Spreading the Joys of Homebrewing Throughout Philadelphia and Its Suburbs

Mash Recirc

First time I used my direct-fired recirculating mash tun...

This is about 5 minutes after doughing-in (beta-glucan rest). Looks like it's working pretty good, huh? Well....

Shortly after this I ran into trouble. Stuck mash! I think I was running the pump too fast. I stirred it up, let it settle and ran the pump much slower but it stuck again a few minutes later. Stirred again.. stuck again. UGH!

This was a huge problem. With the recirc not working, I couldn't raise the mash temp. I wasn't sure why it was sticking. Was the grain bed being compacted or did grain get under the false bottom and get stuck where the thermometer probe is? I decided it was time for drastic measures. I disconnected the hoses and dumped the mash into a couple of large coolers.

After cleaning out the mash tun, I was convinced my problem was grain bed compaction. I returned the mash to the keg and added another pound of rice hulls. This time the recirculation worked and I was able to get the temperature up to my sacharrification rest.

In hindsight I think a major problem might have been the recipe. This was for 10 gallons of Belgian Witbier. Probably not the best choice for my first time on this setup. It contained about 30% flaked wheat and 10% flaked oats. I also mill my grains pretty aggressively. My efficiency on this batch came out to 78%.

I'll increase the gap in my mill and try a recipe that doesn't contain as much oats and wheat next time.

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Comment by Steve "Brother Wheels" Wieland on April 7, 2009 at 3:17pm: sam, GREAT VIDEO THANKS! Compaction of grain bed is the same probelm I think we had with the system once we had the outlet opened. I was hoping your method would prevent this. (we use a figure 8 dripp tube at the top atytached to the lid) I wonder what would happen if we dropped a plugged tube down side of the keg with holes drilled facing the keg wall at a 45, from top to bottom, churning the entire grain bed. What do you think? wheels

Comment by Sam Scott on April 7, 2009 at 6:55pm: Sounds like that may help keep the bed floated... I don't know, try it and let me know how it works. :)
I was thinking of adding a vacuum gauge somewhere on my outlet before the pump. Hoping it might clue me in to whether or not I'm pumping too fast. That or add a grant to the system.

Comment by Jeff Louella on April 13, 2009 at 10:00am: No stuck mashes in my cooler! haha. But seriously, this is great info. I plan on starting to build my stand later this spring and I can use all the info I can. Now if I can get it to be controlled from my iPhone, that would rock.

Comment by Sam Scott on April 13, 2009 at 11:24am: Have you tried to stuff 30lbs of grain in your cooler?!

Actually, you're using a rectangular cooler, right? I switched to a round cooler and, the two times my mash got stuck, I fixed by transferring to my rectangular cooler. Ran off from the rectangular with no problems. I'm convinced the rectangular coolers are better... I think they spread the weight of the mash out over a larger area.