Worst Stuck Sparge

[LexP]

Hey guys,
I currently have the worst stuck sparge ever. Mashed about 6kg of grain at 67 for 75 minutes before adding sparge water, I then waited 10 minutes to settle then opened the tap. Nothing.

So far I've tried;
Blowing into the spigot
Sucking on the spigot tube
Removing the entire mash, checking the flow rate with water (which was fine) so I added the mash back into the tun and now its still stuck.
I added a couple of litres of boiling water to hopefully decrease viscousity but still nothing.

I've got a 38L cylindrical cooler with a 9" falsie.

Any ideas? Currently thinking about loading the entire mash tun including the grain into a rocket and sending it to the moon.

:angry:

 

[jeremy]

I guess if you had rice hulls lying around you would have thrown them in already...

 

[PostModern]

Empty the mash into some buckets, your kettle or whatever, clean the manifold/bazooka/false bottom, return mash to mashtun, resume normal brew day.

EDIT: just saw that you've already tried this... is the fb plastic? Maybe it's collapsing under the weight of the grain pushing the pickup against the base?

 

[TidalPete]

Hey guys,
I currently have the worst stuck sparge ever. Mashed about 6kg of grain at 67 for 75 minutes before adding sparge water, I then waited 10 minutes to settle then opened the tap. Nothing.

So far I've tried;
Blowing into the spigot
Sucking on the spigot tube
Removing the entire mash, checking the flow rate with water (which was fine) so I added the mash back into the tun and now its still stuck.
I added a couple of litres of boiling water to hopefully decrease viscousity but still nothing.

I've got a 38L cylindrical cooler with a 9" falsie.

Any ideas? Currently thinking about loading the entire mash tun including the grain into a rocket and sending it to the moon.

:angry:

Lex,

Need to know your grain bill before any more advice can be given.

TP

 

[jeremy]

You could try sparges with half your mash, poke holes in your mash bed, agitate or cut your mash bed while lautering?

 

[LexP]

Cheers for the replies guys,
The falsie is SS
Grain bill is:
5.44 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett)
0.22 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
0.12 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L

 

[TidalPete]

Cheers for the replies guys,
The falsie is SS
Grain bill is:
5.44 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett)
0.22 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L
0.12 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L

With that grain bill info, PoMo's advice seem the most appropiate way to go. :icon_cheers:
Always ready to recommend a copper manifold as per Palmer.
Or perhaps add a couple of ss bolts to your false bottom to take the weight.

TP

 

[LexP]

Well I have wort now, my mate is over having a brew day and I just chucked it into his tun (45L esky with a beerbelly falsie)

Going to have to trouble shoot my tun when this day is over

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I know that your problem is solved now - but I was wondering about an idea I had for an emergency solution assuming that you dont have rice hulls..

What if you were to throw a few handsfull of uncrushed malt into the bottom of the tun, to give an extra layer of filter over the top of the false bottom?? Same idea as rice hulls... Or would starch dissolve out of the things to badly even without the grain being crushed??

Possibility or stupidity?

TB

 

[buttersd70]

I know that your problem is solved now - but I was wondering about an idea I had for an emergency solution assuming that you dont have rice hulls..

What if you were to throw a few handsfull of uncrushed malt into the bottom of the tun, to give an extra layer of filter over the top of the false bottom?? Same idea as rice hulls... Or would starch dissolve out of the things to badly even without the grain being crushed??

Possibility or stupidity?

TB

Sounds perfectly feasible (sp?...its so hot, I'm half cut.) to me.

 

[TidalPete]

What if you were to throw a few handsfull of uncrushed malt into the bottom of the tun, to give an extra layer of filter over the top of the false bottom?? Same idea as rice hulls... Or would starch dissolve out of the things to badly even without the grain being crushed??

Possibility or stupidity?

TB

Bloody hell TB! Have you checked out the price of grain lately?
For an "As cheap as chips" solution I would rather go with chucking in 25mm or so of cheap,sterilised pebbles before adding the grain bill (Yo Pumpy, I still remember :super: )

TP

 

[Batz]

Perhaps silly but your value isn't blocked is it?

