Whew! I saved a stuck sparge

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KellyL

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I don't post much, but figured this was worth sharing. Yesterday I tried a new Cream Ale (Spotted Cow) clone. Everything went well up to the mash... not that much can go wrong. When the hour was up, my sparge water was heated, I was ready to go and I cracked the valved open. Nothing but a trickle came out.

My problem is that I switched from a bazooka screen to a manifold made of soft copper with slits cut in it. I put a pound of rice hulls in the bottom to keep the corn and flaked barley from sticking, but it didn't help. I've never had a stuck sparge so I panicked a little.

After staring at it for a few minutes, I attached a tube to the nipple and blew into it. I got a little bit of wort out and then it stuck again. I kept blowing into it until it flowed freely. I have to say that I felt like a genius. I had visions of having to transfer the mash into paint strainers and cringed at the thought.

So, to summarize, before stirring your mash, try blowing back into the valve and don't cheap out on a false bottom. Now I have some copper to recycle and a false bottom to order.

Kelly
 
I have a SS braid in my 10 Gallon Rubbermaid water cooler. In 14 batches I have only had one scare. It was actually a layer of fine particles on top of the larger grain. I poked a hole through that layer and it drained easily.
 
On my third AG my sparge was definitely reduced compared to the first 2 batches so I made sure to stir real well on the last sparge addition, let it sit for 5 mins then cracked open the valve just a bit and the only thing that came out was grain, opened up the cooler and found my manifold had come lose from the back side of the valve. I scooped everything out, cleared the manifold, reinserted it and added the grain/wort back in and it took off like it should.

In my case, the stir was just to vigorous and dislodged the manifold.

Oh well, I hit my numbers pretty well and will bottle it next weekend :rockin:

Toy4Rick
 
I don’t know how you could stick a copper manifold. Mine runs like a cow peein’ on a flat rock. Are you sure you didn’t have a copper flake blocking the valve? Especially since this was the first time you used it.

When I built mine I chamfered all the slots and ends with a triangle file.
 
I also have a 10 gallon rubbermaid with SS braid and have never had issues (even with pumpkin and wheat beers).
 
No need to freak out about a stuck sparge. I just stir well, vorlauf, and continue. Other than additional time, no big whoop.
 
I have used an air compressor to do the same on several (frustrating) occasions.

I did this 2 weeks ago on a large Tank 7 clone. Felt like a genius when I pulling the air hose out and turning on the air compressor.:drunk::ban:


I don’t know how you could stick a copper manifold. Mine runs like a cow peein’ on a flat rock. Are you sure you didn’t have a copper flake blocking the valve? Especially since this was the first time you used it.

When I built mine I chamfered all the slots and ends with a triangle file.
I built a copper manifold for mine after crushing my braid on several occasions. My problem was a 10 gallon batch that Mr Retard here threw 3# worth of flaked corn and flaked wheat into the tun first. then 30# of malt and wheat on top of that. Stirring didn't help enough.
 
Be careful and hold the tube up near 90* when you blow into it. I tried this on my first stuck sparge and was greeted with 160* wort. Burned my tongue and mouth pretty good.
 
I experienced my first stuck sparge on my most recent batch, a bavarian hefeweizen. I think my problem was that I opened the valve all the way. I just stirred, vorlaufed, and drained slower and had no problems after that.

Oh, I have a 10gal round Rubbermaid with a bazooka screen.
 
I use a ten gallon round cooler with SS braid. Had my first stuck sparge this past weekend. Instead of blowing into the tube, I grabbed my bottling bucket added 168 degree sparge water hooked a tube up to both and held the bottling bucket above my head. A little more work but worked just the same. I knew the blockage was free once I saw bubbles at the top grain bed. I believe the term is "underletting".
 
Never a stuck sparge with my copper manifold. Never used any rice hulls either. Nothing in my mash but grain and water.
 
I've had maybe 3 stuck sparges with my 10 gal cooler with stainless braid. I've blown back into it every time and it works like a charm. I use a pretty long tube so no danger of burning myself. The sticking seems to have more to do with how quickly I open the valve than the grist.
 
I've never had a stuck sparge with the bazooka screen but my efficiency is WAY low. I tried the manifold with a 10 ft roll of copper tubing in hopes of improving the efficiency. Either this was a fluke because of the flaked corn and barley (even though I added rice hulls first), or my slots are too thick (I broke up with a girl because of the same problem... what a hypocrite I am). I'll have to figure it out on my next batch.
 
You mentioned you put the rice hulls on the bottom. In the future, you should mix them in with the rest of the grist (barley, corn, wheat and everything else should be evenly distributed throughout the mash)- that is what prevents stuck mashes/sparges.
 
I've had one stuck sparge, but it was a bad one. No amount of blowing was getting anything done. I ended up attaching a bike pump to the output hose to loosen the grain from the manifold. Air compressor sounds great too, if you've got one.
 
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