In the middle of my 1st all grain brew with my new Brewzilla and I lifted the basket to drain the grain and it’s a very very slow drain. Been going 30 mins now and still just slow trickle coming out bottom of basket. Is this normal or do I have a stuck mash and should I be doing something different. Thanks.
First Brewzilla Brew
- Thread starter KFurk
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If the crush was too fine or if you had a lot of wheat or other sticky stuff in the mash it will drain slowly. Rice hulls can help keep the grain bed more permeable.
Ive been brewing with the smaller RoboBrew 35L for a while and i too have occasionally had a slow sparge. As mentioned by MikeCo some rice hulls really help. I use these if i have a lot of flaked oats/wheat/barley in the recipe.
Ive also heard that the finer screen at the bottom of the malt pipe (the top screem) is not really needed, and you can just use the more sturdy bottom disk. But i havent tried that yet.
Besides this issue, how do you like the BrewZilla.
? Im about to buy one, but just waiting on my electrician to get a 220 outlet installed.
Ive also heard that the finer screen at the bottom of the malt pipe (the top screem) is not really needed, and you can just use the more sturdy bottom disk. But i havent tried that yet.
Besides this issue, how do you like the BrewZilla.
? Im about to buy one, but just waiting on my electrician to get a 220 outlet installed.
Well mine is only the 110v one. And it struggled to get a good boil. Also just to note... I did skip that extra screen when I had the stuck sparge. So I could just imagine how bad it would be with it in.
FWIW my sparge takes about 45 min . As soon as my mash is done I lift up the basket and I press the top screen down a tad to compact the grains for better filtering. By the time I'm about done sparging the wort is almost to boil temp. I use the Grainfather so its similar concept.
I did get a stuck sparge on my first brew. I forgot to add the rice hulls. Bunch of grain down the over flow pipe the whole deal. Pulled the pipe out set it on a 8 gallon bucket. Drained wort and cleaned it. When I took the gravity it was pretty close to where it need to be so I strained the wort back in and started the boil. As the draining of the malt pipe took almost 1 1/2 hours I just added it in as it collected.
RePete
Well-Known Member
My sparges with a 35L Robobrew are also slow, FWIW. Have only had one stuck sparge in 20+ batches so far.
