My new electric build....in progress

[HarkinBanks]

Most likely an air pocket formed. I use a broccoli strainer to keep the elements away from the grain bags that I use.

For mash ph I recommend using mash 5.2 stabilizer. 1tsp and you will hit your ph each time, very foolproof.

 

[HossTheGreat]

Most likely an air pocket formed. I use a broccoli strainer to keep the elements away from the grain bags that I use.

For mash ph I recommend using mash 5.2 stabilizer. 1tsp and you will hit your ph each time, very foolproof.

Could be. Or possibly because the mash was so thick, there wasn't enough water too carry heat away from the element? Not sure. I guess next time I do a "normal" mash, I'll just have to kill the element during the mash instead of letting it run and recirculating.

As for 5.2, I used to use it but was advised against it from people in the brewing science forum. They say that it tends to not work very well and also loads the beer with sodium (IIRC). Instead, I follow the primer in that forum about adding CaCl to the water and using 2% acidulated malt in the mash.

 

[HossTheGreat]

An update to the melted bag issue. I went ahead and got a new bag and have done 3 more batches without any issues. I went back to full volume mashes, and on the last batch even recirculated during the mash, no problems at all.

I think when I had the problem with the bag melting, it was due to the thinner mash and recirculating. I'm betting that the pump pulled away water too fast, creating an air pocket around the element. This is what caused it to get so hot and scorch the bag. Luckily, it didn't burn the element up (although I had to scrub it pretty good to remove the burnt nastiness on it).

 

[HossTheGreat]

Here's a pic of my latest tweak to the setup. I got tired of using the colander for letting the bag drain after the mash. I'd always make a mess and it was a pain trying to lift the bag (which when full of wet grain, was wider than the opening of the kettle) with one hand while trying to position the colander with the other hand. To solve this, I went with this super simple pulley system. It makes things so much easier.

Also, because the mash recirculation wasn't really working as I had hoped, I ditched that idea and went back to just heating my strike water, mashing in, and letting it sit untouched. Therefore, I went ahead and added the reflectix insulation back to the kettle. With this new setup, if I drop more than a few degrees during the mash, I can just hoist the bag up, raise the temp and then drop the bag back in.

All in all it's working much better this way. I'm really at a point where everything is dialed in nicely and I'm turning out some pretty consistent beers.

 

[CeeTee]

Sorry to bring back an old thread, but is there a reason that both of your recirculation ports are at the bottom? I always thought the return port should be near the top. Just curious if you had a reason for this.

Also SUB'D!