2nd All Grain Brew & Poor Efficiency (~61%)

[ahags]

Hi everyone! I decided to do my second all grain batch today aiming to make a NEIPA with more juice focused flavors. Was aiming to create something along the lines of a Maplewood Son of Juice but a bit more hoppy.

I had major efficiency issues (I think) once again. My first batch had an aim for 1.07 and I came in at 1.051 and this batch, using a calculator with my grain bill I was targeting around 1.07 OG and hit 1.058 ish using hydrometer and refrac had more like 1.056-1.057.

Target pre boil volume: 6.5 gallon
Actual pre boil volume 6.75 gallon
Target post boil wort 5 gallons
Actual post boil wort 5.35 gallons

Equipment: Vevor All in one brew kettle
Target OG 1.071 @ 75% efficiency
Actual OG 1.058 @ 61% efficiency
Yeast: Wyeast 1318 London III
Mash temp: 155 at mash in brought to 152-153.5 during mash

Grain Bill (14lbs)
9lbs pilz
1lb caramel
2lb wheat malt
1lb flaked oats
1lb flaked wheat

Hop schedule:
1/3 oz Mosaic 60 min
1 oz Citra 10 min
1oz El Dorado 5 min
1 oz Citra Whirlpool @ 165-170
1 oz mosaic Whirlpool @ 165-170
1 oz El dorado Whirpool @ 165-170
3.75 oz remaining hops to be dry hopped after main fermentation done (1.75oz Mosaic, 1oz Citra, 1oz El Dorado)

Hiccups during brew day:
1)The only main thing I can think of is that the recirculating pump kept clogging given the grain bill size so I had to stir the mash more frequently then I usually would otherwise do and the pump would clog 30 seconds later. Eventually I just skipped the pump as it wasn’t doing its job

2) Dilution- Ended up with extra 1.25 liter of wort vs target which had slight impact on OG and thus makes efficiency look a touch worse.

Other notes:
I took a small sample off the top pre boil and had mixed results on my pre boil gravity. I initially saw 1.058, then 1.055 then right as boil started 1.05. Not sure if it’s just not properly mixed to take from the top but this had me hopeful given the higher gravity pre boil and pre evaporation losses.

I batch sparged about 3 gallons throughout the mash draining process. Was much more patient this time and did the sparge additions 4-5x through a 90 min process. I heated the sparge water to 170 this time following guidelines online I saw.

I still think it could end up being a solid beer but I worry now the bitterness vs gravity scale is leaning more bitter than I had wanted given the miss on gravity.

I really want to understand why my efficiency is so low. The guy who sold me the raw malt/grains did tell me if I do more flaked wheat/oats and color additions for the haziness, my efficiency would likely go down because those aren’t going to produce many fermentables. However, that should be accounted for in the grain bill calculator. Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

Other notes:
I took a small sample off the top pre boil and had mixed results on my pre boil gravity. I initially saw 1.058, then 1.055 then right as boil started 1.05. Not sure if it’s just not properly mixed to take from the top but this had me hopeful given the higher gravity pre boil and pre evaporation losses.

Refractometer? Use an eye-dropper to collect a sample of hot wort, and let the eye-dropper sit (upright) in a glass for a few minutes to cool down, otherwise a couple of drops of hot wort removed with a spoon and plopped onto the refractometer will lose a bit of water to evaporation, and with such a small sample, this makes it appear that you have higher gravity than you actually do.

I really want to understand why my efficiency is so low. The guy who sold me the raw malt/grains did tell me if I do more flaked wheat/oats and color additions for the haziness, my efficiency would likely go down because those aren’t going to produce many fermentables. However, that should be accounted for in the grain bill calculator. Any thoughts are appreciated!

Yeah, the software should account for varying gravity-points for each grain. Which are you using? Brewer's Friend has never led me astray there.

My best guess would be that the grain wasn't crushed very well. If you got the grains crushed at the store, next time ask him to double-crush the grain? Do you throw the hops directly into the kettle? I always use a paint strainer bag (5 gal) to contain all my hot-side hops, and when done, pull the bag and really squeeze it to get all the wort that is absorbed in the green goop. And if you do that, you would need to add LESS water and still reach your target volume.

 

[ahags]

Refractometer? Use an eye-dropper to collect a sample of hot wort, and let the eye-dropper sit (upright) in a glass for a few minutes to cool down, otherwise a couple of drops of hot wort removed with a spoon and plopped onto the refractometer will lose a bit of water to evaporation, and with such a small sample, this makes it appear that you have higher gravity than you actually do.


