It happened to me right at the end of a boil for a ten gallon batch of English IPA. I'd been brewing on this electric BIAB system for several months and loved how easy it was to connect and disconnect the silicone tubing whenever I needed to. But when the line connecting the kettle to the inlet of my wort chiller clogged it was a rude awakening for me. With over ten gallons of boiling hot wort sitting in the kettle I had to quickly figure out what caused the line to clog and fix it. As it turned out I was able to clear the clogged line and cool the wort down without any more problems. I didn't know it at the time but during the mash some grain made its way into the kettle though a few small holes in the grain bag. Since the quick disconnect on the kettle valve was a shutoff type it only took a few pieces of grain to reduce the flow of wort to a trickle.
I was able to get the wort flowing into the chiller again that day by replacing the kettle's quick disconnect with a w/o shutoff type borrowed from my Chugger pump. The high-flow quick disconnects used in my system came from High Gravity Supplies, two of them were shutoff types and the rest of them were w/o shutoff types. I think the reason for putting a shutoff type disconnect on the kettle valve was to prevent wort from leaving the kettle when the valve was left in the open position and a line was disconnected. In theory this is a good design and it worked perfectly, as long as the wort was free of grain or other solid pieces of hops or trub. In practice though, once a small amount of any of the above got caught inside the shutoff valve, the opening of the disconnect became and blocked and the flow of wort stopped.
The next morning I placed an order for two new grain bags, two high-flow quick disconnects w/o shutoff valves and several feet of silicone hose to have on hand. I like the HFC 35 Polysulfide High Flow Quick Disconnects for a few reasons, mostly because they won't burn your hand when trying to connect or disconnect hoses after running hot wort through them. They are rated to operate safely with liquid temperatures up to 280F and they have large easy to press thumb latches to make connection changes simple. The HFC 35 series quick disconnects are perfect for use in brewing systems especially when used in combination with high quality 1/2" ID food grade silicone tubing.
I've brewed another batch of beer since replacing the shutoff type quick disconnects with straight through, or w/o shutoff type disconnects, and haven't had any issues at all with clogged lines. I also replaced the worn out grain bag with a new one, probably not a bad idea either after some amount of batches. Even being as careful as possible when stirring the mash it's not hard to believe that a small hole or two could be poked in the grain bag. With the shutoff valves removed from the system now even if some grains get into the kettle they won't clog up the quick disconnects.
Vince Feminella [aka: ScrewyBrewer]
www.thescrewybrewer.com
[email protected]
I was able to get the wort flowing into the chiller again that day by replacing the kettle's quick disconnect with a w/o shutoff type borrowed from my Chugger pump. The high-flow quick disconnects used in my system came from High Gravity Supplies, two of them were shutoff types and the rest of them were w/o shutoff types. I think the reason for putting a shutoff type disconnect on the kettle valve was to prevent wort from leaving the kettle when the valve was left in the open position and a line was disconnected. In theory this is a good design and it worked perfectly, as long as the wort was free of grain or other solid pieces of hops or trub. In practice though, once a small amount of any of the above got caught inside the shutoff valve, the opening of the disconnect became and blocked and the flow of wort stopped.
The next morning I placed an order for two new grain bags, two high-flow quick disconnects w/o shutoff valves and several feet of silicone hose to have on hand. I like the HFC 35 Polysulfide High Flow Quick Disconnects for a few reasons, mostly because they won't burn your hand when trying to connect or disconnect hoses after running hot wort through them. They are rated to operate safely with liquid temperatures up to 280F and they have large easy to press thumb latches to make connection changes simple. The HFC 35 series quick disconnects are perfect for use in brewing systems especially when used in combination with high quality 1/2" ID food grade silicone tubing.
I've brewed another batch of beer since replacing the shutoff type quick disconnects with straight through, or w/o shutoff type disconnects, and haven't had any issues at all with clogged lines. I also replaced the worn out grain bag with a new one, probably not a bad idea either after some amount of batches. Even being as careful as possible when stirring the mash it's not hard to believe that a small hole or two could be poked in the grain bag. With the shutoff valves removed from the system now even if some grains get into the kettle they won't clog up the quick disconnects.
Vince Feminella [aka: ScrewyBrewer]
www.thescrewybrewer.com
[email protected]
