tough brew day - stuck batch sparge?

[jstewartgt]

I have about 6 successful all grain batch sparge batches now, but my last batch has me dumfounded.

I upgraded a few pieces of equipments including a new kettle with a ball valve, march pump, and a new burner.

The march pump gave me some issues when pumping the kettle after the liquid was lower than some of the connections, so I'm guessing I need to teflon my connections inside the kettle to avoid that issue.

The really odd problem I had was I recirculated the wort in the mash tun using the march pump and it worked great for the first few minutes and then it just stopped. I thought I was having pump issues again so I gave up and tried to drain my mash tun into a bucket. Nothing would come out at all. I have the rubbermaid cooler with a 1" stainless braid and have never had any issues before. I figured I must have created a stuck sparge by moving the liquid too fast so I stirred the mash. I got a little to come out, but still almost nothing. I finally had to us a spoon to continuously move the braid around in the bottom of the MT for several minutes before the flow finally starting going. What in the world happened? I don't think a stuck sparge would have caused that and I can't imagine grain plugged up the entire braid. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[chumpsteak]

Don't stir the mash while you are recirculating with the pump. If you do you will free up all the small particles and they will attach themselves to your braid and cause a stuck sparge. I've found I can recirculate indefinately as long as I don't stir while doing so. Do all your stirring of the mash and then start the recirculation. If it gets stuck again, turn off the pump and use your spoon to kind of scrape the fine particles off the braid and then start the pump up again. Using a lower flow might also help avoid the stuck sparge.

 

[jstewartgt]

Thanks Chumpsteak. I didn't actually start stirring until the mash was stuck. Didn't know what else to do at that point. I'm guessing it's a combination of too fine a crush and recirculating too fast...Live and learn

 

[BarryBrews]

The really odd problem I had was I recirculated the wort in the mash tun using the march pump and it worked great for the first few minutes and then it just stopped. I thought I was having pump issues again so I gave up and tried to drain my mash tun into a bucket. Nothing would come out at all. I have the rubbermaid cooler with a 1" stainless braid and have never had any issues before. I figured I must have created a stuck sparge by moving the liquid too fast so I stirred the mash. I got a little to come out, but still almost nothing. I finally had to us a spoon to continuously move the braid around in the bottom of the MT for several minutes before the flow finally starting going. What in the world happened? I don't think a stuck sparge would have caused that and I can't imagine grain plugged up the entire braid. Any ideas?

I know this an older post, but the following may help someone......

I have fixed the stuck mash problem! It's easy, use a brew bag, use a pump to under let the strike water, then recirculate the wort WITHOUT ever stirring the mash tun. That's right, don't stir the mash! Yep, throw out that mash paddle. And don't worry, brewing is still fun. Under letting really does prevent dough balls. Where as stirring the mash causes the grist to settle out in layers. Think about yeast cleaning in how the fine particles suspend then settle on top, same thing happens in the mash tun. I crush my grist directly into the mash tun alternating bowl fulls of the malts into the mill as a means of mixing, though it's not really necessary. I also use a flowmeter on the output of my pump for consistency and proof that my mash never even slows down. I under let the mash tun at 2 gallons per minute and then immediately start to recirculate the wort at 3 gallons per minute for a 10 gallon batch.

The brew bag is essential for clear wort to the kettle, just as leaving the hops, and the cold and hot break material in the kettle is important for clear wort to the fermenter. I whirlpool my NEIPA hops at 160 F and then let the wort settle in the kettle overnight. I get all the hop flavor without dry hopping and as a nice side effect the fermenter never erupts krausen out the airlock, even with a hefeweizen. The theory being the yeast cling to the solids causing greater movement which leads to faster fermentation and the eruption. My beers have improved dramatically since I started clear wort brewing. It is right up there with oxygen free brewing techniques. Try it.

 

[Sammy86]

I have fixed the stuck mash problem! It's easy, use a brew bag, use a pump to under let the strike water, then recirculate the wort WITHOUT ever stirring the mash tun.

You're about 5-10 years late to the party friend...