First brewday in over 18 months and it was...an adventure

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UnrulyGentleman

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I moved cross county over a year ago and this past Saturday I finally got myself in a position to start brewing again. All-Grain 6 gallon batch of Northern Brewer's The Plinian Legacy (because I guess doing something more simple after such a long break was a smart idea, and having just relocated from California where I could get Pliny on the regular was hitting me in the nostalgia zone real hard.

It was going great, hit my mash temp of 151* exactly and it held for exactly 1 hour...and then it finally happened, I earned my brewer wings and had a stuck mash. Nary a drop would come through in order to vorlauf. I stirred like a madman to rouse the grain bed in hopes that would do it. Nope. Then I added just shy of 2 gallons of 180* water and stirred. Still no luck. Ended up having to dump the entire mash into the HLT, disassemble the false bottom and tubing in the MT, clean it out, then transfer all of the worst back to the MT. Hot Side Aeration fears were and are very high as a result, but I carried on as though nothing had happened. Finished the mash and sparge with a pre-boil volume of about 7.7 gallons and an SG of 1.055 - right on target!

Then through the 90 minute boil I somehow managed to boil off way more wort than expected and only had 5 gallons to put into the fermenter at an OG of 1.077! Target was 1.070, but I suppose when I boiled off far more than I had anticipated those extra 7 gravity points make lots of sense.

Due to the loss of volume, I said screw it and dumped the entirety of my 2L starter, wort and all, into the fermenter too. Assuming that starter was at 1.040, I can't imagine it would have a tremendous impact on the final product, right?

Anyway, it was fun to get going again and learn how to brew in my new home with a whole new setup. Lots to figure out still and lots more I need to refine in terms of process as a result, but I've got that brewing bug again. Anyone see any major concerns with my MT to HLT to MT dumping as far as being concerned in the final product? Pretty sure the higher OG is negligible and would result in I suppose 0.5% higher ABV as a worst-case (read: best case!) scenario, right?

Cheers all, glad to be getting back to it.
 
Did you have a block? Having “nary a drop” when starting the sounds like I plumbing plug more than a stuck sparge. You can always add a handful of rice hulls next time.
 
Did you have a block? Having “nary a drop” when starting the sounds like I plumbing plug more than a stuck sparge. You can always add a handful of rice hulls next time.
Okay, yes, should have clarified that it was 100% a clog and not a true stuck situation, but I panicked at about the same relative amount regardless. My false bottom must have lifted during stirring the mash early on and grains got all up in the tubing and valve, a true clog if ever there was one. Other than trying extra hard not to have any real splashing of my mash as it moved between vessels two times, I think I did all I really could given the circumstances?
 
i'd just worry about tannins with the 180f water...., and diluted ph....of course that's the only thing i can tell is ever wrong with a beer, i'm definitely not a LoDo brewer.....
 
Even with all your “excitement” sounds like a good day, I’ve had 1 or 2 of those clogged drains and had to do the same thing, dump into a bucket to reset the false bottom and never had an issue.

I too moved from Ca just over a year ago also, what part to what part? We were on the central coast and now about an hour north of Philly? And I also just got back to brewing last month.
 
I’ve had 1 or 2 of those clogged drains and had to do the same thing, dump into a bucket to reset the false bottom and never had an issue.


just had a thought, anyone ever try using weed eater line to clean their clogs instead of all this dumping back and forth? i use a bazooka tube, so it's a straight shot for me...but i think maybe weed eater line would be flexible enough to make the curve for a false bottom. i just use bailing wire......
 
just had a thought, anyone ever try using weed eater line to clean their clogs instead of all this dumping back and forth? i use a bazooka tube, so it's a straight shot for me...but i think maybe weed eater line would be flexible enough to make the curve for a false bottom. i just use bailing wire......

I think it might work depending on your dip tube and false bottom style. What happened to mine was I hit it and the dip tube came out and turned so no matter what I jammed up it the grain would just keep coming out, er in and clogging it. After the last one I bent my dip tube and now it’s super tight against the false bottom now.
 
I think it might work depending on your dip tube and false bottom style. What happened to mine was I hit it and the dip tube came out and turned so no matter what I jammed up it the grain would just keep coming out, er in and clogging it. After the last one I bent my dip tube and now it’s super tight against the false bottom now.


i honestly always hated false bottoms, only way i could get them to ever drain. was by putting a scunchy pad under the opening below it....i had A LOT better luck with a stainless braid, and now even better with my bazooka....
 
