Mashing/Milling Problems?

[busta98]

I need some help here... The last few batches I've brewed have resulted in very astringent wort and beer. I recently switched over to using RO water due to bad water in the town I just moved to. The first few batches I brewed I put some salts into the mash tun and the rest into the kettle. Those two beers turned out pretty well. I also conditioned the malt with a little water to create better crushed husks.

It seems that towards the end of the runoff for gathering my pre-boil volume I get this burst of very cloudy wort which appears to be grain husks. I'm kind of at a loss cause this has happened 3 batches in a row. I have never experienced this issue before. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[masonsjax]

I wouldn't add salts willy nilly. Check out the water primer thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

Not sure about the cloudy runnings. Make sure your thermometer is calibrated. If batch sparging, don't sparge too hot. As long as you stir well, the temp doesn't need to be hot, a mashout isn't necessary when batch sparging.

Conditioning is a good decision, I've always had good results. Maybe buy or borrow a pH meter to test your mash, see if that's causing problems.

 

[busta98]

I don't add them willy nilly.. I calculate out how many grams per addition to get the ppm's desired for a certain beer style. PH has never seemed to be an issue. I use a cooler mash tun and I'm wonder if its losing its ability to create a good grain bed filter.

 

[Oginme]

I don't see where the grain bed filter would have affect the astringency extracted from the grains. Extraction of astringent flavors is usually a matter of pH and temperature. Too fine of a grind can also lead to high extraction of astringent flavors through contact with fine hull particles.

 

[busta98]

I don't see where the grain bed filter would have affect the astringency extracted from the grains. Extraction of astringent flavors is usually a matter of pH and temperature. Too fine of a grind can also lead to high extraction of astringent flavors through contact with fine hull particles.

But it does appear that I get a bunch of husks during the last part of runoff. Should I add a little more sparge water so I make sure I don't run the grain bed dry? I always used to let it run dry and never had an issue doing that before.

 

[masonsjax]

You want to run it dry, otherwise you're leaving sugars behind. Maybe there's a leak in your filter mechanism?

 

[busta98]

Ok that' what I thought. I use a homemade cpvc manifold I built in a grid shape that sits at the bottom of a 70QT Coleman cooler.