Brewzilla Gen4 Discussion/Tips Talk

[meako]

That's a beautiful crush. Better than I can do at home. I doubt that's the issue.

Are you using enough water? These systems have a lot of dead space, so upping water:grist ratio is needed. I use 1.5+ qt/lb, typically closer to 1.8. (edit: can be lower for big beers; there's actually a fixed dead space at bottom, and variable around the malt pipe.)

Also, I find a setting for the pump that doesn't overflow and just stick with it. Idk of it could be opened more later in mash.

Ha! That’s interesting, thanks. I was close to going down the road of milling my own grain.

Regarding water:grist, that’s something I forgot to mention, so thanks for suggesting, I’ve tried varying levels from 3litres/kg to full volume with no sparge.

On occasion i’ve left the pump on the absolute minimum recirc throughout the full 60 min mash and it seems to have gotten through it with no blockages, though the point of this system is to get a reasonable flow to keep mash temps good and efficiency good too.

 

[mashdar]

Ha! That’s interesting, thanks. I was close to going down the road of milling my own grain.

Regarding water:grist, that’s something I forgot to mention, so thanks for suggesting, I’ve tried varying levels from 3litres/kg to full volume with no sparge.

On occasion i’ve left the pump on the absolute minimum recirc throughout the full 60 min mash and it seems to have gotten through it with no blockages, though the point of this system is to get a reasonable flow to keep mash temps good and efficiency good too.

I use the neoprene jacket, and now that the weather is cooling here, I drape a dish towel over the recirc arm to limit deltaT on arm and lid.

I find the center of the mash bed is pretty stable even with slow flow.

One option for better stability might be to divert some flow around the malt pipe, to kind of jacket the grain bed? (edit: credit bobby for this idea. He has a white paper somewhere describing his solution.)

 

[Barão]

Hey all,
I’ve been following this thread and it’s been really informative and helpful so far, but I’m still getting a stuck mash with my Brewzilla Gen 4 (35l).

I’ve tried most of the suggested advice mentioned in this thread including:
1. Once mashed in, allowing the mash to settle for 15 mins before turning on recirc
2. When turning on recirc opening the ball valve in small increments every 10/15mins throughout the mash, avoiding full flow.
3. Stirring the mash every 10/20/30 minutes leaving around 1/3 of grain bed intact.
4. Top plate or no top plate

I’m out of ideas other than my grain crush. I purchased 25kg pre crushed of Maris Otter, I’ve got through the whole bag but each time have experienced a stuck mashed. The malt pipe will continue filling and the false bottom will run dry. Sometimes the pump will block too.

The only thing I haven’t tried is rice hulls.

Stuck sparge seems to be an issue mentioned a lot on the few threads/discussions I can find relating to the Gen 4.

Attached is my crush, hoping to get some thoughts on this.

Appreciate any help, thanks all.

Another one with the same problems..I would also like

 

[bjhbrew]

Hey all,
I’ve been following this thread and it’s been really informative and helpful so far, but I’m still getting a stuck mash with my Brewzilla Gen 4 (35l).

I’ve tried most of the suggested advice mentioned in this thread including:
1. Once mashed in, allowing the mash to settle for 15 mins before turning on recirc
2. When turning on recirc opening the ball valve in small increments every 10/15mins throughout the mash, avoiding full flow.
3. Stirring the mash every 10/20/30 minutes leaving around 1/3 of grain bed intact.
4. Top plate or no top plate

I’m out of ideas other than my grain crush. I purchased 25kg pre crushed of Maris Otter, I’ve got through the whole bag but each time have experienced a stuck mashed. The malt pipe will continue filling and the false bottom will run dry. Sometimes the pump will block too.

The only thing I haven’t tried is rice hulls.

Stuck sparge seems to be an issue mentioned a lot on the few threads/discussions I can find relating to the Gen 4.

Attached is my crush, hoping to get some thoughts on this.

Appreciate any help, thanks all.

This is such a tough thing to try to diagnose from afar. I would agree that your crush looks great; all the hulls appear to be intact and should allow a decent runoff. I’ve put about 20 batches through my Brewzilla and only had a stuck mash once, which of course was on the very first batch. I figured out 2 things that got me:

1. I was a little too enthusiastic with the mash paddle and managed to push down such that one side of the false bottom lifted up allowing grain to pass through and clog the pump.
2. I tried using the pump percentage setting which pulses the pump. But, if the end of the recirculation line is submerged it will actually siphon up grain bits when the pump cycles off. These grain particles will of course make it to the pump and clog. I never use that setting anymore and I’m always careful to either lift the recirc line or close the ball valve before turning off the pump.