Yeah, the software should account for varying gravity-points for each grain. Which are you using? Brewer's Friend has never led me astray there.

My best guess would be that the grain wasn't crushed very well. If you got the grains crushed at the store, next time ask him to double-crush the grain? Do you throw the hops directly into the kettle? I always use a paint strainer bag (5 gal) to contain all my hot-side hops, and when done, pull the bag and really squeeze it to get all the wort that is absorbed in the green goop. And if you do that, you would need to add LESS water and still reach your target volume.

Yea I used brewers friend for the calculations on all of this stuff. I used an eye dropper off the top of the kettle, yes. Maybe the cooled wort was the 1.05 which would make more sense getting back up to 1.057-1.058 post boil. The last two brews I did was with milled grain (1 pre packaged from an online order and kit, this one milled at store). It is hard for me to imagine that I got poorly milled grain in both cases and tend to wonder if it’s something throughout my process?

During the batch sparging, I also slowly pour over a filtered top on the mash tun but I don’t have a device to sprinkle it slowly. I wonder how much impact this could be having. Regardless, I’ve seen examples of higher efficiency than mine with no sparge batches so tend to think there’s a larger more glaring issue.

 

[prrriiide]

What are you using for a false bottom in your mash tun? Different configurations with the same crush can have a much greater effect than you might think.

It could also be several little things combining to an outsized result. The crush could be suspect + crush not optimized for screen + volume fudges here and there = crap efficiency.

I would come up with a very simple SMaSH recipe. Make sure it’s something you’ll like, because you’re going to brew it multiple times to get used to your system. Commercial breweries call it a calibration recipe. Eliminate as many variables as you can. Don’t fudge anything on brew day. If the recipe says to sparge with 3.14159 liters of water, sparge with 3.14159 liters of water.

A commercial brewery can use a gallon-graduated gauge and be off by a pint with no effect. At your volume, even off by a pint can really screw up your calcs.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

During the batch sparging, I also slowly pour over a filtered top on the mash tun but I don’t have a device to sprinkle it slowly. I wonder how much impact this could be having. Regardless, I’ve seen examples of higher efficiency than mine with no sparge batches so tend to think there’s a larger more glaring issue.

Yeah, I got 80% lauter efficiency on my last brew (7.5 lbs of grain in a 3 gallon batch) with no sparging at all -- just a "full (pre-boil) volume" BIAB mash. But I crush my own grain in a Cereal Killer set at it's narrowest gap: 0.025"

 

[mac_1103]

What are you using for a false bottom in your mash tun?

Equipment: Vevor All in one brew kettle

probably this one

 

[DuncB]

Easiest way to block the pumps on these is to have the recirc tube in the grains and turn the pump off, it will then siphon back pulling grains with it into the tubing, ball valve and or pump.
Or not having enough flow to keep the drain filling with wort and so it will appear blocked as no wort to come out.
Or letting it overflow and washing grains out through the malt pipe pick up holes at the top of the malt pipe.

I wouldn't expect the grains to get out of the bottom plate and block your pump.

 

[doug293cz]

2) Dilution- Ended up with extra 1.25 liter of wort vs target which had slight impact on OG and thus makes efficiency look a touch worse.

Extra volume actually increases your mash efficiency, all else being equal. So, extra volume is not part of your low efficiency issue.

I batch sparged about 3 gallons throughout the mash draining process. Was much more patient this time and did the sparge additions 4-5x through a 90 min process. I heated the sparge water to 170 this time following guidelines online I saw.

This sounds more like a fly or pour-over sparge than a batch sparge. For a batch sparge, the mash wort is completely drained, and then the sparge water is added all at once (either by adding the sparge water to the mash vessel, or placing the mash bag/basket into a second vessel of water), and then completely drained again. Sparge water temperature doesn't matter as far as lauter efficiency is concerned, but sparging with hot water will decrease the time required to heat to boiling.

Can you give us more detail on your brewing equipment, and your mash draining and sparging process?

I really want to understand why my efficiency is so low.

To diagnose efficiency issues, you need to collect the measurements that let you calculate both conversion efficiency (how much of the potential extract you actually created in the mash) and lauter efficiency (how much of the created extract actually made it into the boil kettle.) Mash efficiency equals conversion efficiency times lauter efficiency. To know where the problem was caused you need to know whether you had low conversion efficiency or poor lauter efficiency. The causes of these are different, and they require different remedial action to improve.

