rough day brewing

I was making an attempt at the cream of 3 crops ale https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/cream-three-crops-cream-ale-66503/ today and got a stuck sparge. Couldn't get it to go. I ended up dumping my mash into my kettle, working with my false bottom and valve, not seeing anything wrong, and then putting the mash back in to get not much more than a trickle. I did get all my wort out and am boiling now. Not sure what my efficiency or OG will be but so far this has been a disaster and with all the transferring my back porch is a mess. I'll have to get it cleaned up before SWMBO gets home or my brewing days will be numbered. I've had almost nothing but good luck brewing but today is making it hard to RDWHAHB.

Really strange considering the grain bill. On the other hand, the OG and IBUs are low anyway. If you hit 1.035, you'll still have a good beer.

After you moved the grains, did you check the valve and hose connections? May have been something in there causing the backup and not the bill itself. Tackling one myself after work today, so I am hoping for the best.

david_42 said:

Really strange considering the grain bill. On the other hand, the OG and IBUs are low anyway. If you hit 1.035, you'll still have a good beer.

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I could see the rice turning into a nice mush. If you added it first...got a bit through the holes...

I know I never get stuck sparges when I expect that I should.

I couldn't find anything in the valve or hose. and initially when putting my second sparge water in it flowed freely, then slowed to the trickle again. I don't see how I could have gotten the free flow if there was blockage. All I can figure is stickier gummier grain bed due to corn and rice. The spent grain I dumped on my compost definitely did have a different look.

Well brewday is over, except for cleanup. I ended up getting 1.052 for OG which was higher than I expected. I guess this will be the bmc ale that gets you crunk. I am concerned about color though. The pictures on the recipe page of the finished product show a nice golden BMC. My wort doesn't look anywhere close to that color. It's really kind of a cloudy color. Does anyone familiar with this recipe know if that's normal? Will it come around?

4lb of flaked corn can give you troubles, did you use any rice hulls?

The recipe was downsized for a 4 - 5 gallon batch. I used the rice hulls, first time actually, since it was mentioned so much on the post about the recipe. Even when I was trying to clean the mash tun it was draining slow so I stuck the hose up to the valve inside and blasted it. That seemed to clear it up so something must have gotten stuck in there. I don't really like my false bottom and am thinking of switching it out to something else.

6 LB malt
2 LB flaked corn
1 LB flaked rice

Dave11980 said:

Well brewday is over, except for cleanup. I ended up getting 1.052 for OG which was higher than I expected. I guess this will be the bmc ale that gets you crunk. I am concerned about color though. The pictures on the recipe page of the finished product show a nice golden BMC. My wort doesn't look anywhere close to that color. It's really kind of a cloudy color. Does anyone familiar with this recipe know if that's normal? Will it come around?

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Some gelatin should take care of that nicely for you. Just had a honey wheat that was cloudy to me, so during cold crashing I added some gelatin according to other threads on HBT and walaa! It came out very clear.
BTW, did you use Irish Moss?

I haven't used irish moss in any brews since I don't care if it's a bit cloudy. My concern is mainly with color. It didn't seem to have that golden color associated with BMC's when I put it in the fermenter.

Dave11980 said:

I haven't used irish moss in any brews since I don't care if it's a bit cloudy. My concern is mainly with color. It didn't seem to have that golden color associated with BMC's when I put it in the fermenter.

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Cream of 3 Crops is a nasty orange wort for me. It clears up to a nice light golden color.

is flaked rice the same as rice hulls? - in the UK nobody has heard of rice hulls.

No, flaked rice is not at all the same as rice hulls and if the OP used flaked rice instead, that's probably the problem.

Flaked rice is the grist of the grain.. flaked.

Rice hulls are simply the peeled off husks of rice. The hulls are taste-neutral and are used primarily as an extra 'filter' in mashes that don't drain particularly well to start with (wheat for example).

Rice hulls typically help a mash drain while flaked rice will make it worse... as flaked rice will turn into mush/oatmail.