15 gal mash tun

[sdochughes]

Hi folks, I'm new to all grain and I have been using the 15gal mash/lauter tun that More Beer sells. I have been having difficulty clearing the wort using the traditional recirculating techniques. I drain off several gallons,compacting the grain bed and then begin a constant filtering cycle using the grain bed. Anyone with experience on this same set-up know if the false bottom perforations are a little too large? Or am I missing something? The final runnings just don't look as clear as I have seen other all-grainers pull off on simpler set-ups.
Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[scottland]

Are you sure that you're fully converting the starch to sugar? Double check that your thermometer is accurate.

Beyond that, unless you're recirculating the entire length of the mash, you won't see crystal clear wort. as long as it isn't chunky, you're fine.

 

[sdochughes]

Yeah, I'm getting full conversion. My Original and final gravities were as expected.
Thanks for your thoughts though

 

[graduate]

I have a 15 gal mashtun with a false bottom. After conversion I vorlouf 3-4 quarts until reasonably clear. Then I tie a hop bag over the end of the transfer hose and drain to boil kettle. The empty hop bag filters out the pieces of grain that make it through.

 

[sdochughes]

Graduate,
Thanks, I vorlauf as well, but I don't filter as I move into the boil kettle. I like that idea. I will definitely give it a shot next time.

Does anyone have any experience with recirculating during the mash? And how they keep the temp constant?

 

[JoeyChopps]

Graduate,
Thanks, I vorlauf as well, but I don't filter as I move into the boil kettle. I like that idea. I will definitely give it a shot next time.

Does anyone have any experience with recirculating during the mash? And how they keep the temp constant?

A rims setup or a herms system is how most recirc and control temps. Also a hop spider works well for filtering ur runnings

 

[scottland]

Graduate,
Thanks, I vorlauf as well, but I don't filter as I move into the boil kettle. I like that idea. I will definitely give it a shot next time.

Does anyone have any experience with recirculating during the mash? And how they keep the temp constant?

Check my blog under this post, second post down is a detailed walk through of my brew day with pictures. There's a picture of what my mash looks like after recirculating for the length of the mash.

To keep temps consistent, you need some way of adding heat into the system. I use a HERMS, but RIMS systems are also popular.

 

[graduate]

I guess my system is a little more hillbilly than scottlands. No pumps, just gravity.

 

[prrriiide]

You can get reasonably clean wort from a gravity feed system. Just vorlauf until it's fairly clear (not crystal). After the boil, try to keep all of the kettle leavings out of the fermenter. Use a cold crash, and let it clear. If you need to you can use gelatin to clear as well. Do all of that, and you should be able to read a newspaper through your pint glass.

 

[scottland]

You can get reasonably clean wort from a gravity feed system. Just vorlauf until it's fairly clear (not crystal).

That's what I was getting at in my first post. I used to mash in a picnic cooler, and simply vorlaufed about a gallon or two of wort before I ran the mash off into the kettle. My beers were crystal clear then, as they are now. Clarity of wort exiting the mash tun does not necessarily correlate to clarity of the final product.

As long as you aren't getting a bunch of chunks after vorlaufing, I wouldn't worry about it. If you are getting a lot of chunks, then ya, it might be possible that your false bottom/manifold is letting too much through.

 

[sdochughes]

I have a march pump and a burner under my tun. I suppose I could recirculate with that during the mash and them vorlauf and sparge. I have been adding whirlflock to the boil as well, but I have a very basic draw tube in my boil kettle. Hmm, maybe some additional filtering after boil. Any suggestions?