The data you should be collecting in order to do a complete analysis of your efficiencies is as follows:

• Grain bill weight
• Weighted average grain bill potential
• Weighted average grain bill moisture content (if you don't know this, using 4% is close enough)
• Strike water volume (measured at, or corrected to, room temp)
• End of mash wort SG, after thorough wort homogenization
• Sparge water volume (measured at, or corrected to, room temp)
• Sparge process details
• Pre-boil volume (corrected to room temp)
• Pre-boil SG, after thorough wort homogenization
• Post-boil volume (corrected to room temp)
• Post-boil SG (aka OG)
• Volume to fermenter (if you want to calculate brewhouse efficiency)

Your calculated values (efficiencies) can be no more accurate than your least accurate measurement (except for grain moisture), so taking accurate measurements is critical if you want to accurately calculate efficiency. AOI systems are notorious for non-homogeneous wort during the mashing process, even when recirculating (due to flow dead zones caused by the malt pipe) so extra care must be taken to insure wort homogenization before taking an end of mash SG measurement. Small SG samples for refractometers are prone to evaporation if not handled carefully, which can lead to erroneously high SG readings (as noted in previous responses.) If sparging, then pre-boil wort can also be non-homogeneous (i.e. stratified) so needs to be stirred aggressively to homogenize before taking a pre-boil wort SG measurement.

If you can provide us with any of the missing data from the list above, we can do a better job of determining where your efficiency issues originate.

Brew on

 

[dmtaylor]

1) You need to hit your target volumes. If you don't boil enough water out, your OG will be low.
2) Don't expect 75% efficiency for a 1.071 beer. Maybe closer to your 61%, and certainly not more than 70%. Higher OG beers simply end up with lower efficiency, unless you collect extra wort and boil for 2-3 hours instead of just 60-90 minutes.
3) Who's crushing your malt? If crushed by a homebrew shop, they always tend to crush poorly. Get your own mill. If your own mill, consider tightening the gap on the mill. This can improve efficiency in a big way.
4) You didn't mention your mash pH. My guess is it was high off scale. Get a pH meter (even a cheap one is helpful) and aim for 5.4 to 5.6, checking about 5 minutes after the grains and water were first mixed. If pH is high, stir in a few drops of any acid (lactic, phosphoric, even vinegar will work here) until it comes down.

 

[Kickass]

It is hard for me to imagine that I got poorly milled grain in both cases

My efficiency went from 65% to 75% with one change. Milling my own grains.

It’s not “poor”, it’s more like one size fits all. Pre milled grains are typically coarse so the don’t create stuck sparges.

 

[DuncB]

I found conditioning the grain before I crushed improved results as well.
I doubt homebrew stores do this unless perhaps you turned up and conditioned the grain in your own bucket before they milled it.

 

[nh_homebrew]

I am considering getting a VEVOR All In One Brew Kettle. How long does it take for the 120 volt to get from mash temp to boiling? Thanks.

 

[ahags]

I am considering getting a VEVOR All In One Brew Kettle. How long does it take for the 120 volt to get from mash temp to boiling? Thanks.

I didn’t calculate this exactly but I’d say it was at or under 30 min with the 1800 Watt setting standard . Maybe more like 20-30 min to go from 152 > 212 if I had to guess. I had done this one with room temp water and to get it from ~60f up to 152-153F took closer to an hour. Wish I had timed it to give you something exact but I have found generally speaking, I’m not waiting long on this kettle for temperature changes. With the copper chiller they included and 3/8” tubing back to sink, I managed to get to whirlpool temps from 212 in minutes. Then 160 down to 70 degrees in around 20 min. Hope that helps

 

[ahags]

My efficiency went from 65% to 75% with one change. Milling my own grains.

It’s not “poor”, it’s more like one size fits all. Pre milled grains are typically coarse so the don’t create stuck sparges.

Interesting- is there anything I can request at the local store to ensure they’re not too course? Or will it always be an issue?

 

[ahags]

Here is what it looked like at mash in and during mash. Not sure if you guys can tell if it’s too course

 

[doug293cz]

Here is what it looked like at mash in and during mash. Not sure if you guys can tell if it’s too course
View attachment 866261

Pictures of the dry crushed grain are easier to judge.

Brew on

 

[Kickass]

Interesting- is there anything I can request at the local store to ensure they’re not too course? Or will it always be an issue?

You can request it be milled twice.

