My First Stuck Mash!!

[prjectmayhem]

I feel almost excited having never had one before. I had read on here that you either haven't been a brewer for long enough, or haven't tried something crazy enough if you haven't had a stuck mash. Today it finally happened and I had to resort to pouring my whole mash out into my HLT, clearing the clog in my false bottom tube and returning the mash back to the tun (gatorade bucket). I feel one step closer to being a 'real' brewer, Wooo!

 

[RM-MN]

Good start! Now go buy a mesh bag so when it happens again you can simply put the bag into your boil kettle, pour/scoop/whatever the mash into that bag and lift the bag to drain the wort out. Clean out your mash tun where it clogged, set the bag of grains back in there, being careful not to drip wort all over, and go on to the sparge. You can lift that bag again at the end of the sparge to get a little more wort out of the grains too.

Now since you have the bag, use it for the mash next time, get your grains crushed finer, and kiss the stuck mash goodbye. Oh, by the way, be prepared for your efficiency to go up if you mill finer.

 

[DurtyChemist]

I had one on my last brew day. I think the combination of my pump pulling too much and the height going into my kettle just stopped the wort from flowing.

 

[prjectmayhem]

Good start! Now go buy a mesh bag so when it happens again you can simply put the bag into your boil kettle, pour/scoop/whatever the mash into that bag and lift the bag to drain the wort out. Clean out your mash tun where it clogged, set the bag of grains back in there, being careful not to drip wort all over, and go on to the sparge. You can lift that bag again at the end of the sparge to get a little more wort out of the grains too.

Now since you have the bag, use it for the mash next time, get your grains crushed finer, and kiss the stuck mash goodbye. Oh, by the way, be prepared for your efficiency to go up if you mill finer.

Can you suggest a mesh bag retailer or size for 10-12lb mash?

 

[CGVT]

Put a stainless scrubby pad under your false bottom at the intake tube. It will stop anything that gets by the false bottom from going into the tube. They are cheap and work.

You all can thank me later...

 

[m1k3]

I was brewing with a buddy once and had the same issue (false bottom and round cooler). I'd say you ARE a real homebrewer @prjectmayhem . You fixed the problem and kept going.

That is the joy of being a homebrewer. Once the mash size gets to big to pick up and dump it's hard to fix. I was at Lagunitas and they got a stuck mash using Rye... I couldn't imagine what I would do with 100 barrel stuck mash!

 

[RM-MN]

Can you suggest a mesh bag retailer or size for 10-12lb mash?

I simply went to Home Depot and got a pair of 5 gallon paint strainer bags with elastic tops. They fit my pot perfectly. They aren't super durable but I'm only on my second bag.

Another source may be you LHBS as some of them are now carrying the mesh bags.

Wilserbrewer, a member here on HomeBrewTalk makes custom bags too and they are reported to be very good.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/member.php?u=9949

 

[Greyhound]

Ooh, fun. I've only had one stuck mash. It was a rye IPA that I was brewing for a club competition. I tried stirring to clear the bazooka screen in my mash tun, but that didn't work and eventually I had to scoop all of the grains into a paint strainer and then batch sparge through the strainer.

In spite of the brew day chaos, the beer came out great and actually took first place in the mini-competition. Nobody ever had to know but me. Now I use rice hulls if there's even a chance of a stuck sparge.

 

[RM-MN]

Ooh, fun. I've only had one stuck mash. It was a rye IPA that I was brewing for a club competition. I tried stirring to clear the bazooka screen in my mash tun, but that didn't work and eventually I had to scoop all of the grains into a paint strainer and then batch sparge through the strainer.

In spite of the brew day chaos, the beer came out great and actually took first place in the mini-competition. Nobody ever had to know but me. Now I use rice hulls if there's even a chance of a stuck sparge.

Why do you not use the bag if there is a chance of a stuck sparge since you now know how well it works?

 

[Greyhound]

Why do you not use the bag if there is a chance of a stuck sparge since you now know how well it works?

Good question. What you're describing is basically brew-in-a-bag. A lot of people use this method, but the only time I've used a bag for my mash is on that one stuck sparge.

The issue I had with using the bag was mostly that it was a pain in the butt to work with. I couldn't stir the mash like I normally do because the bag would twist, so my mash efficiency suffered. I adjusted my starting gravity by collecting less wort and boiling a little longer before my first hop addition.

There's plenty of info around here on brew in a bag if you're interested. I have a system that works well for me and is repeatable & predictable, so I don't have any plans to change. One of the nice things about brewing, though, is that there are so many different methods, ingredients, etc. - and they all make good beer.

 

[TravelingLight]

I recently brewed my 8th (I think) batch and haven't had a stuck mash yet. But I KNOW it's going to happen eventually. I like reading posts like these to prepare myself when it happens.

 

[Jaybird]

I like knowing it will NEVER happen to me

I know I know NEVER say NEVER....LOL

Cheers
Jay

 

[brewcat]

Next time try blowing back in the tube.

 

[azdavid]

Next time try blowing back in the tube.

I've had 1 stuck mash in my 20 + brews and this is what I did too . Back up and running free and clear in just a few seconds.

I was a bit concerned about doing it at first but figured since it was preboil not really much to worry about.

 

[A2HB]

Rye malt=rice hulls every time. Only time I've ever had a full on stuck sparge was with a rye beer. That was a PITA. Now I add rice hulls and never have stuck sparges, and I brew a lot of rye ales