sediment?

I've brewed a few AG batches but have a feeling that I'm ending up with way too much sediment (tiny specks of grain) in my boil... I runoff in to a pitcher about 5 times and slowly pour back in to the MLT until it is fairly clear... is this something that is normal or am I doing something wrong?

What are you using for a filter?, braided hose? false bottom? manifold? Iam using the braided hose in the 10 gallon igloo cooler, and after 2 quarts the wort runs clear as tap water, post up your equipment and someone will surely be able to help you pinpoint the problem, cheers

Very, very easy...Use a fine nylon mesh bag around the exit tube of your MLT. I don't even vorlauf anymore. Haven't gotten one spec of grain in my wort since I started using it.

I have a homemade MLT made from a big rectangular cooler. 10lbs of grain with 3 gallons maybe fills half of it... I am using a 12" stainless braided hose... I followed the "cheap easy mlt" instructions posted on here.

I wouldn't worry too much about trace specs of grain.

Try slowing your vorlauf and draining down to a crawl. If you reduce the velocity of the drain, the "current" might be slow enough to leave behind those particles.

The exit mesh is also a good fix. Use a simple 1 gallon paint strainer from Lowe's.

As an aside, I use whole hops. Those plus a strainer = the near absence of break/etc.

zoebisch01 said:

As an aside, I use whole hops. Those plus a strainer = the near absence of break/etc.

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I am worried that to many specs of grain are making it to the boil which would result in bitter/off flavors with the release of tanins, correct?

I put a fine mesh cloth that has been sanitized over my fermenter and dump my kettle into it... it filters very well but also get clogged up easily... But also haven't had to deal with PM or AG yet so there isn't as much of the husk and such to deal with.

DeadDoc said:

I put a fine mesh cloth that has been sanitized over my fermenter and dump my kettle into it... it filters very well but also get clogged up easily... But also haven't had to deal with PM or AG yet so there isn't as much of the husk and such to deal with.

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again, you guys are missing my point. My concern is not what ends up in the fermenter, but what ends up in my boil kettle...
doesn't boiling grains lead to off flavors? Isn't that the reason why we don't want to go over 170 degrees during the mash?

shoebag22 said:

again, you guys are missing my point. My concern is not what ends up in the fermenter, but what ends up in my boil kettle...
doesn't boiling grains lead to off flavors? Isn't that the reason why we don't want to go over 170 degrees during the mash?

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OK,do as Bm said, after you stir the grainbed, let sit a couple minutes, open the mash tun drain valve SLOWLY, you want very little flow at this point, after a couple of quarts you should be getting very little if any grain particles coming through, dont stir while draining, if you are getting a little bit of particles I dont think it will hurt anything at all, good luck, and llet us know if that helps.

shoebag22 said:

doesn't boiling grains lead to off flavors?

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Of course it does, boiling extracts starch and tanins, you must improve your filtration technique.

shoebag22 said:

again, you guys are missing my point. My concern is not what ends up in the fermenter, but what ends up in my boil kettle...
doesn't boiling grains lead to off flavors? Isn't that the reason why we don't want to go over 170 degrees during the mash?

Click to expand...

you could use that. Drain into a pot then pour into kettle with a very fine mesh fabric over it.

Not missing your point at all. Unless you are getting a lot of grain in your boil you aren't likely to be effected by tannins. Vorlauf slower as suggested above and then run the mash runnings through a fine mesh nylon bag. You will get NO grain husks in your boil pot at all. Zero, zilch, nada...

thanks boys!