I’ve only had one stuck mash when I bought my own grain mill. Apparently I ground it too fine.
I use a round igloo mash with a bazooka tube connected to a ball valve.
I got tubing and connected to ball valve. Then blew air into it until I could see bubbles rising from mash. It worked well but be careful not to get hot mash in your pie hole.
 
Then blew air into it until I could see bubbles rising from mash. It worked well but be careful not to get hot mash in your pie hole.


reminds of when i was trying save some money on brew day for a while, using 5 lbs of white flour in the mash....It sparged, but i had to blow it....


I’ve only ever used a false bottom, I use a keggle and it’s just a 8” flat round screen.

damn, what's something like that weigh to pick up and dump? i had to double check what a keggle was, but saw this...

https://www.kegglebrewing.com/products/bazooka-t-screen
 
damn, what's something like that weigh to pick up and dump? i had to double check what a keggle was, but saw this...

https://www.kegglebrewing.com/products/bazooka-t-screen

It’s pretty heavy, I can usually do it myself but this last batch was 38lbs of wet grain, I was able to get it off my stand myself but I had to get my son to help me dump it in the compost pile.

Edit: this is the only heavy lifting I have to do on brew day everything else is done with gravity
 
Even with all your “excitement” sounds like a good day, I’ve had 1 or 2 of those clogged drains and had to do the same thing, dump into a bucket to reset the false bottom and never had an issue.

I too moved from Ca just over a year ago also, what part to what part? We were on the central coast and now about an hour north of Philly? And I also just got back to brewing last month.
Moved from just outside Sacramento (Woodland) to just outside of a Columbus, OH (Granville). I always sort of brewed in spurts back in CA because of how hot it would get outside (way too many 100*+ days in the summer) and after this past Saturday where my immersion chiller was actually working with water that was 60* as opposed to 85*, I’m pretty excited to establish a regular schedule.
 
I moved cross county over a year ago and this past Saturday I finally got myself in a position to start brewing again. All-Grain 6 gallon batch of Northern Brewer's The Plinian Legacy (because I guess doing something more simple after such a long break was a smart idea, and having just relocated from California where I could get Pliny on the regular was hitting me in the nostalgia zone real hard.

It was going great, hit my mash temp of 151* exactly and it held for exactly 1 hour...and then it finally happened, I earned my brewer wings and had a stuck mash. Nary a drop would come through in order to vorlauf. I stirred like a madman to rouse the grain bed in hopes that would do it. Nope. Then I added just shy of 2 gallons of 180* water and stirred. Still no luck. Ended up having to dump the entire mash into the HLT, disassemble the false bottom and tubing in the MT, clean it out, then transfer all of the worst back to the MT. Hot Side Aeration fears were and are very high as a result, but I carried on as though nothing had happened. Finished the mash and sparge with a pre-boil volume of about 7.7 gallons and an SG of 1.055 - right on target!

Then through the 90 minute boil I somehow managed to boil off way more wort than expected and only had 5 gallons to put into the fermenter at an OG of 1.077! Target was 1.070, but I suppose when I boiled off far more than I had anticipated those extra 7 gravity points make lots of sense.

Due to the loss of volume, I said screw it and dumped the entirety of my 2L starter, wort and all, into the fermenter too. Assuming that starter was at 1.040, I can't imagine it would have a tremendous impact on the final product, right?

Anyway, it was fun to get going again and learn how to brew in my new home with a whole new setup. Lots to figure out still and lots more I need to refine in terms of process as a result, but I've got that brewing bug again. Anyone see any major concerns with my MT to HLT to MT dumping as far as being concerned in the final product? Pretty sure the higher OG is negligible and would result in I suppose 0.5% higher ABV as a worst-case (read: best case!) scenario, right?

Cheers all, glad to be getting back to it.
I had health problems for a couple of years, then a cross state move to a house without space for my brewery. So I haven't brewed for 2 years. But now I've got new yeast, a shop built for my hobbies and I am so looking forward to having the excitement of problems of brewing a batch of my own beer. Rock on!
 
Yes way too many 100+ days, I did not brew nearly as much as I did before moving there. Not only cooling wort but keeping it cool enough were some of my issues. Good luck brewing on a schedule, it will be nice for you to have consistency.
 
As an all grain BIAB-er I fear I will never get my brewer's wings
 

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