nolasuperbass
Member
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2013
- Messages
- 21
- Reaction score
- 1
About a year ago, I upgraded from my cooler MLT that I'd had forever to a traditional keggle-style MTL. Previously, when recirculating with the cooler MLT, I would use my chugger pump for about 15 minutes. The wort would be crystal clear going into the boil kettle. At the time, I never used gelatin or whirfloc, and the beer always had great clarity.
For some reason, I just can't get the wort this clear during the recirculation with the new MLT. The pump, even with the ball valve on the output cranked down, would cause severe channeling, the wort would never clear, and my efficiency would suck. I finally figured out that the pump was just too much, and I started manually recirculating with just a trickle coming out. That fixed the efficiency, but it's a PITTA, and the wort is still not as clear as it used to be. The resulting beer needs about a month of lagering before it will completely clear up, and that's even with both gelatin and whirfloc. The mash never sticks (knock wood), and rice hulls don't seem to do anything.
Clearly, there's something about the physics of this that I don't understand. The new MLT has a much bigger screen in it, so there should be less of an issue with channeling with any given amount of grain, right? I was considering wrapping the false bottom in a paint strainer bag, just to give it a little more filtering power, but, for all I know, restricting the flow may make it worse. I was hoping that maybe the engineers on here would have some insight. Thanks in advance.
For some reason, I just can't get the wort this clear during the recirculation with the new MLT. The pump, even with the ball valve on the output cranked down, would cause severe channeling, the wort would never clear, and my efficiency would suck. I finally figured out that the pump was just too much, and I started manually recirculating with just a trickle coming out. That fixed the efficiency, but it's a PITTA, and the wort is still not as clear as it used to be. The resulting beer needs about a month of lagering before it will completely clear up, and that's even with both gelatin and whirfloc. The mash never sticks (knock wood), and rice hulls don't seem to do anything.
Clearly, there's something about the physics of this that I don't understand. The new MLT has a much bigger screen in it, so there should be less of an issue with channeling with any given amount of grain, right? I was considering wrapping the false bottom in a paint strainer bag, just to give it a little more filtering power, but, for all I know, restricting the flow may make it worse. I was hoping that maybe the engineers on here would have some insight. Thanks in advance.