draining your mash tun

[mtags]

When should I stop draining my mash tun?

My mash tun is a 10 gal rectangular cooler with a stainless steel braid going to the drain. The drain is the coolers drain.

If I leave the tun flat on the counter, there will be a lot of wort left in the bottom. The more of an angle I tip, the more wort I get. The longer I let it drain, the more wort I get. I assume I could tip it right on its end and drain for hours and get every last drop of wort out.

So when should I stop?
What are the downfalls of draining off too much?

 

[homebrewer_99]

I believe the process is to recirculate the sparge water until the wort starts running clear before collecting it in the boiling pot.

From what I've read when adding sparge water you're suppose to stop when the gravity drops to 1.008 because after that you run the risk of collecting tannins which will result in permanent chill haze and such.

 

[Chumley]

If you're doing batch sparging I would leave it slightly tipped while you drain the wort, when the main flow is done I would stop.
I think you'd just be wasting time trying to get every little drop out.

 

[JesseRC]

For HOURS???? Is your draining real slow. Remember you need to have a hose attached to the drain in order to get any real siphon effect, otherwise you will be there for HOURS.

 

[GrizlyGarou]

You should stop draining when one of several things happens. Your gravity drops below 1.008, you reach your target pre-boil volume, or you get sick of waiting for it.

 

[JesseRC]

Well first of all he's not saying if this is his 1st Wort drain or his sparge. It sound like he concerned about what's left behind or that he has a slow drain.

 

[mtags]

I'm referring to my sparge. My drain runs great, the hose from my drain is flowing as fast a possible. But after I've gotten a large portion of my wort out, the flow goes down to a trickle. I think I could let this trickle go on for a long time until the grains are completely dry and every bit of moisture is out of the mash tun, but that would be a big waste of time for little value.

What process is followed when monitoring your 1.008 gravity? Do you take samples every few minutes, do a temperature conversion to get the correct gravity?

Stopping when I reach my preboil volume makes sense, but only if I properly factor in my mash tun dead space into my spare water calculation. So maybe my real question should be, if I choose not to use any of the wort that is in my dead space, how do i determine what that dead space is?


I should mention that I did two brews on the same day, a month ago. I allowed the first to drain longer than the second. The first ended up with a dry tannin-like mouth feel that I would prefer to avoid. I wondered if the last of the wort drained from the tun contributed to this.

 

[GrizlyGarou]

What process is followed when monitoring your 1.008 gravity? Do you take samples every few minutes, do a temperature conversion to get the correct gravity?

Stopping when I reach my preboil volume makes sense, but only if I properly factor in my mash tun dead space into my spare water calculation. So maybe my real question should be, if I choose not to use any of the wort that is in my dead space, how do i determine what that dead space is?

A hydrometer will work, but refractometer's are way easier. I'd suggest not worrying about the gravity until it starts to look a lot like the water you're putting in to sparge with unless you want more things to do.

The dead space is easy. Put a gallon of water in your empty mash tun, then drain it out. Subtract whatever comes out from the gallon you put in and that's your answer.

 

[mtags]

The dead space is easy. Put a gallon of water in your empty mash tun, then drain it out. Subtract whatever comes out from the gallon you put in and that's your answer.

So I assume this is involves no tipping of the mash tun. Correct?
So if there is no tipping when calculating my dead space, I shouldn't tip when draining my wort. And then just stop draining when i reach my preboil volume. Does that sound right?

 

[GrizlyGarou]

So I assume this is involves no tipping of the mash tun. Correct?
So if there is no tipping when calculating my dead space, I shouldn't tip when draining my wort. And then just stop draining when i reach my preboil volume. Does that sound right?

Exactly. Unless you plan on tipping your mash tun for every batch. It won't affect how much of your sparge water makes it through, though. The dead space gets filled with the mash water, so whatever you put in for sparge water should end up coming out unless you don't give it long enough to drain.

 

[JesseRC]

When I brew I use software to calculate my strike amount and temp. I also know how much preboil volume I want. After the first wort collection, I subtract that from my Preboil volume. What is left is what you are going to sparge with. Basically the dead space has already been filled by your strike water, right? So when sparging , what you put in = what you get out.

