Urgent help!!!!!!

[mikeyc]

Im brewing my second AG batch and i have some serious sparge stuckage. How do I unclog????? i cant get any wort to come out!!!! what do I do!!!! Please help!!

 

[Funkenjaeger]

When it happened to me, I used a turkey baster with some tap water and squirted it back up through the valve. Had to do it 2 or 3 times but it didn't stick again for the rest of the runoff, including both sparges.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

What does your grainbill look like? Have you tried gently stirring with a mash paddle or spoon?

 

[mikeyc]

Ive been stirring for like five mins straight. It wont unclog. Its Orfy's hobgoblin clone.

 

[TexLaw]

Breathe in and out. Now, do that again. Now, again. Okay, let's move on.

Are you batch sparging or fly sparging? If fly sparging, I might let someone else come on and help.

If batch sparging, there are a couple quick things you can do. Try scraping around your manifold or braid. Get a spoon down there and try to scrape around. The idea is make a channel. See if that gets you something.

Next, you can thin your mash with some boiling water. Stir around and vorlauf. See if that helps.

If you have some rice hulls around, you can try to stir those in, also.

If none of that helps, you might have to go the manual route. That's scooping out your mash and gently straining it. It's no fun, but it will get you through. I hope someone else has some other ideas.


TL

Edit: I like that turkey baster method! That's a great way to get a channel working.

 

[SuperiorBrew]

I have also read someone using air to blow it out

 

[Onescalerguy]

We use a blast of CO2 ....worked great(on 2 occasions).If you're using a cooler make sure the lid is closed.
Cheers

 

[Beerthoven]

Try using your garden hose and sending a blast of water up into the cooler

 

[mikeyc]

Thanks so much guys. I tried all suggestions, minus the garden hose, cause I dont have one. I eventually had to dump my entire mash into a bucket. took apart my manifold, cleaned it out. put it back together, still wouldnt work. went an bought a jumbo straining bag and put it in the bucket, dumped grains and water into bucket and filtered that way. I got almost 3 gallons of wort from first running. Gonna sparge, and hopefully it wont clog again. Man I really need a beer!!!!

 

[Orfy]

Pig breath an blow up the manifold.
It worked the one time my manifold fell off an everything clogged.

 

[mikeyc]

Another update..... So I used the straining bag to collect the first runnings. Filled mash tun with the sparge water, tried to use manifold again, and once again it got stuck. did same process, and used straining bag. Not the best way of doing things, but for my given purposes, it was all i had. Collected about 6.5 gal of wort. Everything went good with the boil. Wort is chilling right now. Gonna go with the Munton's yeasst, only becasue my Coopers yeast is out of date, and the guy at the LHBS forgot to put the Nottingham's in the bag. Man what a night. So tired Im not even gonna clean. That'll wait til tomorrow. Thanks for all the input, the advice is why I love this site. Ill let you know how it turns out!!!

 

[McKBrew]

Glad it all worked out in the end.

 

[TexLaw]

I'm glad to hear it worked out. Think of the stories you can tell now!


TL

 

[Ender]

yeah think of the stories, especially if you used Bah Humbugs suggestion of Pigs Breath! Yikes

Ender

-I'm smelling a lotta IF comming offa this plan-

 

[Bobby_M]

I know nothing of manifolds since I've only used a ss braid but I've NEVER had a stuck sparge, even on wheats. Now that I've said that, I'll probably stick next time. You either have slots too large or not enough of them.

 

[SuperiorBrew]

No stuck sparges here either, I started wirh a cooler and PVC manifold that I built, in addition to several normal brews I did wheat, and one mash with 45oz of pumpkin, nothing even close to a slow sparge.
Then I went to a Sanke tun with a false bottom, same thing no probs.

Why dont you give us some details on your manifold set up, crush and procedure. Maybe we can figure out what went wrong and prevent it from happening again.

 

[CBBaron]

You can use the strain bag and the manifold together. The bag will prevent the grains from clogging the manifold but the bag has a huge amount of surface area that is hard to clog.
Also the holes on your manifold should face down, not up. This has been reported to be much better for preventing stuck sparges.
SS braids are more forgiving but can get clogged with enough oats or too fine of grist. I had an Oatmeal stout that took 20 mins to drain with my braid when most beers drain in less than 5. Next time open the gap some on your mill.
Craig

 

[brewt00l]

I know nothing of manifolds since I've only used a ss braid but I've NEVER had a stuck sparge, even on wheats. Now that I've said that, I'll probably stick next time. You either have slots too large or not enough of them.

I had my first stuck sparge w/ the braid today due to too fine a crush. When I doughed in the mash looked like runny oatmeal. I tried putting all of my sparge water into the tun at once to no avail....manual mash straining and a very long brew session. I did toss some cinnamon into the kettle with crossed fingers hoping that Charlie P's theory of it being an antioxidant and warding off oxidation from all my straining.

 

[GrantLee63]

Just for future reference ....... Keep a 12" long piece of 1/8" welding rod (or cloths hanger) to run through the fitting you have on your valve. I have a 10 gallon Rubbermaid mash tun and I fly sparge, and I had a stuck sparge a couple batches ago. The 1/8" rod did the trick !!!

- GL63

 

[brewt00l]

Just for future reference ....... Keep a 12" long piece of 1/8" welding rod (or cloths hanger) to run through the fitting you have on your valve. I have a 10 gallon Rubbermaid mash tun and I fly sparge, and I had a stuck sparge a couple batches ago. The 1/8" rod did the trick !!!

- GL63

In my case, that didn't do the trick!

Grain mill, here I come!

 

[shafferpilot]

had one when using flaked corn. inspection later revealed a big hard ball of corn in the T just behind the valve. Probably got cooked by the steam I use for step mashing.