Brew Day from Hell...Grain getting through false bottom?

[rpolzin25]

So I have had a few all grain brews under my belt and everything had been going farily smooth up until my latest brew. Now before this brew I would only brew when I was staying up late to flip into my overnight working schedule as I wouldn't have any interruptions and I had been using a 5 gallon cooler w/ a metal braid as my mash tun. This time I decided to brew during the day as my 3 1/2 yo son was interested (which basically means playing outside w/ his toys) in helping out Daddy make beer. On top of this I just bought a 10 gallon cooler w/ a false bottom. So everything seemed to go smoothly until draining the mash tun. I vorloufed as normal, everything appeared clear and I then drained into my main kettle. I put the kettle on the burner and low and behold...there are a bunch of grains floating around. So I pour back into the mash tun, let it set a few minutes and then redrain....only it doesn't matter how much I vorlouf...grains keep coming through so basically just decide to use my strainer to filter out all the grains which was rather annoying.

Alright so then I get passed that part and bring the kettle to a boil, add my hops...let it settle down and go in and eat some dinner w/ the family. Come out a little later to add a second addition of hops and low and behold...a boilover in progress. So get it tamed down, add my hops and I literally had to watch it like a hawk the rest of the boil as if I didn't it would boil over.

Then I get the wort cooled and go to drain into my fermenter only my kettle doesn't want to drain properly...for some reason my kettlescreen inside my boil kettle keeps getting clogged. By this point my wife is getting a little angry since things are taking longer than expected and both my kids, a 3 1/2 and a 1 1/2 year old have decided to have meltdowns. So now since I need to hurry a little bit i am trying to pour my 5.5 gallons of beer by myself through a strainer into a speidel and end up spilling some beer in process just adding to the mess in the garage.

In the end, I somehow managed to hit both my target gravity and target volume (I did add a little extra water at the end of the boil).

The really funny thing is I was making a nut brown ale and was going to call it ClusterNut brown ale because I was using Cluster hops but now ClusterNut has multiple meanings for this brew.

So my big question would be what could have been the cause of grains getting through false bottom. I have grains milled for me and have never had this issue before. The big diffence in this brew for me was using a 10 gallon mash tun w/ a false bottom, using 1.5 qt/lb instead of 1.3 qt/lb since I had the extra space in the mash tun, and instead of typically just using spring water for my brews I used distilled w/ calculated additions to the water. Thanks

 

[MagicMatt]

The domed false bottoms that go in the round coolers have bigger holes than the stainless mesh screens (bazooka et al). I was recently pointed to this as to why it takes me longer to vorlauf than a lot of people who are just using braided hose or whatnot. I generally have to vorlauf for about 2 gallons (20 minutes) before I get perfectly clear wort.

I'm assuming you're fly sparging? If so make sure you are running the wort out really slow. And don't close and then reopen the valve between vorlauf and lauter. Made that mistake once.....it closes the suction that's been created in the MLT and when you open it the grainbed re-sets and more grain will get through.

Sometimes if I don't want to vorlauf as long I just run my tubing into a mesh hop sack to collect any stray pieces that get through.

 

[rpolzin25]

The domed false bottoms that go in the round coolers have bigger holes than the stainless mesh screens (bazooka et al). I was recently pointed to this as to why it takes me longer to vorlauf than a lot of people who are just using braided hose or whatnot. I generally have to vorlauf for about 2 gallons (20 minutes) before I get perfectly clear wort.

I'm assuming you're fly sparging? If so make sure you are running the wort out really slow. And don't close and then reopen the valve between vorlauf and lauter. Made that mistake once.....it closes the suction that's been created in the MLT and when you open it the grainbed re-sets and more grain will get through.

Sometimes if I don't want to vorlauf as long I just run my tubing into a mesh hop sack to collect any stray pieces that get through.

I am actually batch sparging at this point. The mesh hop sack is actually not a bad idea too. I also thought about just moving my kettle screen to my mash tun as well.

 

[MagicMatt]

If you batch sparge, I think the braid/screen is the best option for you. For batch sparging most people open the valve all the way, collect a few pints to vorlauf and then collect in wort in the kettle with the valve still open fully. Then close it, dump in your sparge, stir, let sit for a few and then repeat the draining process.