Batz

 

[Doogiechap]

My money is on the pickup being pushed down against the bottom and blocking it off. Try the water thing again but apply gentle downwards pressure on the FB and see what happens
Good luck !! A horrible thing to happen :-(
Cheers
Doug

 

[LexP]

Well thanks for all your help guys, it does look like the hose attaching the FB to the spigot was getting compressed. I'm going to cut some pipe lengthways and clamp it to the barbs, hopefully that will stop future blood pressure spikes.

Now time for a beer :beer:

 

[rwmingis]

Well thanks for all your help guys, it does look like the hose attaching the FB to the spigot was getting compressed. I'm going to cut some pipe lengthways and clamp it to the barbs, hopefully that will stop future blood pressure spikes.

Now time for a beer :beer:

Just read this, was going to mention that. Had the same bloody problem, I have found to never use rubber hose in the mash tun, like the one below, it will always get stuck.

If it was a stuck mash, when you mixed it all up you would definately get some flow through the grain bed before it got stuck again. Another fix might be a copper pickup tube one like the one below.

You don't need a screwed fitting on the stainless steel bottom either, the outside of a 3/4 inch (from memory) copper fitting fits nicely through the hole in the false bottom, tight enough to block grain from going through but still easily removed. Also, if you stick a short stub through the FB you can bring it to within a couple mm of the bottom and, provided you have water tight connections, pick up every last bit of wort in the tun, ie, no dead space.

Good luck.

Rob

 

[Peter Wadey]

Just read this, was going to mention that. Had the same bloody problem, I have found to never use rubber hose in the mash tun, like the one below, it will always get stuck.

If it was a stuck mash, when you mixed it all up you would definately get some flow through the grain bed before it got stuck again. Another fix might be a copper pickup tube one like the one below.

You don't need a screwed fitting on the stainless steel bottom either, the outside of a 3/4 inch (from memory) copper fitting fits nicely through the hole in the false bottom, tight enough to block grain from going through but still easily removed. Also, if you stick a short stub through the FB you can bring it to within a couple mm of the bottom and, provided you have water tight connections, pick up every last bit of wort in the tun, ie, no dead space.

Good luck.

Rob

Sorry Rob,
'it will always get stuck' ?
Been using a bit of tube like this in the same sized cooler for the last 7 yrs and NEVER had a stuck sparge.
Not to say it can't happen, but 'always' is prob. a tad strong.

Would also advise against taking pickup tube to within 'a couple of mm' of the bottom.
Tun deformation might reduce clearance & block off tube - ie stuck sparge

Rgds,
Pete

 

[rwmingis]

Sorry Rob,
'it will always get stuck' ?
Been using a bit of tube like this in the same sized cooler for the last 7 yrs and NEVER had a stuck sparge.
Not to say it can't happen, but 'always' is prob. a tad strong.

Would also advise against taking pickup tube to within 'a couple of mm' of the bottom.
Tun deformation might reduce clearance & block off tube - ie stuck sparge

Rgds,
Pete

Well of course it's workable, I eventually got mine to work. And I'm impressed that you've had no troubles with it. What I really meant is that when planning a design, the more possible avenues of failure that you address early on (such as the plastic tube in the mash tun) the less problems you will have when doing your brewing.

For me, I finding really frustrating when something goes wrong on brew day (ie spilling half my mixed grain out of the mill hopper on the weekend and loosing track of my GB ratios ), so I try and address these issues before they happen.

As for the low clearance, my SS FB doesn't deflect, but I scallop the tip of the pickup just in case.


Cheers
Rob

 

[Pumpy]

i had problems when I had a PVC hose that would soften & compress in the mash tun

Went to this , It handles wheats everything

pumpy

 

[rwmingis]

i had problems when I had a PVC hose that would soften & compress in the mash tun

Went to this , It handles wheats everything

pumpy

now that's a sexy mash tun. Well done pumpy!

 

[Pumpy]

now that's a sexy mash tun. Well done pumpy!

Bob its the same as yours , Bling is not a factor , functionality is exactly the same .

Pumpy