First brew on new stand - overall good but a few issues...

[jcaudill]

Hello all,

I finally was able to kick off a brew on my new rig. It went better than it could of but I had a few problems I could use some input on. Just to preface - this is a single tier, 3 x BG 12 burners, HLT and MLT burners are automated by Brewtroller.

The biggest problem I had was with the mash. I expected to be able to recirculate wort, controlling the flow without issue. But I could not keep it going without constant stirring - the grain bed kept setting and clogging the screen.

One thing that I know did not help is my milling was a bit on the fine side. I'm going to have to adjust that because I got a lot of grain that passed through the screen.

Short of this - how is everyone else managing to do this? Are you constantly stirring? If so I'm going to need to investigate an automated agitator real fast.

The other big problem I had was with wind. I'm going to have to design some shields for the pilots, and probably some larger shields that go on either side of the stand. I don't want to brew inside the garage with propane so I need to shield better.

I'll post a bit more thorough overview a bit later - I think there are some things people who are building stands could benefit from hearing. But for now I need to figure out what my mash was such a pain in the ass!

Thanks.

 

[de3isit]

I had a similar issue with the mash clogging the screen. The fix was adding a ball valve to slow down the flow, which allowed the grain bed to stay loose.

Good luck.

 

[jcaudill]

I should have also included I have the recirc through a March pump that returns to the side of the kettle. I have a gate valve on the outlet to regulate flow and I could do nothing today to stop it from setting. Didn't matter if I went slow, fast, blah blah. And I obviously can't regulate the inlet so. I'm not sure that's my answer.

 

[bucfanmike]

what are you using as a false bottom. I have a full false bottom and start very slowly when i start recirculation. for the first few minutes i barely have the outlet valve on the march pump open. This sets a good grain bed. After that im able to pump pretty much wide open

 

[ScottSingleton]

Use a good bit of rice hulls too; they really help keep that bed from sticking in tight. They raise volume of water you need in the MLT when you recirc; but plan on going through LOTS of rice hulls. It definitely makes my recirc mashes easy to manage.

 

[RoadKing]

Make sure pump is off when you dough in, it seems to pull all the flour down to the false bottom, until it's all wet.
Try malt conditioning it's awesome. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Malt_Conditioning
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/malt-conditioning-wow-rocks-144752/
I run the pump full bore and stir every 20 minutes or so to help keep it loose as it will eventualy compact. I also have a vacum
gauge on the downstream side and I can see when it starts compacting, 6lbs with my pump is fully stopped.

 

[jcaudill]

Thanks for the replies!

I am using this false bottom: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/20-gallon-commercial-quality-kettle-false-bottom.html.

I may have had the recirc going when I doughed in so that might answer some of this too.

One thing I will say - have a sight glass is freaking fantastic. During mash it turns into a great manometer and you can see pretty precisely the influence of the grain bed on pressure. As soon as I started to see my volume disappear I knew I needed to get stirring or my recirc would stop.

So some takeaways so far:

1) Coarser grind
2) Dough-in with recirc off
3) Slow recirc to start until everything is well mixed and then go faster.
4) Maybe rice hulls - although if it comes to this I'll probably just come up with an agitator first.

Question - a thought I had this morning. I used a water/grain ratio of 1.25qts/lb. I wonder if that wasn't a bit on the low side for a temperature mash. If I had been infusing it would have been fine. Comments?

Thanks so much guys!

 

[Snake10]

I have a single tier. I'm gonna nix the dough-in with recirc off idea. (for me) Only because the temp sensor I have has to have wort flow over it to sense. If the recirc is off the temp senses low and turns on my burner thus raising my mash temp. thru the roof.
I second:
1.coarser mash
2.two handfulls of rice hulls no matter recipe
3.Just crack the march pump (low flow to keep pump primed) on dough in. Once mixed up open more for good flow, not full throttle.
4. Stir every 15 minutes or when you see no flow out of your recirc tube.
5. get a mash paddle that will allow you to scrap the stuck mash off your false bottom easily.
Good luck
Snake 10

 

[jcaudill]

Ahh yes - my probe is at the outlet of the pump so if I don't keep it moving my temp reading will be inaccurate. So I will just slow down the flow substantially, try the coarser grind and then see what happens. I did have a little bit of fight trying to keep the damn pilots lit while I was doughing in. So the whole thing was a fiasco!

 

[RoadKing]

Question - a thought I had this morning. I used a water/grain ratio of 1.25qts/lb. I wonder if that wasn't a bit on the low side for a temperature mash. If I had been infusing it would have been fine. Comments?

I add water to bring me up to false bottom, then add 1.3 Qts Per Lb. I have 2 gallons under bottom so for a typical 10 gallon batch,the ratio ends up being
1.67 Qts/Lb.

 

[jcaudill]

I add water to bring me up to false bottom, then add 1.3 Qts Per Lb. I have 2 gallons under bottom so for a typical 10 gallon batch,the ratio ends up being
1.67 Qts/Lb.

Ahh great thank you!

Good news is even with all the insanity I only overshot my target gravity by a point and it is fermenting like crazy. Now the question is will it take like anything

 

[DHUKILL]

I recently started conditioning my grains, and have been able to tighten my mill down to .20. I have never used rice hulls and have never had a stuck sparge. Don't dismiss how helpful this can be because it leaves most of the grain husk in tact, aiding in the flow of the grain bed. in addition, with the mill set at .20 your efficiency goes way up.