10 years of brewing, first stuck mash? first dumper ever

[badmajon]

I'm so irritated right now. I've been brewing for 10 years. I started out doing the usual thing with a cooler, fill cooler with hot water, rinse twice... I did that for 5 years then switched to a DIY RIMS BIAB system.

I finally got sick of shredding bags and the horribly low efficiency (I know some swear by it but I only got 70% on a good day) so I thought to myself, hey, I will try fly sparging with my old cooler. So I built a fly sparge system out of copper tubing and then I filled the whole thing up with water... it worked! Success.

Then came brew day.

100% pilsner malt was the grain bill. It all worked well for about 10 minutes. I throttled down the flow into the cooler to not exceed the outflow into the kettle (remember its a rims system so it's supposed to circulate between kettle and cooler). Sweet... right? Then the water exiting the cooler slowed to a trickle. Then nothing.

I'm using a 10 gallon igloo cooler with a perforated stainless steel false bottom as my mash tun.

I turned off the pump, started sucking on the outflow from the cooler. Bubbles. Just tons of bubbles and air. Stirred more. Still a gurgling sound. Cooler is full of grain and hot water. Tried stirring. Nothing. Tons of $$#%$ bubbles. Like sucking on a straw when you run out of soda, and all you got in the cup is ice.

This sounds dumb coming from a guy who has been brewing for 10 years, but is this a stuck mash? I always figured STUCK meant that it was jammed, but no, there was just tons of bubbles.

What was my mistake? Was I supposed to use rice hulls? I figured the barley husks in the pilsner would be enough. I've been BIAB'ing for 5 years, I didn't even think of it.

Sigh. First time I've dumped a batch before it was born.

 

[kh54s10]

Sounds to me like you gave up too easily. I have never had a stuck sparge, but I hear that you blow into the valve to clear it. I would also have stirred it and tried to drain. Many times before giving up. Worse come to worse I would have used a colander to get the grain out and save the batch.

Reading these things is one reason that I have never wanted to fly sparge.

 

[badmajon]

Its just been one of those days. I have go to to work at 12 noon, and I realized that there was no way I could complete the job before having to leave. I had given myself 5 hours to brew, which would usually have been more than enough.

Oh, and there was plenty of blowing. I tried for a good 20 minutes.

Still wondering if this was indeed a stuck mash, or, something else. Hopefully I can just throw some rice hulls in next time and the problem will go away.

 

[bornandraisedlv]

Since I just went through a similar scenario I have to ask, is there a step down in size from your hoses to your false? I was having the same issue with tons of air, slow trickle to almost nothing coming out and it was due to using a 1/4” id barb to connect to my pick up tube for my false.

Switched to a 1/2” id barb and life is good.

 

[Velnerj]

This happened to me recently as well and I chalk my stuck sparge up to too much rye in the recipe because that stuff can get goopy!

Anyway I agree that you gave up too early. Dump the mash into one of those bags or try to run off from the top through a screen. I ended up using a strainer. It added about 90 min to my brew day and there was a ton of trub at the end but I still got beer when it was over.

 

[badmajon]

Should pilsner clog up like that though? I didn't use rice, corn, rye, or any other gummy grain. Just normal pilsner.

 

[sicktght311]

I've done 5 batches now on my 3 vessel herms system, fly sparge, all with significant amounts of adjuncts, and never had a stuck sparge. Do you use rice hulls? I always use a half a lb for a 5 gallon batch. Also i've found that when i'm sparging, if i find the trickle into the kettle starts to slow, i'll open the valve on the pump to increase the flow rate and it seems to clear whatever reduced the flow immediately, and then i back it down again. I usually only have to do this 2-3 times max during my sparge, if at all, but it works every time. Never had a stuck sparge, or clogged pump.

Are you recirculating during your mash? That makes a huge difference as well because it helps set the grain bed, so when it comes time to sparge, there isnt anything thats going to limit your flow underneath the false bottom

 

[kh54s10]

Since you switched from BIAB to fly sparge, I would guess the grind was too fine. Unless it was milled at a LHBS.

 

[Staticsouls]

Since you switched from BIAB to fly sparge, I would guess the grind was too fine. Unless it was milled at a LHBS.

I was just going to mention this. Biab uses a fine crush, where sparge uses crushed grain and you dont want flour in your mlt. 100% pils should be the same as 2 row. With the proper crush you should be able to use massive amount of wheat or oats in the grist without issue.

 

[BrewInspector]

Yes. That was a stuck sparge.

Material from the mash obstructed the wort from entering the false bottom.
Yes. You did not need to abandon the entire brew. I would have found a way to salvage it that early in the process.

 

[badmajon]

Well I am giving it another go next weekend, but this time I will be adding rice hulls. I'm thinking one pound, does that sound right?

Also, if this happens again, how can I save the mash? This time I'm going to do it on a weekend where I have plenty of extra time. The only thing I can think of is to fill mash tun with hot water, then scoop out grain with a colander... but then how do I sparge?

 

[kh54s10]

Not too familiar with pumps etc. I do batch sparging. Stir, vorlauf, drain, add sparge water, stir, vorlauf and drain. Repeat for accuracy in collected preboil.

I use a couple handfuls of rice hulls. No accuracy, but then again I have almost no problems with sticky sparges.

I would give up on the fly sparge and go to a batch sparge if you are having problems with the fly sparge. YMMV

 

[Soulshine2]

0.030 gap in my mill. mill twice, no pumps , no fly sparging (tried it once)...just batch until you get volume .
no stuck sparges. eliminate process that may cause problems, keep it simple.

