First lodo attempt went great, but....

[brewdude88]

I use a robobrew v2 for mashing, but threw the malt pipe into storage and just use a grain bag on the false bottom to be able to use way more grain. I use the pump to recirculate wort from the bottom where the heating element is to a floating mash cap with a 1/2" barb added in the middle for the wort to flow through. I turn off the pump when I reach mash out temp and slowly drain the wort to a boil kettle through the bottom ball valve while adding sparge water through the mash cap fitting. If I fly sparge like that very slowly, I get 90%+ efficiency but noticed yesterday that I kept getting an air pocket in the hose to the boil kettle right at the barb if I throttled the ball valve down that far. I ended up having to sparge way faster to avoid the air in the line and my efficiency dropped to 78%. I don't understand where the air was coming from, I have teflon tape on all connections and 3/8" silicone hose forced on the 1/2" barb! any ideas on how to tighten this thing up?
Also, did this 10-15 seconds of air infusion make this a highdo beer, I used 40mg/l smb in the mash and 15mg/l in the sparge water. I should have practiced with just water...

 

[RPh_Guy]

I don't think an air bubble is going to kill your LODO beer.

I don't understand where the air was coming from

Without seeing your process, it's not easy to say. Did you switch hoses or disconnect/ reconnect hose connections in order to transfer?
A ball valve does have an air pocket in the mechanism. You may have to cycle it a couple times to get out all the air whole you recirculate.

I try to keep my whole system primed starting with the water that's being de-oxygenated.
You did de-oxygenate the water, right?

I'm still new and working kinks out of my system too.... But my one successful low-oxygen beer out of several attempts was AMAZING. You will know when you get it right because it will change your whole view of beer.

 

[Dustin_J]

Try pinching the tubing shut a bit with your fingers until it fills completely - I had a similar issue when trying to fly sparge very slowly and that helped. Also, are you pre-boiling/deoxygenating and treating your sparge water with SMB/trifecta too?

 

[brewdude88]

Try pinching the tubing shut a bit with your fingers until it fills completely - I had a similar issue when trying to fly sparge very slowly and that helped. Also, are you pre-boiling/deoxygenating and treating your sparge water with SMB/trifecta too?

This worked! Nothing like simple solutions. I did pre-boil and cooled to strike temp before gently adding smb and underletting for dough in. Beers fermenting strong with a pretty strong sulfur note, but no more than I’m used to at this point.

 

[Dustin_J]

This worked! Nothing like simple solutions. I did pre-boil and cooled to strike temp before gently adding smb and underletting for dough in. Beers fermenting strong with a pretty strong sulfur note, but no more than I’m used to at this point.

Nice!