 

[JGT]

I'm in a similar boat as the OP (and using the same Vevor Brew Kettle). The OG of my current beer was a little shy of the expected gravity range of the recipe, so I assume there's some inefficiency there. My FG was higher than what was expected, which is more likely related to the fermentation side of things. It could be that I'm measuring with a refractometer & I know the ethanol present affects the reading. Bottom line, though, is if it tastes good, then I'm not going to worry about the small stuff. This is only my third beer, so if my friends & family like it, I'll take that as a win.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

I'm in a similar boat as the OP (and using the same Vevor Brew Kettle). The OG of my current beer was a little shy of the expected gravity range of the recipe, so I assume there's some inefficiency there. My FG was higher than what was expected, which is more likely related to the fermentation side of things. It could be that I'm measuring with a refractometer & I know the ethanol present affects the reading. Bottom line, though, is if it tastes good, then I'm not going to worry about the small stuff. This is only my third beer, so if my friends & family like it, I'll take that as a win.

Fun fact: refractometers actually can (indirectly) let you infer final gravity, provided you remember what your original gravity was! You just need to use this handy tool to do so. I've never seen the actual FG as measured by a hydrometer be off by more than 2 to 3 points of the "corrected refractometer" this way.

 

[Bobby_M]

The first thing you should do is go into your software and lower the system efficiency in the equipment profile by 5%. That will get you closer immediately. Then you scale the batch to the OG the recipe called for which will tell you how much more grain to use.

The best way to simulate a fly sparge in an AIO with a malt pipe is rig up a locking rope hoist so you can incrementally lift up the malt pipe a little at a time. Pour in about 1/2 gallon of sparge on the top, then lift the malt pipe about 2". As soon as you see the water on top about to completely disappear into the damp top of the grain bed, Pour another 1/2 gallon, lift another 2", and keep repeating until you've added all the sparge the recipe calls for. No need to shower or sprinkle the water. You're actually trying to maintain some level of water above the grain the whole time.

 

[ahags]

The first thing you should do is go into your software and lower the system efficiency in the equipment profile by 5%. That will get you closer immediately. Then you scale the batch to the OG the recipe called for which will tell you how much more grain to use.

The best way to simulate a fly sparge in an AIO with a malt pipe is rig up a locking rope hoist so you can incrementally lift up the malt pipe a little at a time. Pour in about 1/2 gallon of sparge on the top, then lift the malt pipe about 2". As soon as you see the water on top about to completely disappear into the damp top of the grain bed, Pour another 1/2 gallon, lift another 2", and keep repeating until you've added all the sparge the recipe calls for. No need to shower or sprinkle the water. You're actually trying to maintain some level of water above the grain the whole time.

Well in my case, I had already done an extremely heavy grain bill. 14lbs for 5 gallons is on the high side so with the poor efficiency, it may still manage to get to say 6% ABV. Also, 5% may be more like 15% or so if you assume I’m hitting 60% vs 75% which seems to be somewhat common amongst this community right? I of course would like to get to the heart of the problem rather than just keep increasing my grain bill to compensate. Sounds like more finely milling could be step 1. Appreciate all the advice!

 

[ahags]

The first thing you should do is go into your software and lower the system efficiency in the equipment profile by 5%. That will get you closer immediately. Then you scale the batch to the OG the recipe called for which will tell you how much more grain to use.

The best way to simulate a fly sparge in an AIO with a malt pipe is rig up a locking rope hoist so you can incrementally lift up the malt pipe a little at a time. Pour in about 1/2 gallon of sparge on the top, then lift the malt pipe about 2". As soon as you see the water on top about to completely disappear into the damp top of the grain bed, Pour another 1/2 gallon, lift another 2", and keep repeating until you've added all the sparge the recipe calls for. No need to shower or sprinkle the water. You're actually trying to maintain some level of water above the grain the whole time.

My kit basically had a lock that allows you to raise the mash tun up about 6-8” and it rests on pegs so it can drain out below. Do you think lifting it less or more would have a sizeable impact?

 

[Bobby_M]

Well in my case, I had already done an extremely heavy grain bill. 14lbs for 5 gallons is on the high side so with the poor efficiency, it may still manage to get to say 6% ABV. Also, 5% may be more like 15% or so if you assume I’m hitting 60% vs 75% which seems to be somewhat common amongst this community right? I of course would like to get to the heart of the problem rather than just keep increasing my grain bill to compensate. Sounds like more finely milling could be step 1. Appreciate all the advice!

