, the remaining grain was jamming it up. My garage floor is a sticky mess.
Somehow I hit my numbers though - go figure.
First - what would cause a mash tun to jam up like this? At first I thought maybe it was the grain crush, but I didn't have any problems with the stout; even with roasted barley. I used Special B and Aromatic malt in the AB clone. Could it be the type of grains?
Second - I'm guessing all my pouring between buckets did a number on the wort. How bad of a problem will oxidation be? I've never had to do this before so I'm not sure what to expect.
I made an AB clone and an Oatmeal Stout. I had everything in place. All the grain crushed, the hops pre-measured and ready to go, and I'd worked out a pretty good plan for timing everything.
The problem started with a stuck sparge on my AB clone. I batch sparge. I've experienced a few stuck sparges, but a quick swirl with my mash paddle generally clears them up. This was the mother of stuck sparges. I couldn't get a drop out of the mash tun no matter what I did. I ended up pouring the contents of the mash tun through a paint bag into a 5 gallon pail and doing an impromptu hybrid BIAB. It was the only way to get the liquid out of the mash tun. Even when I tried to hose out the mash tun later, the remaining grain was jamming it up. My garage floor is a sticky mess.
Somehow I hit my numbers though - go figure.
First - what would cause a mash tun to jam up like this? At first I thought maybe it was the grain crush, but I didn't have any problems with the stout; even with roasted barley. I used Special B and Aromatic malt in the AB clone. Could it be the type of grains?
Second - I'm guessing all my pouring between buckets did a number on the wort. How bad of a problem will oxidation be? I've never had to do this before so I'm not sure what to expect.