Stuck Sparge

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Bp28

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This is the third batch I have brewed, so still very new to this. The grains were milled very fine, which is likely what led to my completely stuck sparge. I did have rice hulls mixed in but it didn't help at all. I achieved zero flow thru my mash tun (I use a 3 tier system with water coolers for mash tun and hot liquor tank.) I tried stirring the mash, blowing into the ball valve, and even shooting compressed air into the valve with no luck.

After around 30 minutes of trying, I gave up on it. I place my hop basket into the kettle and started scooping out the grain/wort and passing it thru the basket and into the kettle. I ended up with a lot less wort than I intended but I figured It would be better than throwing it all away.

Will I end up with something decent to drink from this? I pulled a sample to get a hydrometer reading after a few days of fermentation and seem to have a lot of stuff in suspension. I have no intentions of throwing it out until I keg and taste, just wondering what I have to look forward to. What other options do I have on brew day if the same happens again? TIA

Also, this is the data I collected during brew day. What other information should I be capturing?
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What was your recipe? How much strike water did you use, and how much sparge water? Do you have a false bottom or bazooka screen in your MLT? Do you recirculate during the mash? What was your mash schedule?

Brew on :mug:
 
What was your recipe? How much strike water did you use, and how much sparge water? Do you have a false bottom or bazooka screen in your MLT? Do you recirculate during the mash? What was your mash schedule?

Brew on :mug:
I think most of what you asked is on the spreadsheet I posted. I have a false bottom in my mash tun. Not sure what recirculating during mash is, will have to look into that. Also not sure on mash schedule, I just dumped about 5.5 gallons of 164* water into the grains, which got me to 151*. It stayed in there for 60 minutes, I gave it a stir about halfway through.
 
Well your mash wasn't particularly thick (~1.8 qt/lb), so that shouldn't have been an issue. You didn't have much in the way of high glucan grains (wheat, rye, etc.) in your mash, so wouldn't have had a gummy mash. I suspect that you are correct about your crush being too fine for your system. Do you know what your mill gap spacing was?

Brew on :mug:
 
Well your mash wasn't particularly thick (~1.8 qt/lb), so that shouldn't have been an issue. You didn't have much in the way of high glucan grains (wheat, rye, etc.) in your mash, so wouldn't have had a gummy mash. I suspect that you are correct about your crush being too fine for your system. Do you know what your mill gap spacing was?

Brew on :mug:
I don’t unfortunately, had it milled by the brew shop I bought it from. Seemed substantially finer than my previous 2 batches I brewed.
 
Yeah, sounds like the was too fine.
Final product should be fine. Give it a good cold crash before kegging and let everything settle out. A little less abv than planned but I am sure it will be fine to drink.
As far as next brew day, make sure your gains a milled better. If you explain this situation when you get grains next time I am sure your shop will check the gap before running your grain through.
BIAB systems don't sparge so they mill to almost a flour consistency to increase efficiency to account for what won't be rinsed out. Works well for a giant tea bag but not so much for a 3 vessel system.
 
When I dropped down to 5 gal batches they weren't deep enough to get good efficiency so I went to BIAB. So I didn't have to change mill settings (I think that happened to you) I got a bag for the 15 gal rectangular cooler. I mash 50% wheat beers without rice hulls and no stuck sparges.
 
I had never seen this, looked into it and that seems like the way to go. Do you still sparge when using the bag, then squeeze out the remaining liquid?

When I dropped down to 5 gal batches they weren't deep enough to get good efficiency so I went to BIAB. So I didn't have to change mill settings (I think that happened to you) I got a bag for the 15 gal rectangular cooler. I mash 50% wheat beers without rice hulls and no stuck sparges.
 
I had never seen this, looked into it and that seems like the way to go. Do you still sparge when using the bag, then squeeze out the remaining liquid?
Yes, you can do either no-sparge or sparge when mashing in a bag. The best efficiency will be when you squeeze the bag before sparging, then sparge, and then squeeze again. If you only what to squeeze once, the squeeze before sparging offers the most benefit.

Brew on :mug:
 
Yes, you can do either no-sparge or sparge when mashing in a bag. The best efficiency will be when you squeeze the bag before sparging, then sparge, and then squeeze again. If you only what to squeeze once, the squeeze before sparging offers the most benefit.

Brew on :mug:
Thanks for sharing, just ordered a bag and pulley system from brewinabag.com. Hopefully this beer will turn out decent, will likely be drank regardless.
 
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