nspaldi0
Well-Known Member
So, I've had my AG system ready for a while but work got in the way of doing my first batch. Single tier, 3 keggles and one pump. Stainless false bottom.
The recipe was a simple SMaSH, 10 pounds Vienna and cascade hops.
I heated my strike water to 175 and then transferred to the mash tun to preheat. Then I transferred back to hlt and brought water to 175 again. I transferred 4 gallons back to mash tun for dough in. I used 1.5 qts/lb. I poured in grains and stirred. I forgot to mention that I have a barley crusher on factory setting for my crush. I was shooting for 154 and hit 154.5 after stirring in. I use a thermapen. After 30 minutes I had lost 2.5 degrees so I fired up the burner and began to recirq! Or atleast I was going to!! It was completely stuck! I stirred the grain and tried again but it was really stuck. I had to scoop the runnings and grains into a bucket and that I had my partial mash grain bag in. I then put the runnings (less than 3 gallons) into the boil kettle and kept the grains in he bag and put it back in the mash tun. I then sparged with 4 gallons of 170 degree water. I had six gallons in the bk.
Everything went smooth from there and ended up with only 4.5 gallons in fermentor. I guess I'll see how it turns out.
Preboil gravity was 1.040 and post-boil was 1.056. Does this seem off?
It was a beautiful day and I had a great time, so that's all that really matters, but the stuck mash was very frustrating!!! Any thoughts or suggestions for my next attempt?
The recipe was a simple SMaSH, 10 pounds Vienna and cascade hops.
I heated my strike water to 175 and then transferred to the mash tun to preheat. Then I transferred back to hlt and brought water to 175 again. I transferred 4 gallons back to mash tun for dough in. I used 1.5 qts/lb. I poured in grains and stirred. I forgot to mention that I have a barley crusher on factory setting for my crush. I was shooting for 154 and hit 154.5 after stirring in. I use a thermapen. After 30 minutes I had lost 2.5 degrees so I fired up the burner and began to recirq! Or atleast I was going to!! It was completely stuck! I stirred the grain and tried again but it was really stuck. I had to scoop the runnings and grains into a bucket and that I had my partial mash grain bag in. I then put the runnings (less than 3 gallons) into the boil kettle and kept the grains in he bag and put it back in the mash tun. I then sparged with 4 gallons of 170 degree water. I had six gallons in the bk.
Everything went smooth from there and ended up with only 4.5 gallons in fermentor. I guess I'll see how it turns out.
Preboil gravity was 1.040 and post-boil was 1.056. Does this seem off?
It was a beautiful day and I had a great time, so that's all that really matters, but the stuck mash was very frustrating!!! Any thoughts or suggestions for my next attempt?