bignath
"Grains don't grow up to be chips, son"
- Joined
- 3/11/08
- Messages
- 2,611
- Reaction score
- 40
Hi all,
last night i had the brewday (night) from hell.....
It ended up with me going to bed and letting the mash tun (esky w/copper manifold) slowly drain to my kettle. Upon waking this morning, went out to the brewery and found a kettle full of wort, so i ended up continuing as normal.
here's a link for that discussion: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...mp;#entry805567
Now, i have some questions for the technically minded (cause i'm clearly not one of em).
This was the third brewday in a row where all of a sudden my mashtun isn't draining properly. Previously has worked sweet as. My best time for a double batch is 4hrs 45mins so i'm not complaining too much about that. All has been right with the world until recently.
Things that have changed:
New bag of grain. Same type and brand i always buy, but it's a freshie...
New grain mill. This seems the obvious one, but the new mill was only used for the first time for last nights batch, so it can't be that.
Have used a slightly longer length hose to gravity feed my kettle.
I have pulled the mash tun apart and checked for blockages and cleaned it up nice 'n' good. Found nothing obstructing the flow.
I did however notice that a few clamps on the hose connecting the manifold to the back of the hosetail barb inside the esky were slightly loose. I tightened them back up maybe 1 complete turn with the screwdriver.
I am wondering, if there is any effect of suction or some other physics at play when using different length hoses in an enclosed vessel like a mash tun. I am also wondering if the slightest little hint of something loose can also screw around with suction/syphon type physics laws.
I'm not talking about: "****, that's pretty loose", i mean "i'll just check those clamps, oh yeah, got another turn cranked out of em'" type loose - bugger all. Or is it???
I typically open my mash tun tap to halfway, as i'm paranoid about getting a stuck sparge. When i try to open it further, the flow doesn't change - not sure if this is normal or not.
I also recirculate approx 3 or so litres before draining to kettle to try and get a good grain bed filter happening. No problems previously doing this.
If any one has any advise i would be massively greatfull, as the last 3 brewdays have been bloody painfull. Used to be able to tell the wife and kids, "daddy will be back around blah blah blah time", but now brewday has completely lost all reliability with timing due to collecting my runnings.
Hope i've included enough info about my processes that concern this problem.
Cheers in advance for your help,
Nath
last night i had the brewday (night) from hell.....
It ended up with me going to bed and letting the mash tun (esky w/copper manifold) slowly drain to my kettle. Upon waking this morning, went out to the brewery and found a kettle full of wort, so i ended up continuing as normal.
here's a link for that discussion: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...mp;#entry805567
Now, i have some questions for the technically minded (cause i'm clearly not one of em).
This was the third brewday in a row where all of a sudden my mashtun isn't draining properly. Previously has worked sweet as. My best time for a double batch is 4hrs 45mins so i'm not complaining too much about that. All has been right with the world until recently.
Things that have changed:
New bag of grain. Same type and brand i always buy, but it's a freshie...
New grain mill. This seems the obvious one, but the new mill was only used for the first time for last nights batch, so it can't be that.
Have used a slightly longer length hose to gravity feed my kettle.
I have pulled the mash tun apart and checked for blockages and cleaned it up nice 'n' good. Found nothing obstructing the flow.
I did however notice that a few clamps on the hose connecting the manifold to the back of the hosetail barb inside the esky were slightly loose. I tightened them back up maybe 1 complete turn with the screwdriver.
I am wondering, if there is any effect of suction or some other physics at play when using different length hoses in an enclosed vessel like a mash tun. I am also wondering if the slightest little hint of something loose can also screw around with suction/syphon type physics laws.
I'm not talking about: "****, that's pretty loose", i mean "i'll just check those clamps, oh yeah, got another turn cranked out of em'" type loose - bugger all. Or is it???
I typically open my mash tun tap to halfway, as i'm paranoid about getting a stuck sparge. When i try to open it further, the flow doesn't change - not sure if this is normal or not.
I also recirculate approx 3 or so litres before draining to kettle to try and get a good grain bed filter happening. No problems previously doing this.
If any one has any advise i would be massively greatfull, as the last 3 brewdays have been bloody painfull. Used to be able to tell the wife and kids, "daddy will be back around blah blah blah time", but now brewday has completely lost all reliability with timing due to collecting my runnings.
Hope i've included enough info about my processes that concern this problem.
Cheers in advance for your help,
Nath