Brewer BierMuncher's Cream of 3 Crops Today - Question

Jiffster · Mar 12, 2016

I brewed this today and had my first stuck sparge. It was a 5.5 gal batch and I added 2 handfuls of rice hulls.

The stick happens when I started to vorlauf. Nothing would come out so I blew into the end of the hose and unstuck it. Every thing was fine until I did my batch sparge. Same thing.

Is this common or does it mean my grain was milled to small?

Maybe use more rice hulls?

kh54s10 · Mar 12, 2016

It depends on different things. I have a water cooler with hose braid tun. I do batch sparge and in about 75 brews have not had a stuck sparge. So, it could be your system. It could be the crush, or a combination of both. I would say not common, but not entirely unexpected. Try more rice hulls first, coarser grind, second. Last would be altering your hardware.

Jiffster · Mar 12, 2016

kh54s10 said:
It depends on different things. I have a water cooler with hose braid tun. I do batch sparge and in about 75 brews have not had a stuck sparge. So, it could be your system. It could be the crush, or a combination of both. I would say not common, but not entirely unexpected. Try more rice hulls first, coarser grind, second. Last would be altering your hardware.

Thanks. I guess I'll know more when I brew my next batch that doesn't have flaked corn or flaked rice. This was my first time brewing after getting my grain mill so it made me wonder if that was the culprit.

Jiffster · Mar 12, 2016

Also, it's 8 hours since pitching the yeast and zero activity. Is that normal? My first time not seeing anything.

tektonjp · Mar 13, 2016

Jiffster, gonna need a lot more info to diagnose. Temperature, yeast, etc. Rehydrate, sprinkle on wort? If it's 05, could take up to 36 hours. Give it time is the best answer I can give now.

max384 · Mar 13, 2016

If you're able to blow into the end of the hose to get it going again, it's not really a big issue IMO. That happens to me on occasion, and I get it unstuck and don't give it a second thought.

max384 · Mar 13, 2016

And as far as not having airlock activity after 8 hours? As long as you didn't pitch the yeast when the wort was hot enough to kill the yeast, don't worry about it. Eight hours is not a long time to wait for yeast activity.