Stuck Mash

[Paxsman]

I am moving into all grain and attempting to be as prepared as possible. I read about the dreaded stuck mash and believe I understand what the basic problem is. However are their things that can be done to avoid this? Is it more common with certain grains? Is it more or less common with certain equipment? Lastly what do you do if it happens....are there any tricks?
Thanks

 

[MalFet]

You can add a half-pound of rice hulls to the mash if you find yourself having a stuck sparge often. I will do this sometimes as a precaution in recipes with lots of wheat or rye.

How to fix it, exactly, depends on what kind of a system you've got. If you're using a cooler mash tun, you can always just stir and re-vorlauf for a few minutes to clear it out.

Good luck!

 

[scottatdrake]

Or you can just do a batch sparge and then you don't have to worry about it.

 

[heckels]

Or you can just do a batch sparge and then you don't have to worry about it.

They're much less common with batch sparging but can still happen if outflow is too fast. Especially if you're using a false bottom.

When is a stuck sparge most likely? Any time you're using wheat, rye, pumpkin/purees or anything flaked in the mash.

 

[Goblism]

I have never tried it, but I have heard of people blowing into the tube to try and get it unstuck. don't know if it works or not, the wort is going to be boiled so there should be no sanitation concerns

 

[Carter1932]

I think having a well made manifold is key to avoiding this issue. Homemade bazooka screens often collapse.

Never had a stuck sparge with my 1/2" PVC hand-made manifold. I've made many wheat beers where I've not added rice hulls, still no problem.

 

[fredtheseal]

I use a 10 gallon cooler with a copper manifold and had stuck mashes on a few consecutive brews. Even adding rice hulls didn't solve my problem. I mill my own grain so it may have been a result of too fine of a crush. Then I started conditioning my malt. (look up malt conditioning on the forum). By adding moisture to my grain before milling, I get a much more "fluffy" mash because the husks stay more intact. I haven't had a stuck mash since i started this and there is a decent amount of flour in my crush. Typical efficiency is 79% for 5 gallon batches using double batch sparge.

 

[BrewThruYou]

I've only had one stuck sparge and that was after making a terrible drilled hole copper pipe inside a stainless braid invention. It did not work.

Even with wheats, I don't have a problem with just a stainless braid and batch sparging.

For pumpkin beers, I do add 8oz or 16oz of rice hulls. Those mashes are sticky.

 

[asterix404]

If your grain is also crushed too fine and the hulls are all shredded this will cause a stuck mash no matter what the grain is. Wheat is particularly prone as mentioned above due to the high protien content of the grain. A slow draining to get a good grain hull bed and not being too aggressive with your crush will help not give you a stuck mash or sparge.

 

[MiScusi]

I just had a stuck sparge on a wheat beer last week. I am using a 10 gallon cooler with a false bottom, i was able to blow into the tube and free it up. I have had good luck with the false bottom but should have used some rice hulls with this one.