Brew Day Disaster- Low conversion + Pump Fail

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MrEggSandwich

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My final brew of 2019 would be a NEIPA with some nice 2019 crops of hops (Warrior at 15, then big whirlpool of citra/mosaic/galaxy)...Was shooting for an OG of 1.074/1.076ish (8 gallon batch)

-My mash conversion was super low after about an hour mash (1.040 (51% conversion), should have been 1.055...Ugh.

So I boiled off a bunch to get my OG closer to where I needed to be, and wound up throwing a bit more sugar to bump things up.

So THEN, I get to whirpool/chill phase....I run wort through plate chiller and chill wort to 160-180 range and throw in 12oz of hops in the whirpool, and let it sit.

THEN time for chill- I lose prime on pump, after about 30 minutes of trying to diagnose the problem, I say screw it, and pick up my 20 gallon Blichmann BK (I know, not safe), and dump about 7 gallons of wort into Brewbucket and call it a day.

I throw brew bucket into chest freezer to chill down to around 93 degrees.

Good thing I am using Kveik Hornindal...It's now chugging along in the 90s. I also threw 5 oz of hops as I pitched yeast.

All in all, I wound up with a fermenter full of 1.072 wort that is now chugging along. Something tells me I'll be ok. Think of it as a nice, long whirpool.

Never a dull moment for the homebrewer. I need a new pump...The chugger is a PIA to prime sometimes.

Happy New Year!
 
What's your pump configuration? Are you sure you didn't plug your plate chiller or get a bunch of hops stuck in the pump head?
 
..... I need a new pump...The chugger is a PIA to prime sometimes....

Consider buying a Mkii. They work great, are very quite and cost less. MoreBeer has the MKii pump plus the stainless steel head for roughly $95 right now. Too bad your pump didn't fail sooner as MB had them on sale for the combined price of $70.

I use two of these pumps in my system. When they went on sale, I bought a third one as back up or to be used at another location some day.
 
In what order are your components plumbed? How far below the kettle is your pump?

Pump is about 8 inches below, but have never had issue prior to this. I’ve had it for 3 years.

I didn’t use hop bags (i usually do and hop screen, and have hop blocker.

I recirculated wort prior to sanitize chiller with no issues. Must be the hops.


I’m more concerned with shitty conversion.
 
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