 

[Chumley]

I'm referring to my sparge. My drain runs great, the hose from my drain is flowing as fast a possible. But after I've gotten a large portion of my wort out, the flow goes down to a trickle. I think I could let this trickle go on for a long time until the grains are completely dry and every bit of moisture is out of the mash tun, but that would be a big waste of time for little value.

What process is followed when monitoring your 1.008 gravity? Do you take samples every few minutes, do a temperature conversion to get the correct gravity?

Stopping when I reach my preboil volume makes sense, but only if I properly factor in my mash tun dead space into my spare water calculation. So maybe my real question should be, if I choose not to use any of the wort that is in my dead space, how do i determine what that dead space is?


I should mention that I did two brews on the same day, a month ago. I allowed the first to drain longer than the second. The first ended up with a dry tannin-like mouth feel that I would prefer to avoid. I wondered if the last of the wort drained from the tun contributed to this.

Are you fly sparging or batch sparging? That may help us understand if you are over sparging. Also are you using a hose connected to the mash tun to get some siphon effect in the mash tun?
When I lauter and sparge from my cooler mash tun, the flow usually stops very suddenly and there is very little extractable wort left in the tun... I mean is that it doesn't even trickle out.

 

[mtags]

Are you fly sparging or batch sparging? That may help us understand if you are over sparging. Also are you using a hose connected to the mash tun to get some siphon effect in the mash tun?
When I lauter and sparge from my cooler mash tun, the flow usually stops very suddenly and there is very little extractable wort left in the tun... I mean is that it doesn't even trickle out.

I batch sparge.
I have a braided steel hose inside the mash tun that connects to the drain of my cooler, which is then connected to a valve. The braided hose does the siphoning.

I suppose the flow would pretty much stop once the wort level went below the drain. I think I have always just tilted the mash tun before it got to this point.


Conclusion: For my next batch, I will properly calculate my dead space, put that number into my brewing software (BrewSmith), and not tilt my mash tun when draining. That should give me some knowledge to go forward.

Thanks

 

[cyberbackpacker]

mtags, your braided steel hose inside your tun DOES NOT do the siphoning.... you need to run a length of hose outside of your MLT off of your valve into your BK (if using gravity or a pump).

 

[JesseRC]

I batch sparge.
I have a braided steel hose inside the mash tun that connects to the drain of my cooler, which is then connected to a valve. The braided hose does the siphoning.

I suppose the flow would pretty much stop once the wort level went below the drain. I think I have always just tilted the mash tun before it got to this point.


Conclusion: For my next batch, I will properly calculate my dead space, put that number into my brewing software (BrewSmith), and not tilt my mash tun when draining. That should give me some knowledge to go forward.

Thanks

YOu can tilt your mashtun if you want, lots do. Just remember to tilt it for calculation of dead space and also when collecting first wort and sparge.

As Cyber said about , make sure you have a hose connected to your spout on the outside draining into your bucket/kettle.

 

[mtags]

mtags, your braided steel hose inside your tun DOES NOT do the siphoning.... you need to run a length of hose outside of your MLT off of your valve into your BK (if using gravity or a pump).

Sorry, yes, I was thinking sieve. My mash tun is elevated and drains through a valve, down a hose into my brew pot.

 

[JesseRC]

One more thing I forgot to mention. You ideally want to calculate your dead space during an actual brew session with grains in the mash tun. If you were to do it with just water, the dead space amount would be larger than if you calculated it with grains. The grains displace some of the space.

Its all subjective since grain absorbtion will also have to be taken into account.

 

[mummasan]

I have wondered about that too. I noticed when I emptied the spent grains that there seemed to be alot of liquid left in the tun. So I started tilting the tun to get every last drop.

Recently, I tilt the tun when I collect the first wort. When I collect the sparge run off I am less worried about getting every last drop and more concerned with getting my expect BG and correct volume in the kettle.

 

[Sea]

Not to highjack, but I've always wondered if there is a danger of hot side aeration as the last of the last of the runnings bubble out of the mash tun drain Hose?