As for a screen in the kettle, I'd say that's probably not necessary. I don't use one (never have). The only big reason I could see to use one is if you use a cold plate to chill, you may want one so the cold plate doesn't get clogged. Otherwise there's no need for a screen in there IMO. I use a CFC and no screen and have never had an issue.

 

[bonecitybrewco]

I am actually batch sparging at this point. The mesh hop sack is actually not a bad idea too. I also thought about just moving my kettle screen to my mash tun as well.

I'll be honest. I started mashing in a larger mesh bag (a la Brulosopher) and have not looked back. My efficiency on my last batch was 85% overall (1.060 Oktoberfest) and extremely high on the mash (90+%) and I don't get any stuck sparges, no chance of grain through the bag and cleanup is a breeze. Bag cost me $20.

 

[brewcat]

I had to make a gasket out of high temp tubing with my false bottom. So start a slit and slide it on the false bottom. Continue the slit until you are all the way around. It fixed my issue with stuck sparges.

I think you have your burner temp too high. The few times I had boilovers later in a boil was because I didn't bring the flame down after the boil started.

 

[kev211]

To fix the boilover problem... FermCapS. Takes care of boil overs no problem.

I use a tube screen so cant help you there.

As far as the trub goes, if you want to leave it out of the fermenter, cool. But if you arent harvesting the yeast then Id say just let the trub go in the fermenter. Especially considering you were already having such a bear of a brew day

 

[CGVT]

I put a stainless steel scrubbing pad under the false bottom at the pickup tube. Cheap and easy solution that stopped all grain from getting into the valve.

Just get the pads at Home Depot. They are a couple of bucks for a pack of three,

 

[dwhite60]

Next to last batch I made my kettle started to boil over. Sprayed it with some cold water from a spray bottle, turned the heat down, everything is good. Turn heat back up to a boil watch it for a couple minutes. No foam, nice boil, everything is kosher.

Turn around, pick up the tablet and surf for just a minute and there it goes.

Wort knows. It knows when you're paying attention, and when you're not.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, starting a vorlauf with a wide-open dump valve is begging for a stuck bed.
Safer to start the vorlauf flow slow and increase as the wort clarity increases.

As for the false bottom, domed FBs and cooler liners often fail to live in harmony over time.
The domes aren't necessarily square (they're stamped, after all), and the cooler liners warp with use - especially if one is prone to using high temperature strikes to warm up a cold cooler.

Having dealt with this I came up with a hack that has worked for years.
It does not depend on the cooler floor being flat, and has the compliance to take up considerable warping in the sidewalls.



Nothing gets around the FB, and what little that gets through the mesh gets vorlauffed to the top of the bed...

Cheers!

 

[Qhrumphf]

I just don't worry about a few grain specks making their way through the false bottom, as long as it's not gratuitous. If I had any tannin problems as a result, I'd notice them. But I don't.

The end.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, grain "specks" aren't responsible for astringent/tannin characters.
That's typically a sparge pH problem...

Cheers!

 

[Qhrumphf]

fwiw, grain "specks" aren't responsible for astringent/tannin characters.
That's typically a sparge pH problem...

Cheers!

I'm well aware. Hence why I don't worry about them. There's no issue with a few specks of grain husk making their way into the boil. You just want it as minimal as possible.

 

[brewkinger]

Since no one else asked, I will.
How much grain are we talking about in total that made it into the boil?

 

[rpolzin25]

Since no one else asked, I will.
How much grain are we talking about in total that made it into the boil?

It was minimal once I filtered. Initially though there seemed to be a decent amount floating around. Think I am just going to switch to using my kettlescreen in the mash tun instead of the false bottom.

 

[MaryB]

I had a grain bag with 2 1/2 pounds of specialty grains burst open and empty into my kettle. I finished the boil, scooped out what I could and finished making the beer. The little that made it to the fermenter settled into the yeast cake and all was well. In fact it was one of my better batches when I was getting back into brewing after a 25 year pause.

 

[Bobcatbrewing42]

I use a keggle for a mashtun that I made myself. For a false bottom, I used the cutout from the top. It fits perfectly into the bottom of the keg and provides an instant domed shape. Drill a bunch of small holes in it (smaller than 1/16" and you are done. I just fill the hole in the top with a stainless steel scrubber stuffed around the pickup tube. "CVGT" suggested using a scrubber in a related manner. My wort runs clear from the first vorlauf. I never get a stuck sparge. The guy who taught me to brew even admits that my homebuilt false bottom works better than his expensive factory built one.