Effects of stuck mash

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mtbaesl

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So, last night I was brewing a spice ale - pretty simple grain bill of 9 lb pale, 0.5 lb crystal, 0.5 lb victory (with orange peel and coriander) - and when I went to start sparging, I got the big nothing when I opened the valve. SOB! So I had to empy out the lauter tun, perge all my valves etc, then put everything back, bla bla bla. So I have 2 questions:

1) Will this have any effect on the finished product, and if so what can I expect. My efficiency was still around 80-85%, and I was actually above target gravity both before and after boil.
2) Any suggestions on preventative measures. I'm not sure why this happened, maybe my stirring of the mash was too vigorous. I use a 10 G Igloo cooler with false bottom. The only thing I did differently yesterday was to add water to the tun, then grain (usually I add grain then water - I'm assuming that doesn't matter). Then mashed like usual, and did a mash out.

I'm still pleased with how things turned out, and am confident it will be a good beer, but what a pain in the ass! Anything I can learn to help not have this happen again would be great!
 
Shouldnt effect the finished product, in fact the last stuck sparge I had my efficency went up. I think because I ended up accidentially mashing for another 10 - 20 min while I was cleaning out my mash tun and the grain / water was in another bucket.

I usually add water then grain for two reasons... 1) I have had stuck mashes adding grain first, 2) you can better control your dough in and initial mash temp.. so in short I would put my strike water in then grain. I have never had problems from mixing too violently or too much, I have had dough balls from mixing too little..

hope this helps..

-DIG
 
I'm not sure if it matters which gets put into the MLT first, but I always add my water first. It preheats the MLT, and it lets me stir while I slowly dough-in - which virtually eliminates and dough balls.
 
Yeah, I knocked the tubing off the false bottom once too, that was my other stuck mash. Ah, memories!
 
I think i had a stuck mash once and i just stirred it a bit to losten everything up a bit and then restarted my first runnings. Seemed to work for me
 
I'm not sure if it matters which gets put into the MLT first, but I always add my water first. It preheats the MLT, and it lets me stir while I slowly dough-in - which virtually eliminates and dough balls.

^This. This lets me hit my hit strike temps without the grain being too hot or too cool due to the MLT variable. I shoot a little high, and adjust with a little boiling or a little ice, as necessary.
 
I suspect some grain got under the false bottom and plugged the pipe. By putting the water in first, you might have floated the FB while adding the grain.
 
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