Stuck mash?

[BlueCloudBrewing]

Hey guys & gals. New poster here.

I need some advice and I have googled this, and while I can find some articles on stuck mashes, there don't seem to be any notes on my issue per se, so I thought I'd post here and ask for help!

So I was giving my Braumeister it's inaugural run yesterday, and I came across what I think is a kind of stuck mash issue. So on the Braumeister, the pump drives the wort through the grain bed from the bottom and out over the top of the malt pipe, down the sides and back into the pump...

However, about 10 mins into the mash, the wort started just spurting straight up through the grain bed and through the top mesh in a massive fountain. Not "massive" massive, but massive enough that when I lifted the lid to look in, the hot wort shot out and landed all over the place. And of course my wife had just walked into the kitchen to ask how it was going. The rest of the conversation went downhill pretty fast lol.

So I had to stop the pump, remove the wingnut, the malt pipe bar and the top filter and top mesh, and then stir the grain bed with my paddle. That seemed to help, but only for about 1-2 minutes and then it started again. Suffice to say, the 80 mash was a pain in the neck, stopping the pump and opening up the pipe to stir the grain every 120 seconds...

Anyway, I'm thinking that the issue might have been caused by having the grain crushed too fine? I bought them from geterbrewed.com which has a good reputation, and i don't have my own grain mill at home, so need to rely on vendors doing this for me. Is there any specific instructions that I should give geterbrewed, or was this wort-fountain caused by something else? I would really like to prevent this reoccurring as the clean up yesterday evening was catastrophic

Any ideas?
All help / suggestions welcome!

Thanks!

 

[waldoar15]

I don't know anything about your system.
Can you lower the pump pressure? Sounds more like grain bed compaction and channelization by your description. But you could have a crush issue with it. Having rice hulls on hand are cheap insurance.

Might get a better response in the equipment forum from someone else that uses the system.

 

[BlueCloudBrewing]

I don't know anything about your system.
Can you lower the pump pressure? Sounds more like grain bed compaction and channelization by your description. But you could have a crush issue with it. Having rice hulls on hand are cheap insurance.

Might get a better response in the equipment forum from someone else that uses the system.

Thanks. I never thought of rice hulls to lighten the mash. I'll ask geterbrewed too and see what they say. I don't believe that you can change the pump pressure on the Braumeister, but I'll mail them and ask. Thanks!

 

[TenBeers]

Full disclosure, I do not have much more experience than you with the Brau... but... I don't put the lid on for the mash. I could be wrong of course, but it seems most youtube vids also do not cover. I'm skeptical about the grind being too fine, especially from a reputable provider. Also, wondering if you had too much grain in the pipe. Did you see the wort running freely over the sides before putting the lid on? I know with a few of my brews it felt like I was stuffing the pipe a bit much - never had that problem though. I believe Braumeister's site has a fill limit listed for each of their systems - might want to double check that. Cheers.

 

[tracer bullet]

Agree it sounds like it channeled. I guess both flow directions have their occasional issues. After I started throwing a half pound of rice hulls in each batch I never had another stuck mash again. I always do it now. You can also stir things up once in a while, helps this and efficiency as well. That said if you want clearer wort to boil you'll want to not stir it for the last 10 or so minutes. But up until then...

 

[BlueCloudBrewing]

Full disclosure, I do not have much more experience than you with the Brau... but... I don't put the lid on for the mash. I could be wrong of course, but it seems most youtube vids also do not cover. I'm skeptical about the grind being too fine, especially from a reputable provider. Also, wondering if you had too much grain in the pipe. Did you see the wort running freely over the sides before putting the lid on? I know with a few of my brews it felt like I was stuffing the pipe a bit much - never had that problem though. I believe Braumeister's site has a fill limit listed for each of their systems - might want to double check that. Cheers.

I close the lid for the mash, but i boil it uncoveered to chase off any volatiles. The wort was running freely before it started to channel & fountain.

l’ve bought 500g of rice hulls so I’ll add them to the Red Rye IPA that I’m doing today.

 

[BlueCloudBrewing]

Agree it sounds like it channeled. I guess both flow directions have their occasional issues. After I started throwing a half pound of rice hulls in each batch I never had another stuck mash again. I always do it now. You can also stir things up once in a while, helps this and efficiency as well. That said if you want clearer wort to boil you'll want to not stir it for the last 10 or so minutes. But up until then...

Yeah, I rang the place that mills the grain and they said that they mill everything for everyone at 1.4mm and that shouldn’t be my problem. The guy also suggested rice hulls so will add them! I’ll post back with updates...

 

[BlueCloudBrewing]

Rice hulls playing a blinder. Not a sign of a stuck mash...

 

[BlueCloudBrewing]

Thanks for the advice guys!