Absolutey unable to use adjuncts on my system

[Bert1097]

Ive been brewing for about a year now and AG for the past 6 months. As I write this Im currently brewing my 41st batch. While I normally due variations of pale ales I do enjoy stouts, etc from time to time. The problem that Ive had since Ive gone AG is that every stinking time I use an adjunct in my mash I get a stuck sparge. Ive tried mashing out, adding rice hulls and every other thing I could think of but to no avail. Im reaching out to my fellow HBT'rs for some help.

Here is my mash schedule for the stout Im losing patience with:

11# 2row
8 oz caramel 120
8 oz choc malt
8 oz flaked oats
3 oz roasted barley
8 oz rice hulls

Mash in with 4.1 gallons hold for 60 min at 150F
Mash out with 2.6 gallons of 203F water and hold at 168 for 10 min.

I use a 10gallon igloo MLT with stainless false bottom.

Any help will be dearly appreciated.

 

[waldoar15]

That's not even a lot of adjunct/oats. Has to be an issue with your specific false bottom. You could add more rice hulls and try draining the MLT at a slower rate than normally.

 

[Bert1097]

That was thought as well but whenever I do a 'normal' mash I have no troubles.

 

[jkoznek]

I am relatively new to brewing so I don't really know what you mean by adjunct here unless you mean the rice hulls. From your grain bill I would assume it's the flaked oats possibly gumming up the works. Before you add in your grains do you have a level of water above your false bottom? When you get stuck have you tried flushing hot water backwards through your system?

 

[RDWHAHB]

Whats your crush like?

 

[waldoar15]

That was thought as well but whenever I do a 'normal' mash I have no troubles.

Well, adjuncts tend to be gummy and I assume you're using a round cooler. The grain bed can compress since you pretty much have more head pressure. The water/mash is stacked up in more of a column. Vorlauf and drain at a slower rate. You could also just add the oats to the top of the MLT after you've mixed/stirred the base malts and just stir them into the top a little.

 

[Bert1097]

I use the Malt Mill w/ the standard setting of .045" from the Schmidling company. I have a nice mix of crush but intact barley hulls, etc.

Waldoar, that makes sense but I'm having an incredible time even getting the vorlauf started. As I write this I'm painfully allowing the wort to go through a filter then into the kettle as I see no other way to get the wort out.

Makin me crazy.....

 

[DrinksWellWithOthers]

Do you normally crush the flaked oats? I usually toss whatever flaked adjunct straight into the mash without crushing -- no problems with stuck sparges here.

 

[PT Ray]

Adjusting your crush would be the easiest thing but .045" is pretty wide. I want to say mine is .035". I've used false bottoms in kettles for years but went with a copper manifold in a cooler about 5 years ago. It'll get slow with a 66% wheat grain bill but hasn't stuck on me. I've had my share with the false bottoms.

 

[Bert1097]

I crushed the oats on a few previous batches but stopped since I thought that may have been the problem. The past few Ive simply tossed the flakes in with the crushed grains.

 

[RDWHAHB]

Try malt conditioning? What does your false bottom look like?

 

[Bert1097]

Its the one from Northern Brewer 12" I think? Its the one made for a 10 gallon cooler.

 

[giligson]

mash out to 75C. I have found that the only stuck sparges I have had were when I did not mash out and my mash temp was closer to about 65C.
Cheers

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

What grain to water ratio do you use?

 

[TeoHC]

Do you normally crush the flaked oats? I usually toss whatever flaked adjunct straight into the mash without crushing -- no problems with stuck sparges here.

I've just had one batch with maize and I haven't crushed it.
I'm having a "reasonable doubt" right now....

 

[Bert1097]

The mash schedule is on the OP.

75C roughly equals my mash out at 168F.

Strange thing happened about 2/3 of the way through my 1st runnings; All of a sudden it started flowing like crazy as it normally would on a 'normal' mash. Rough go to start the 2nd runnings but about halfway through the 2nd runnings it started to pick up again not as vigourous as the 1st runnings but definitely better than the 1st hour.

Funny thing is this has been a perfect brew, numbers wise, so far. Mash temp perfect, mash out, sparge temps all perfect. My pre-boil gravity is perfect. This beer better be awesome, lol.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Is it possible there is grain stuck in the spout? I know I've had some grain get past the braid on mine before. I know you're using a false bottom, but a little grain could have slipped past. It really wouldn't take much to block it up.