First Ag Sparging Trouble

[brewn00b]

Hi,
I finally bit the bullet and did my first all grain brew. It is tasting awesome in the fermenter and all in all went pretty well. It is however far from being a clear beer. I'm hoping with a bit of cold conditioning this will improve but the problem stems from when I went to drain the mash tun.
I have an esky with ss braid and it held the mash temp perfect for an hr. I did attempt a mash out but not sure if I actually got the temps hot enough.

In the first 30minutes of draining I only got about 5L out. I'm not sure if it was my impatience that was the issue or my mash tun. When I added the sparge water (batch sparged) I ended up having to stir/recirculate several time just to get more than a dribble. Towards the end I pretty much had to agitate and clear around the braid with my spoon to get any flow at all. In the end I have ended up with decent beer but would like to make the process smoother next time.

I apologise if I'm bringing up the whole false bottom vs braid vs manifold thing again but would I be better off with a manifold or false bottom? Clearly people have absolutely no problems with stainless steel braid so is there something in my mashing process where I am just missing the point?
I added mash water + grain, gave everything a good stir and mashed for an hour. I then added some more hot water in an attempt at a mash out (proabbly not hot enough) and then stirred, let it settle, Vorlaufed and started to drain.
My sparge temp was around 75-78C for the most part.
I trust that my crush was pretty much perfect for an SS braid since my LHBS crushed it for me with that in mind and is awesome

Any tips would be welcome
Thanks.

 

[bignath]

nothing wrong with your process as you've described it. definitely a problem with your manifold - in this case ss braid.

Is there anything in your braid, like a some spring wire or tubing with holes drilled to stop the braid collapsing?
At any stage, did you have a good flow rate coming out of your mash tun?
One other thing too, when you stir the mash, do you give it a "good stir" or just a little one? I had problems with my manifold (copper) recently, and posed similar questions relating to mine, and was informed it could be due to stirring too much, and not letting the grains do their job of filtering for you. I was having stuck sparge problems.

Since then, i have changed the design of my copper manifold, don't stir as much as i used to, and i can (if i want to) open the tap pretty much full bore and it pours out. I estimate i can drain my 38lt mash tun between 5 and 10 mins.

Have used braid before too, but never worked well for me. Very quickly changed to copper manifold. Others however love their braided design, and have no problems using them.

 

[Crusty]

Hi,
I finally bit the bullet and did my first all grain brew. It is tasting awesome in the fermenter and all in all went pretty well. It is however far from being a clear beer. I'm hoping with a bit of cold conditioning this will improve but the problem stems from when I went to drain the mash tun.
I have an esky with ss braid and it held the mash temp perfect for an hr. I did attempt a mash out but not sure if I actually got the temps hot enough.

In the first 30minutes of draining I only got about 5L out. I'm not sure if it was my impatience that was the issue or my mash tun. When I added the sparge water (batch sparged) I ended up having to stir/recirculate several time just to get more than a dribble. Towards the end I pretty much had to agitate and clear around the braid with my spoon to get any flow at all. In the end I have ended up with decent beer but would like to make the process smoother next time.

I apologise if I'm bringing up the whole false bottom vs braid vs manifold thing again but would I be better off with a manifold or false bottom? Clearly people have absolutely no problems with stainless steel braid so is there something in my mashing process where I am just missing the point?
I added mash water + grain, gave everything a good stir and mashed for an hour. I then added some more hot water in an attempt at a mash out (proabbly not hot enough) and then stirred, let it settle, Vorlaufed and started to drain.
My sparge temp was around 75-78C for the most part.
I trust that my crush was pretty much perfect for an SS braid since my LHBS crushed it for me with that in mind and is awesome

Any tips would be welcome
Thanks.

I've had a couple of stuck sparges in the past using a 10g rubbermaid cooler with a 12" false bottom, I batch sparged also. I never had any further problems after upping my water to grain ratio to over 3l/kg. My stuck sparges happened at 2.75l/kg resulting in too thick a mash & this in itself was causing me dramas. I would look at striking in with between 3-3.5l water to each kg grain & that will thin out your mash & it should run more freely. Make sure you don't open your ball valve wide open when recirculating which will compact the grain bed.
Mash out for me was a PITA as hitting my mash out temp was never achieved. Even at just off boiling temp, I could never hit my desired mash out. I changed my process & mashed in at 3.5l/kg, sacc rest for 60min. Recirculate till clear & drain to the boil kettle. I then split my batch sparges up into two equal amounts at 78deg & picked up my efficiency from low 70's to mid 80's.

 

[brewn00b]

Thanks for the help guys a few things I can try for next time. Looking at the braid I think ive killed it so will try new braid or manifold or falsie. Just have to make my bloody mind up