manifold too holy?

[GranillaNutz]

the construction of my mash tun includes a manifold made of copper pipe with hundreds of very small holes drilled into it and laid at the bottom of the tun holes down. even after about a gallon of returned runoff, i still noticed a substantial amount of sediment in the wort during boil.. just seemd like it should've been clearer than it was. by boiling this, it would increase the risk of unwanted tannins, correct? if so, i may 86 the copper pipe and just go with the SS braid method.
or is it normal to see a good bit o **** floatin round during the boil....

 

[BierMuncher]

Are you vorlaufing (recirculating) the first couple of quarts? That is key to developing a good filtration bed and your wort should run clear into the kettle.

 

[GranillaNutz]

yes, as i stated above, i recirculated a gallon... mabye a lil more. it looked clearer, but still had a few floaters

 

[Yooper]

Are you still getting quite a bit of husks and grain particles? What is it that you are seeing in the boil kettle?

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

As long as it's not husks you don't need to worry about tannins. However, to get a very clean tasting beer, you'll want to vorlauf until clear. I found this very hard to do and very time consuming without a pump. I would have to vorlauf AT LEAST 2 gallons for my wort to become reasonably translucent. Nowadays I use a march pump and recirculate for the last 10 minutes of the mash. I've used a braid, false bottom, and copper manifold with the same results...vorlaufing just takes time.

If you're seeing other stuff floating around, especially later in the boil that may be proteins. I notice those appearing about 30 minutes into the boil especially after adding the irish moss. Stuff clumps together...which is good! Avoid sucking this stuff in your carboy by using a mesh screen on your siphon or some sort of mesh or screen on your kettle.

 

[alpo]

A gallon wasn't really all that much to recirculate. Sometimes I had to do 4 gallons to get it to clear up. How are you pouring it back in? When I was batch sparging, I used to put the lid of a large tupperware container on top the mash and pour on top of it. (like pouring a black and tan) Big plastic lids work pretty well because they float and they can protect a large area of the grain bed.

 

[Yooper]

I never recirculate more than a couple of quarts (I do 5 gallon batches, usually with about 10 pounds of grain) and my grain is crushed pretty well. I only vorlauf enough to get the grain bed settled, and then drain my runnings.

If you're getting some starchiness (and not grain husks), it may be that you have incomplete conversion. Do you do any iodine testing, or mash for a long time?

 

[GranillaNutz]

i don't recall any husks... i did notice quite a few particles in the beginning.. as the hot wort ran thru the clear tubing, a haze come over it and i was unable to tell what was flowing along, but i did notice somewhat of a lighter color as the flow went on. what i was seeing in the boil kettle was thrown upon virgin eyes. from what i've read and the video's i've seen, normally only a few quarts were used for vorlauf, so i just stuck with that. i didn't reallize that some used quite a bit more to improve the clarity of the wort before boil. thanx for the quick responses. all of your info is taken into consideration. and no i didn't use a iodine testing method, but plan to in future brewing.