13 replies to this topic

[CaptRon]

I'm having a really tough time with stuck sparges. This last weekend I used my new stainless false bottom as the plastic one that I was using I thought was flexing from the weight of the grain and plugging the hole underneath. Well, I get about 3 gallons out of it this weekened and it starts coming out a small trickle again. I tried blowing the tube a little and it didnt help. So i just let it trickle for a LONG time and got my volume out of it. So I think I must be doing something wrong. This was just a 5 gallon batch so it wasn't as if there was a ton of grain. I am using a round rubbermaid 10 gallon cooler as my mash tun. Here is what I do:Add grain and water to mash, and stir until well mixed and no dry grains are visible. Let rest for ~60 mins, then start recirculating wort to not get grain particles. I seem to still get a LOT Of grain particles like it is passing through my FB though. I am using a twirling sparge arm.Just looking for some what if's, and check for these type of help.

[Humperdink]

I'm having a really tough time with stuck sparges. This last weekend I used my new stainless false bottom as the plastic one that I was using I thought was flexing from the weight of the grain and plugging the hole underneath. Well, I get about 3 gallons out of it this weekened and it starts coming out a small trickle again. I tried blowing the tube a little and it didnt help. So i just let it trickle for a LONG time and got my volume out of it. So I think I must be doing something wrong. This was just a 5 gallon batch so it wasn't as if there was a ton of grain. I am using a round rubbermaid 10 gallon cooler as my mash tun. Here is what I do:Add grain and water to mash, and stir until well mixed and no dry grains are visible. Let rest for ~60 mins, then start recirculating wort to not get grain particles. I seem to still get a LOT Of grain particles like it is passing through my FB though. I am using a twirling sparge arm.Just looking for some what if's, and check for these type of help.

How fast are you sparging out of the kettle? You may be going a little too fast and compacting the bed too much. Could be too fine a crush. You have a BC right? did you crank it down from the original setting? I like my coleman xtreme. I have it in the back of my head that the added weight(ETA I mean vertically, since it's a smaller footprint) in a cylindrical igloo compresses the grain bed more than if you have a larger, shallower grain bed. YMMV and that's just my hair brained, half-assed, SWAG at mash tun design.

[CaptRon]

How fast are you sparging out of the kettle? You may be going a little too fast and compacting the bed too much. Could be too fine a crush. You have a BC right? did you crank it down from the original setting? I like my coleman xtreme. I have it in the back of my head that the added weight in a cylindrical igloo compresses the grain bed more than if you have a larger, shallower grain bed. YMMV and that's just my hair brained, half-assed, SWAG at mash tun design.

Hhmmm, maybe that is it. Maybe I need to slow down pulling out of the mash tun. I haven't touched the default setting on the BC as everywhere I read says that it is pretty much a very good setting from the factory. I'll have to try slowing it down and seeing if that helps.

[djinkc]

What holds your FB in place to keep grain bits from slipping under the edges?

[MolBasser]

I would look at your grain crush first and foremost in this situation.MolBasser

[CaptRon]

What holds your FB in place to keep grain bits from slipping under the edges?

Weight

[djinkc]

Weight

From the grain? Most FBs I've seen are held in place by a dip tube that's fastened fairly solid to prevent grain from slipping under and clogging the pickup. I use a manifold so I don't have much experience. I don't think the grain has a whole lot of stabilizing power when you mix in the water. Just guessing........How about a pic of your setup? Until I got my system setup the way I needed to stuck sparges where a continuing frustration. I can't remember the last one now.

[harryfrog]

not that this adds any solution to your problem, but I have (from the sounds of it) the exact same setup and I don't have a problem with stuck sparges. The LHBS grinds the grain for me and I have done both a fly sparge and a batch sparge with the FB with no problems, regardless of runoff rate. I guess that lends me to suggest checking the grain...

[Thirsty]

Weight

I think this is the largest problem. I have a postin the center of my MT, and the FB secures down with a wing nut, holding it down tight so the edges are firm to the walls. I had a similar issue with grain slipping by one time, and after I cleaned out the MT, and went to fasten the FB back down, I realized the post was stripped some, and as I tightened the wingnut, it would slip a thread. Just this little bit of being loose let the FB float up on an edge ever so slightly, but enough to let grains slip through. Now I just use a larger nut to slide over the post first and act as a spacer so I can get the wingnut seated on fresh threads.

[CaptRon]

Well, the stainless FB is pretty weighty. A lot more than the plastic Phill's one that I had before where I know I was having problems with it floating. I'm pretty sure this one isn't floating, but maybe I knocked it around when stirring the mash. I'm kind of wondering if the rate in which I pulled the wort out was the problem as we were doing it pretty full bore. I know better than that too. Rookie move on my part.

[Humperdink]

Well, the stainless FB is pretty weighty. A lot more than the plastic Phill's one that I had before where I know I was having problems with it floating. I'm pretty sure this one isn't floating, but maybe I knocked it around when stirring the mash. I'm kind of wondering if the rate in which I pulled the wort out was the problem as we were doing it pretty full bore. I know better than that too. Rookie move on my part.

I would think that mixed with the good crush from the BC would stick a sparge. Depends on the grist too, but yeah.

[MtnBrewer]

Well, the stainless FB is pretty weighty. A lot more than the plastic Phill's one that I had before where I know I was having problems with it floating. I'm pretty sure this one isn't floating, but maybe I knocked it around when stirring the mash. I'm kind of wondering if the rate in which I pulled the wort out was the problem as we were doing it pretty full bore. I know better than that too. Rookie move on my part.

If you're fly sparging, you really need to go very slowly for max efficiency. A pint/minute or less is about where you need to be. If you're batch sparging, you can run it at full-tilt boogie but you have to work your way up to it. Don't just open it all the way up right off the bat. Open part way, let it run for a while, open a little more, etc. until it's wide open.

[earthtone]

you're sure there's no "silly" reason for the stuck sparges? Only stuck sparges I had came from the plate I had switched to that I was floating since I don't have a sparge arm and I was fly sparging. The plate suctioned against the cooler edges and actually blocked the airflow, thus stopping my sparge.Not saying this is what's happening, but just that sometimes it's not the crush or the sparge rate or anything else that is logical, rather it's something you wouldn't normally look for.Anyways, just thought it'd be worth your while to double check that while you search for the answer. Good luck dude.

[CaptRon]

If you're fly sparging, you really need to go very slowly for max efficiency. A pint/minute or less is about where you need to be. If you're batch sparging, you can run it at full-tilt boogie but you have to work your way up to it. Don't just open it all the way up right off the bat. Open part way, let it run for a while, open a little more, etc. until it's wide open.

Yeah, we were wide open with it and pulling like 2 qts a minute. lol I don't know where my head was (probably just all in the moment because I hadn't all grain brewed in over 6 months). We did it at that rate during the Vourlaugh too.