Mashing Problem

[beer_master]

Im First time all gran brewing.
I built mash tun and tested it and it work fine with water in it.
I want to test it with grain in it so i used

2lbs grain for about 1,2 gal batch beer.
Procedure was:
0.8 gal strike water at 160 F
In side cooler was 147 F after the strike
Stir it an let it rest for about hour.
I want to drain it in to the boil kettle but i could not get clear wort running.
I recycle few times but same thing i have unclear wart with sediment in it

Heh, this are pics of my mash tun

Maybe small grain bill?

 

[broadbill]

What is the capacity of that MT? 2 lbs of grain is a small amount of grain but then again it may not be a problem if you have a very small MT. If you had to guess, how deep of a grain bed did you think you had?

 

[beer_master]

What is the capacity of that MT? 2 lbs of grain is a small amount of grain but then again it may not be a problem if you have a very small MT. If you had to guess, how deep of a grain bed did you think you had?

Its around 20l (5,2 gal), if i have to guess i would say around 3,5 inches, but not sure

 

[broadbill]

2 lbs of grain in a 5 gallon MT???? I'm guessing that's your problem right there. I don't really know what the minimum grain depth needs to be to adequately filter, but 3.5 inches is probably not enough. My MT probably has maybe a good 10-12 inches of grain depth.

My suggestions:
Brew a larger batch!!!!

Use a smaller cooler as a MT....for that size batch you can probably do it in a pot on your stove. Check out the "brew in a bag" method...plenty of threads on here about it.

Use rice hulls to increase your volume so you have an adequate grain bed depth.

Good luck!

 

[ajf]

A couple things,
First, as has been said, with a deeper grain bed you will get a better filtering action and the runnings will be a bit clearer.
Second, You don't get crystal clear wort from the mash after the vorlauf. It is always a bit cloudy. You just want to make sure you don't have a noticeable amount of solid grain particles that are recognizable as grain pieces in the boil.

-a.