Wort left in mash tun, does it matter?

[Beer is good]

A little liquid can never drain out of my new mash tun I just made. Am I missing out on much if I leave this last bit of wort in the bottom when I finish mashing?

 

[RussPDX]

I am confused as to how you got the grains out and left it clean with that little bit of liquid.....with that said, no...leaving a little wort behind is just part of system losses. From the picture it does not appear to be much and is a non-issue. If you are sparging in that vessel, then it really does not matter as you are just leaving uncollected sparge water and could just sparge a little more if you felt that was good wort going to waste.

The trick is not to try to get every last bit, but to understand your system so that you can build predictable, repeatable recipes.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[Beer is good]

I am confused as to how you got the grains out and left it clean with that little bit of liquid.....with that said, no...leaving a little wort behind is just part of system losses. From the picture it does not appear to be much and is a non-issue. If you are sparging in that vessel, then it really does not matter as you are just leaving uncollected sparge water and could just sparge a little more if you felt that was good wort going to waste.

The trick is not to try to get every last bit, but to understand your system so that you can build predictable, repeatable recipes.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

Haha! I am sorry, that made me laugh out loud. This picture is just of water I put in there for a test to see how well this held its temperature.

I am going to sparge here too, ok I will not worry about it.

Thank you!

 

[RoKozak]

You're always going to have loss at different points due to transfers, trub, etc. The more your brew in that particular system with little change, the more you'll be able to account for some loss prior to brewing. The efficiency points you would lose for that at the bottom of the mashtun is probably extremely minimal to none. I always have a little. I tip my mashtun forward as it is draining its last bit and it seems to be an endless dribble out of the grainbed that absorbed it. At some point, I become impatient after many minutes of letting it dribble and just move on. My system has about 70-75% efficiency doing this, so this is no issue!

 

[Gunfighter04]

It will only drain to the highest point which air can enter the drain system, which in your picture appears to be the top of the braided hose. As has been said, it's about as good as your going to be able to get it. Measure that amount left in there and then add that much additional water to your water calculations.

 

[Beer is good]

Thanks guys!

 

[blizz81]

This is perfectly fine / normal - it's when you start losing sleep over it and decide to build a mash tun out of an upside-down sanke with a bottom-drain fitment necessitating having to construct a brew structure just to get that last little bit of deadspace that you know you're NOT fine / normal...


(And then from personal experience you start thinking "but the grains are still wet / draining slowly, how can I get all of that out??)

 

[Beer is good]

This is perfectly fine / normal - it's when you start losing sleep over it and decide to build a mash tun out of an upside-down sanke with a bottom-drain fitment necessitating having to construct a brew structure just to get that last little bit of deadspace that you know you're NOT fine / normal...


(And then from personal experience you start thinking "but the grains are still wet / draining slowly, how can I get all of that out??)

haha, how about put all the rest of the wet grains in a pillowcase and twist it as hard as you can to squeeze the last bit of water out?? :cross:

 

[RM-MN]

haha, how about put all the rest of the wet grains in a pillowcase and twist it as hard as you can to squeeze the last bit of water out?? :cross:

Why not put all the grain in a nylon or polyester mesh bag and call it BIAB?

 

[riderkb]

haha, how about put all the rest of the wet grains in a pillowcase and twist it as hard as you can to squeeze the last bit of water out?? :cross:

No way man. You gotta ferment on grain like they did back in 4000BC.