Filtering Mash Runnings?

I have a really nice SS MLT with a spigot and sweet false bottom. Very nice setup. My only problem is, I can't seem to get the runnings to run clear, no matter how many times I recycle them. So I end up with lots of particulate in my boil. Of course, it gets filtered out when I strain my wort into the fermenter, but I'm wondering...

Would it be a good idea to send the runnings through my funnel/screen on their way to the kettle? Some have said that I don't have to worry about tannins because the husks are usually left behind, but others have said that they filter their runnings.

So, yay or nay?

How are you crushing your grains?

I hold the strainer underneath just to catch those couple pieces of grain that somehow seem to make it through

ayrton said:

How are you crushing your grains?

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I'm not. Don't have a mill...yet. I get Listermann to premill them for me prior to shipping, then foodsave them until ready for use.

I'd try hooking up a piece of SS braid under the false bottom.

I use a strainer like this to catch the few strays that don't get caught by recirculation.

I think if you Vorlauf too fast the grainbed doesn't settle properly and a good filter doesn't form? I do mine real slow always, maybe you are doing it too fast? Just a thought.

Is it possible, too, that you aren't being careful enough when you add the runnings back to the tun, that you're re-disturbing the grain bed? Is the grain bed pretty deep, or shallow?

There is absolutely no benefit in acheiving a clear run off and it has no bearing on the final clarity or taste. As long as there are no large lumps in the run off you are fine. There is a paper available on the net discussing an experiment into mash run off and clarity. The fine particulate was even considered to be beneficial to fermentation.

copied from other post 'cause i'm lazy

go to a grainger store in your area or buy online or go to a cleaning supplies store. get a 3m white polishing pad. yep i said polishing pad.

assemble thusly:

take your mash pad - leave the center ring in it. cut a small hole in the center so that your tube from the false bottom will fit up through. false bottom goes in the cooler - mash pad goes on top the false bottom with the tube threaded through the hole - connect tube to ball valve as normal...and your chunky sparge worries should be over.

the center hole is out on this pic to better show assembly

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Could it be that you're actually running off too slow? I believe I read in Miller's book that if you are having trouble clearing your runoff, you actually need to increase the flowrate - thereby compacting the grainbed and increasing the filtering effect.

Try a manifold in stead or a bazooka screen.

An excerpt from the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists

Pilot plant brewing trials have been carried out to provide worts
that were turbidly (≥100 EBC) and clearly lautered (≈20 EBC).
The content of free long-chain fatty acids (C14-C18:3) in kettlefull
worts was increased by 50–60% due to turbid lautering. In
one part of each wort, hot trub was allowed to remain completely
in the wort, in the other it was separated by whirlpooling. Turbid
lautering and hot trub increased Zn content in chilled wort by
0.03 and 0.05 mg/L, respectively. The resulting four worts were
fully and partly aerated (8 and 5 mg of O2/L) and pitched with
vital, bottom-fermenting yeast. Turbid worts, particularly those
containing hot trub, showed increased fermentation performance,
indicated as extract and pH decrease as well as ethanol concentration
and cell number increase. Full wort aeration seemed to be
substitutable by part aeration if turbid lautering is applied and hot
trub is allowed to remain in the wort.
The resulting beers generally showed excellent nonbiological
stabilities and no differences in foam stability were observed.
Turbid lautering or hot trub addition did not lead to an increase in
staling indicators of aged beers compared with the control (clearly
lautered, hot trub removed). The latter was confirmed by taste
tests. Here, turbid lautering and hot trub addition lead to good
flavor quality, at least as good as the flavor quality of the control.
Considering the fact that within these trials, extreme conditions
such as turbidly lautering and complete hot trub addition were
applied, it might be concluded that a certain quantity of lauter
turbidity as well as hot trub may increase fermentation performance
and does not lead to decreased processability nor quality
losses of the resulting beer.

DAAB said:

There is absolutely no benefit in acheiving a clear run off and it has no bearing on the final clarity or taste. As long as there are no large lumps in the run off you are fine. There is a paper available on the net discussing an experiment into mash run off and clarity. The fine particulate was even considered to be beneficial to fermentation.

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my vote is with DAAB on this one. I think it's kinda like coffee, you filter it to much and you lose a lot of the taste. Appearently with beer you lose more that just taste.

My lauter tun came with the foam thingy (probably a polishing pad). I will be using it today for my first AG brew. I'll post how it goes...