Extraction efficiency is basically a system and process driven variable in brewing and while it's a worthwhile to take incremental steps to maximize it, the most important priority is to know what your efficiency is and tailor your grain bills to meet the OG target of the recipe. Once you're hitting the recipe's OG target by whatever means (increase grain bill) consistently, you can start tweaking things to raise the number a bit.

What I'm suggesting is that you do both. Lower your profile efficiency by 5% and then try to make up the extra ground with a few tweaks.

There's a limit to how fine you can mill with an all in one basket. Flour will plug up the holes and you won't be able to recirculate.

Based on this picture:

It looks like you had a little more room to add some more water to loosen things up a bit. How much starting water did you use?

When you recirculate a system like this, the flow rate should be restricted to about 1 quart per minute.

Use a cheap refractometer to test the gravity of the mash every ten minutes and write each measurement down. When you get two measurements at the same gravity back to back, raise the temp 5F and when the whole mash gets there wait another 10 minutes. Test that gravity. If it's still the same as the previous two, you're DONE.

 

[Bobby_M]

My kit basically had a lock that allows you to raise the mash tun up about 6-8” and it rests on pegs so it can drain out below. Do you think lifting it less or more would have a sizeable impact?

To visualize the most efficient fly sparge, the entire column of liquid in the mash needs to move downward with symmetry. You don't want the lower end to empty as you're sparging from above. Similarly, you don't want the top of the grainbed to be exposed.

A quick and dirty method, which won't make too many compromises, would be to pour as much sparge water as you can into the top of the malt pipe without it overflowing and then immediately, BUT SLOWLY lift the pipe upward and keep topping off the water on top as to not expose the grain. Once you have added all the required sparge water and it disappears below the top of the grain bed, then lift the basket all the way up to the full draining position.

If it's not too much hassle to set up an overhead lift point with an eyebolt, you'll really be able to maximize the sparge by lifting a small bit at a time. Whether it makes a big enough improvement to be worth the effort is something to be revealed. I'm not sure. It might be the difference of 5%.

 

[nh_homebrew]

This one is $100 less than the one with the sparge arm. I already have a pump and hose. Any advice?

 

[DuncB]

This one is $100 less than the one with the sparge arm. I already have a pump and hose. Any advice?

Seems to be a link to a choice of products?

 

[nh_homebrew]

Seems to be a link to a choice of products?

The 32 quart at $201.28

 

[ahags]

Extraction efficiency is basically a system and process driven variable in brewing and while it's a worthwhile to take incremental steps to maximize it, the most important priority is to know what your efficiency is and tailor your grain bills to meet the OG target of the recipe. Once you're hitting the recipe's OG target by whatever means (increase grain bill) consistently, you can start tweaking things to raise the number a bit.

What I'm suggesting is that you do both. Lower your profile efficiency by 5% and then try to make up the extra ground with a few tweaks.

There's a limit to how fine you can mill with an all in one basket. Flour will plug up the holes and you won't be able to recirculate.

Based on this picture:
View attachment 866307
It looks like you had a little more room to add some more water to loosen things up a bit. How much starting water did you use?

When you recirculate a system like this, the flow rate should be restricted to about 1 quart per minute.

Use a cheap refractometer to test the gravity of the mash every ten minutes and write each measurement down. When you get two measurements at the same gravity back to back, raise the temp 5F and when the whole mash gets there wait another 10 minutes. Test that gravity. If it's still the same as the previous two, you're DONE.

I was wondering this too- I did a 5 gallon starting strike water vs 14lbs of grain and the circulation pump wouldn’t function at all. In my first batch I was more like 12.75lbs vs 5 gallons and the pump seemed to work mostly fine with occasional clogs (both had bad efficiency). Curious if maybe I could strike 6 gallons next time and then go down from 3 gallons to 2 gallons of sparging. I considered this but I also feared that would result in less efficiency from less sparge water getting the last of the sugars out.

In addition, my drainage was basically halted at the beginning of the sparge. I put a half gallon or so to start and almost nothing was draining out. I had to use my spoon to loosen up/move around the grain bed in the tun to provide some proper drainage.

 

[ahags]

This one is $100 less than the one with the sparge arm. I already have a pump and hose. Any advice?

The full product with circulation pump and 9.2 gallon kettle is like $216 from vevor website fyi. So might be overpaying for that bare bones link you sent. Not going to advise though, your call!