 

[bornandraisedlv]

Well I am giving it another go next weekend, but this time I will be adding rice hulls. I'm thinking one pound, does that sound right?

Also, if this happens again, how can I save the mash? This time I'm going to do it on a weekend where I have plenty of extra time. The only thing I can think of is to fill mash tun with hot water, then scoop out grain with a colander... but then how do I sparge?

For a 5-6 gal batch I use a few handfulls to half a pound of rice hulls, seems to work well for me and my fly sparging.

What gap are you milling or did I miss that?

 

[cactusgarrett]

As others suggested, I would venture a guess the reason is the grind. You're optimized for BIAB which utilizes a flour-like crush. Back off on the crush and you should be good. If you wanted some extra insurance, you could add 1/2lb rice hulls, too. Get the crush in order at least, though.

 

[BrewInspector]

I don't know exactly how you might salvage a stuck sparge in your system. Like the earlier poster, I am in the cooler / batch sparge camp.

In my case I would have stired the mash to loosen things up again. Reversed the flow (by blowing). Added some hotter sparge water. (But that might give me too much depending on if I'm doing a single or multiple sparge collection). Removed the blocked false bottom / bazooka screen and allowed the grain and all to go through a colander type screen that might require another finer screen. Removed everything, cleaned up and tried again.

 

[Homergah]

When you pulled everything down for cleaning, did you inspect your false bottom/piping system? When I first started fly sparging, if I pulled too hard on the mash l would get grains compacted in the tubing just upstream of the valve. Reversing flow would fix it. I would have to start out very slow and slowly increase flow rate.
I've had only one true stuck sparge. I pulled all the grain out of the cooler and put into my old zappap lautertun, all the while knowing I had ruined this batch with the dreaded "hot side aeration". That beer came out great.
Since one of your reasons for switching to fly sparge was to increase efficiency, don't give up. One attempt shouldn't be enough to discourage you. It sounds like to me that your grind was much too fine.

 

[Hopalong]

Pils malt at times produces gray protein mud, not the usual tan mud. Gray mud is water repellant, tan mud isn't. When gray mud forms the higher the chance for a stuck sparge to occur. Sometimes it's not a bad idea to mention whose malt was used by brand. Normal Pilsner is a broad term because a bunch of companies make it and not all Pils malt is created equally. In my experience Belgian Pils malt produces gray mud more times than German Pils malt produces gray mud. When mash with gray mud tightens up it is very difficult to cut. It's similar to slicing through fresh poured concrete using a serrated knife, it's unbelievable how dense mash becomes. A false bottom can crush. Beta Glucan causes high mash viscosity, as well.
Too bad you had to leave for work because all wasn't lost. Goop could have been flushed out by batch sparging it into the boiler.
It's not to early for Christmas shopping. Ask Santi Claus to drop off a Blichmann lautertun for Christmas. The false bottom along with sight glass helps with lautering.

 

[jperro2003]

Well I am giving it another go next weekend, but this time I will be adding rice hulls. I'm thinking one pound, does that sound right?

Also, if this happens again, how can I save the mash? This time I'm going to do it on a weekend where I have plenty of extra time. The only thing I can think of is to fill mash tun with hot water, then scoop out grain with a colander... but then how do I sparge?

I’ve had a stuck mash on my gravity fed set up. Unfortunately it’s happened twice and both times were for different reasons. In either case I successfully saved both batches of beer.
If you encounter this again the quick fix would be to what others have posted. Blow air back in to try and open it up. If that doesn’t work open your mash tun and pour water and grains into a fermenting bucket. Clean out your mash tun and pour everything back in. Let it sit for 10 min to allow the grain bed to set again. Then try to start your spare again slowly. You’ll want to do that process relatively quick since you will be dropping temp of the mash (which you can always add hot water to raise the temp if needed).
Hopefully it won’t happen again, but if it does give it a try. Good luck!

 

[50calshooter]

In 12 years I've had two stuck sparges. Both times there was a lot of grain powder in my bag of grain from the HBS - like it was the bottom of the sack. I just dumped it into another cooler and put it back into the mash tun and remade the grain bed (after trying everything to get it to flow). I was working with wheat a lot then...and now. Now I never brew without rice hulls.

 

[rburrelli]

Well I am giving it another go next weekend, but this time I will be adding rice hulls. I'm thinking one pound, does that sound right?

Also, if this happens again, how can I save the mash? This time I'm going to do it on a weekend where I have plenty of extra time. The only thing I can think of is to fill mash tun with hot water, then scoop out grain with a colander... but then how do I sparge?

Add some rice hulls. Your grain crush is probably too fine as stated befor. Look into channeling your grain bed perhaps.

 

[kh54s10]

I once had a slow, not stuck, drain. I added two handfuls of rice hulls and stirred them in. This was after the 60 minute mash. I vorlaufed, then it drained well. Saved a very slow sparge session.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I've only had one stuck sparge. I was batch sparging with a lot of flaked oats and flaked wheat. I just blew back into the drain hose, stirred, re-did the vorlauf and I was good to go.

 

[Tbagger]

What pump are you using? If you are using something like a chugger or riptide, you might need to install a ball or butterfly valve to slow down the volume being pumped. If the gpm/lpm is too high, it can suck the grain down into the false bottom and compact it.