Recirc, Wilser Bag, Crush Size

how are you returning the water back to the top of the grain?
and if were me, i would back the crush off a bit, also how are you milling? If you are blasting through it at top speed, you might be shredding the husk a bit too much

 

it just returns to the top of the kettle. just pours into the top of the wort and flows back down thru the grain bed. from looking at the top of the mash it seems more of a soup than oatmeal. with full volume mashing I think there is enough wort floating on top of the grain bed to prevent any "tunneling".

I try to run the mill at the slowest speed without bogging down the power drill.

 

i have cheap variable speed drill from Harbor Freight, it is a low speed/high torque drill that is corded, it has the button that can lock the trigger, and then a dial on the trigger that will allow me to up the speed in small steps until it is grinding at the slowest speed possible.

as the weight of the grain lessens, it will speed up some, but it is still pretty slow.

T

 

https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-GSHD...h+variable+speed+drill&qid=1578370108&sr=8-11

This one is just about the same drill

 

I tried leaving the pump off while I mashed in. Let the grain bed settle a few minutes. Now it’s flowing much better. Granted it’s a small grainbill, 7.5#

 

My guess would be that leaving the pump off during mash in and then waiting several minutes allows for substantial conversion, recirculating sugar solution rather than sticky starches is much easier.

Just a guess, not a recirc guy just intrigued how many love to do it

 

I started doing it because how my kettle is set up with an internal element, I need a false bottom or basket and thus have somewhere between 1-2 gallons of dead wort not in the mash if I don’t recirc

 

I personally recirculate so I can do step mashes. I am seeing differences in the body and attenuation of the beer and subtle efficiency gains. But like many I built a system with it but rarely used it for the first couple years where I only did single infusion mashes. It did help maintain my temperature when I had poor crush from a LHBS. Once I got my own mill, I was seeing fill conversation much faster.

 

i too am wondering why so many recirculate when it does nothing to change the beer. It just an extra step for mistakes to happen and adds something else clean.

 

1- Its fun. That really needs to be the only explanation. It's a hobby done for fun, and people get enjoyment from it.

2- Step mashing. Might not be required, might not improve a dang thing. Might be a false sense of improvement over beer but ... see #1.

3- Better temp control. I dont want to throw a Mt. Everest insulated sleeping bag around my equipment. I dont want to use mylar or reflectix wrap.

4- Dead space in the mash tun below false bottom- I like keeping the bag off the heating element and off the temp probe. That leaves unexposed wort. This really goes back to #1 though, and not wanting to do #3

Who's got some more, I'm tired of typing

 

I'm disagreeing with that statement because I think maintaining an even accurate temperature during the mash does affect your beer. There are so many ways to go about this.

I BIAB and to avoid temperature stratification I run my whirlpool during full volume mash and stir once or twice during mash. Others may recirculate, and some wrap their kettles in sleeping bags.

It is fun to brew and each to his own to accommodate their particular set up and preferences. Lol, I'm not into extra cleaning but since I'm going to have those hoses and pump to whirlpool hops and trub, I might as well use it during the mash to lessen temp differentials.