 

[Bobby_M]

I was wondering this too- I did a 5 gallon starting strike water vs 14lbs of grain and the circulation pump wouldn’t function at all. In my first batch I was more like 12.75lbs vs 5 gallons and the pump seemed to work mostly fine with occasional clogs (both had bad efficiency). Curious if maybe I could strike 6 gallons next time and then go down from 3 gallons to 2 gallons of sparging. I considered this but I also feared that would result in less efficiency from less sparge water getting the last of the sugars out.

In addition, my drainage was basically halted at the beginning of the sparge. I put a half gallon or so to start and almost nothing was draining out. I had to use my spoon to loosen up/move around the grain bed in the tun to provide some proper drainage.

What exactly is clogging the pump? Grain shouldn't be getting past the basket. I don't know anything about the Vevor brand, but any recriculating system needs a method of throttling the recirculation flow rate AFTER the pump. That would be the blue handle in the picture. The flow rate shouldn't exceed 1 quart per minute. Measure it, don't guess.

 

[Bobby_M]

The 32 quart at $201.28

No grain basket.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

What exactly is clogging the pump? Grain shouldn't be getting past the basket. I don't know anything about the Vevor brand, but any recriculating system needs a method of throttling the recirculation flow rate AFTER the pump. That would be the blue handle in the picture. The flow rate shouldn't exceed 1 quart per minute. Measure it, don't guess.

View attachment 866321

I had a issue with my grainfather once where I dropped the basket too quickly into the strike water and the bottom screen floated up and then got wedged in the tube askew. I figured it out quickly by the malt tube being off center and not being perpendicular as I stirred the mash and was able to seat it correctly but there were plenty of grains under the basket. (I drained into another keg before the boil to clean it up.)

Hard to tell from the pic, but that malt tube might be a bit off center and pointing away (or it could be the angle of the picture). I could be the OP did the same thing that I had done as well.

 

[nh_homebrew]

No grain basket.

Thank you!

 

[nh_homebrew]

I didn’t calculate this exactly but I’d say it was at or under 30 min with the 1800 Watt setting standard . Maybe more like 20-30 min to go from 152 > 212 if I had to guess. I had done this one with room temp water and to get it from ~60f up to 152-153F took closer to an hour. Wish I had timed it to give you something exact but I have found generally speaking, I’m not waiting long on this kettle for temperature changes. With the copper chiller they included and 3/8” tubing back to sink, I managed to get to whirlpool temps from 212 in minutes. Then 160 down to 70 degrees in around 20 min. Hope that helps

I cannot see any pictures showing if there are markings for gallons on the kettle. Are there? Thanks

 

[DuncB]

Calibrate a stick if there isn't, make different markings for cold and boil volumes.

 

[Kickass]

Calibrate a stick if there isn't, make different markings for cold and boil volumes.

I don’t bother with boil markings. I multiply my volume by .96.

Ive read that from “room temp” to boil, there’s about 4% expansion.

 

[ahags]

I cannot see any pictures showing if there are markings for gallons on the kettle. Are there? Thanks

There are etched markings every 5 L or every gallon inside. Inconvenient when you’re draining your wort after mash because you can’t see the inside. So I have to muscle it up while keeping it above the kettle to take a peak. When you boil good luck as it’s a pure guessing game until the water has settled. Need to go off a boil rate calculation and get as close as possible for the quicker method

 

[ahags]

What exactly is clogging the pump? Grain shouldn't be getting past the basket. I don't know anything about the Vevor brand, but any recriculating system needs a method of throttling the recirculation flow rate AFTER the pump. That would be the blue handle in the picture. The flow rate shouldn't exceed 1 quart per minute. Measure it, don't guess.

View attachment 866321

This I don’t know- should have investigated because when I cleaned up there wasn’t any grain clogged down below.

 

[Bobby_M]

This I don’t know- should have investigated because when I cleaned up there wasn’t any grain clogged down below.

Then it means you were pumping too fast. The pump wasn't clogged but you just pulled the grain bed down so hard against the perforated disc that it couldn't flow anymore. 1 quart per minute. Measure. Abide.

 

[ahags]

Then it means you were pumping too fast. The pump wasn't clogged but you just pulled the grain bed down so hard against the perforated disc that it couldn't flow anymore. 1 quart per minute. Measure. Abide.

I didn’t touch the grain bed. There is just a switch on the left side to turn the pump on. There isn’t really any adjustments. Just on or off is my understanding. All else equal, I did the same thing this time around as last and this time no flow at all after first 10 seconds and last brew consistent flow. Not sure what happened