1st all grain-stuck mash?

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nchomebrew

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well, i either had a stuck mash, or possibly the holes in my pvc were too small. my mash temp ended up starting around 149 degrees. i had my water at 165 in the kettle, but dropped that far. after an hour it only dropped about 5 degrees in the cooler. so do you think i simply didn't have my temps high enough, or should i drill larger holes in my pvc. currently i have 1/32 holes throughout.
 
Are you asking a question on Temperature or a stuck mash? I'm confused. The wholes in your PVC won't really have anything to do with your mash temp.

On another topic...PVC??? Are you using CPVC?
 
Did you preheat your mash tun?

1/32 is pretty small, I would suggest cutting slits instead.
 
Kilted Brewer was right in saying that the holes in your pvc don't interact with your mash temperatures. If you had a stuck mash (the sweet wort stopped running out of your mash tun) then its probably the holes, the type of grain, and the crush of that grain, and not the temp.

I'm having a hard time picking up what your laying down, but my interpretation is that you had a low efficiency (OG less than what you expected), maybe? If that is the case then the PVC could be your sparge arm. If this is the case, then the problem is probably your temperatures.

Your recipe, with a little more clarification would help a lot, but remember RDWHAHB!
 
i guess i'm not sure what i'm asking. if i knew i wouldn't ask.
i have high temp "cpvc" with 1/32" holes drilled throughout instead of a stainless braid. my temps are what i described. but when i went to drain the first runnings, it was just a trickle.

10lbs rahr 2 row
1 lb crystal 40L
 
How was your crush and how many holes do you have? Temp would not affect your sparge too much. I have slots in my MLT and had to play with the gap on the barly crusher to get it where I don't get a stuck sparge. I would either drill more holes or rebuild and cut slots instead of drilling holes. Just my 2 bits.
 
How much water did you use to mash in?


Beersmith is showing me you should have used about 3.5 gallons to mash in.

And if you didn't preheat your MLT like someone mentioned earlier, you probably should have mashed in around 168 or 169.

Since your temp were so low, your probably should have done a mash out to get the liquids flowing better.


As someone stated earlier again though I think a stuck mash usually is a crush problem.
 
i've got probably 50 - 1/32 holes throughout about an 18" long tube.
slits are probably a good idea.
i just thought maybe my temps ended up too low, and might have clogged my setup.
but if a slight temp swing wouldn't stop it, then my tube must be the culprit.
 
well, i just drilled larger holes, and slits along the bottom of my filter tube.
i mashed with four gallons. ended up about 143 deg. little low i guess.
anyways, i may try again in the morning. i have two 5 gal fermenters, and have another 11 lb. grain bill to do. similar to the one i just did.
rice hulls? i'll have to remember that if i still have troubles.
 
The first manifold that I built was of 3/8" soft copper and I drilled holes (not sure why, but that's what I did). I don't remember the exact size of the holes, but I had a trickle of wort to the kettle. I re-did the manifold in 1/2" copper tubing and cut slots in the bottom with a Dremel. Works like a champ now!
 
The mlt I built a few weeks ago runs just a trickle. I really just figured it was supposed to be slow like that. I'm using a 48 qt coleman rectangular cooler and ss braids. I have a T coming off the valve to split the braided line into two seperate lines. Seeems pretty slow. But, I'm never in too much of a hurry while brewing :)
 
worked perfect this morning. i improved my temps, and possibly the larger holes and slits helped too. boiling as we type. thanks for all the help.
 
My little square manifold with 1/8" drill bit through 1/2" copper runs like a champ 2 batches in a row. It'll drain wort from grain as fast as it drains the rinse water, and not a bit of grain in the boil.

The thing I didn't fully comprehend on my first batch, was that a 10# Grain Bill will absorb 1 gallon of water. I did not figure enough sparge water. I figured for sure that I had a stuck sparge, but batch #2 just proved that my system works better than I do. I mashed with 2 gallons of water used 5 to sparge, and in 15 minutes I had just over 6 gallons in the boil pot at 74% Efficiency.
 
Well. Okay something has definitely got to be wrong with mine then. It takes like 10 minutes just to get the wort out. And sparging takes almost another hour. Anyone have any ideas?
 
Well. Okay something has definitely got to be wrong with mine then. It takes like 10 minutes just to get the wort out. And sparging takes almost another hour. Anyone have any ideas?

You don't want it to drain too fast. A fast drain will cause the wort to channel and you won't get a full rinse of the entire grain bed.
 
My brew pot is usually full about 40 minutes after I start to fill it. It could be much faster if I opened it up more, but I really like the speed that I have it going now, just around 1qt per minute. I have a small square soft copper (but could be cpvc just the same) manifold with slits cut with a dremel every 1/4in or so in a 48qt ice cube cooler, and I am at a consistant 80% eff.
 
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