Damn! 27 lbs of grain gave me hell last night!

[chevelle383]

Made an oatmeal stout last night and used about 27 lbs of grain and had my first stuck sparge. (had nothing to do with the oatmeal) Had a coupe of thinkers brewing with me so we kept back flushing the false bottom and what not and eventually I got my 13.10 gallons into my boil kettle. We didnt pitch yeast until almost midnight. So today I scooped out all the grain to see what was going on and turns out the grain just completely crushed my false bottom. Perfectly formed to the bottom of the keg. I couldnt believe it. Any one had this happen to them? What now? Im thinking double up on the perf?
Anyhow needless to say with all the beer on th econcrete and back flushing I got my lowest efficiency ever. 61% OUCH!!!! Thank God I was making a pretty big beer to begin with. I usually pull about 80% efficiency and should of easily hit 1.072 or more and I only measured 1.058. So its still in the mid range for the style but...what a mess last night was. It didnt help that I sent wifey to the store at the start to get beer and she came home with W'11 Russian Imperial....9.6% abv

 

[chicagobrew]

Never had that problem, but maybe you could put some support under the false bottom when you've got a really heavy grain bill. I've put marbles down there to reduce the dead space. It's a bit of a hassle to clean them, but they don't have to be totally sanitary.

 

[Golddiggie]

Get some chrome balls from Amazon if you need some spacers under the false bottom... Without knowing how high you need it, you should be able to do it without spending too much... I know they sell sizes at least up to 1" (I have a package of them)...

 

[chevelle383]

Yeah thats a possiblilty. Marbles huh? not a terrible Idea? I wonter if I could round up some stainless ball bearings...hmmm.

 

[Golddiggie]

Depending on the size you need...

Amazon has them...

 

[chevelle383]

DAMN! they have stainless ones too for $14 A PIECE

 

[Golddiggie]

Which is why I went for the chrome balls...

Besides, I didn't get mine for brewing applications... Intend to use them as the cores for monkey fist knots. :rockin: Got some that are 5/8" diameter too... Those should work well in paracord knots... The larger ones will be in the middle of thicker rope...

 

[chevelle383]

Throwing rope are we? for what?

 

[Golddiggie]

No particular reason in mind... More for S&G's than anything else... Thinking about using one, or two, as the end of a lanyard for a pocket knife (or a couple of them) that I have... :rockin:

Of course, I could use them for more sinister purposes, if I was so inclined... Hmmmmm, actually, I usually am so inclined.

 

[Rockape66]

A nice bolero would work. Fun primitive project. I've been making slings and traditional archery equipment myself. I also do hand netmaking for all of our garden trellises.

 

[chevelle383]

Gold, You and my cousin could be brothers my friend. On a side note I see your from MA. I met 3 girls from boston one time. Lets just say it was probably the best 2 weeks of my life.

 

[chevelle383]

We really need an off topic thread . You can post pictures and what not. maybe my handy work, stuff like that.

 

[Golddiggie]

Or we could just fire off regular email's...

 

[rico567]

A nice bolero would work. Fun primitive project. I've been making slings and traditional archery equipment myself. I also do hand netmaking for all of our garden trellises.

I think you mean bola (pl. bolas)?

 

[Golddiggie]

A nice bolero would work. Fun primitive project.

Hmmmmm, also think you either spelled it wrong, or we're talking about very different animals here... Bolero