Otherwise, I don’t really have any other ideas. I think realistic expectation for recirculation speed is in order. The malt pipe is tall and skinny so if you’re doing large batches or higher gravity you can expect that the flow through the grain bed will be slow because it has a long way to go. I just did a wee heavy last weekend where I maxed out the malt pipe - I recirculated very slowly, otherwise I could see the liquid level rise. But, with barely more than a trickle it had no problem maintaining the temp. Once the wort ran more clear I could increase it a little but the deep grain bed definitely was a factor.

So, probably not that helpful but my only two suggestions are to line the malt pipe with a mesh bag to contain any bits and try some rice hulls; they’re really cheap and do fluff up the mash giving more space for wort to flow.

 

[rtstrider]

Hey all,
I’ve been following this thread and it’s been really informative and helpful so far, but I’m still getting a stuck mash with my Brewzilla Gen 4 (35l).

I’ve tried most of the suggested advice mentioned in this thread including:
1. Once mashed in, allowing the mash to settle for 15 mins before turning on recirc
2. When turning on recirc opening the ball valve in small increments every 10/15mins throughout the mash, avoiding full flow.
3. Stirring the mash every 10/20/30 minutes leaving around 1/3 of grain bed intact.
4. Top plate or no top plate

I’m out of ideas other than my grain crush. I purchased 25kg pre crushed of Maris Otter, I’ve got through the whole bag but each time have experienced a stuck mashed. The malt pipe will continue filling and the false bottom will run dry. Sometimes the pump will block too.

The only thing I haven’t tried is rice hulls.

Stuck sparge seems to be an issue mentioned a lot on the few threads/discussions I can find relating to the Gen 4.

Attached is my crush, hoping to get some thoughts on this.

Appreciate any help, thanks all.

Try using 1.8 qt per lb water to grist ratio. That has helped out significantly.

 

[Neldog0]

How often does everyone deep clean the Brewzilla? I had neglected to do so in 20+ batches (at least 15 batches with the HED). The HED plate had a good bit of build up on there but I figured what the hey...Boil away. Did a deep clean of 4 gallons water, 2 scoops of Oxiclean at 170F and recirculated for two hours. Recirculated through the top arm and the bottom ball valve. Threw the counterflow chiller into the mix too! Have to say after seeing the crud that came out of there it will be getting deep cleaned way more often! My brews have been picking up a "slickness" here recently regardless of yeast. That's what sent me down the whole deep cleaning the Brewzilla route. Really curious to see the results of brewday this weekend!

I deep clean after every brew. I have a routine & a method that I developed over the last 20 years. I make adjustments as needed. My point is that is is a standard part of my brew day.

 

[agentbud]

If you are using a bag, do you need the malt pipe? I know someone who uses a bag with the anvil and just ditched the pipe entirely. I don’t think you gain anything by using both?

I like having both, with the bag inside the malt pipe. when it's time to drain, I hook the winch to the malt pipe and it all comes up together. plus guaranteed no clog. Mayb ethe bag is not needed but it's not any additional work

 

[meako]

I use the neoprene jacket, and now that the weather is cooling here, I drape a dish towel over the recirc arm to limit deltaT on arm and lid.

I find the center of the mash bed is pretty stable even with slow flow.

One option for better stability might be to divert some flow around the malt pipe, to kind of jacket the grain bed? (edit: credit bobby for this idea. He has a white paper somewhere describing his solution.)

I have thought about a grain bag but I kinda feel this is going against the idea being able to use the gear as it came. I’d be interested to see if with the same grain bill and crush I get the same issues on another AIO. I’ve tested with 2kg grain bills up to 4 kg so far, always the same (stuck) result.

Of course this hobby isn’t straight forward, lots to know and still learn, though as an AIO system I’m inclined to avoid any other form of “modding” away from what came with the kit, I feel it should work with relatively minimal messing around.

 

[meako]

Try using 1.8 qt per lb water to grist ratio. That has helped out significantly.

I think that’s working out at about 3.7litres/kg which I’ve tried to near already. i’ve experimented with much lower and also full volume mash too.

 

[meako]

This is such a tough thing to try to diagnose from afar. I would agree that your crush looks great; all the hulls appear to be intact and should allow a decent runoff. I’ve put about 20 batches through my Brewzilla and only had a stuck mash once, which of course was on the very first batch. I figured out 2 things that got me:

1. I was a little too enthusiastic with the mash paddle and managed to push down such that one side of the false bottom lifted up allowing grain to pass through and clog the pump.
2. I tried using the pump percentage setting which pulses the pump. But, if the end of the recirculation line is submerged it will actually siphon up grain bits when the pump cycles off. These grain particles will of course make it to the pump and clog. I never use that setting anymore and I’m always careful to either lift the recirc line or close the ball valve before turning off the pump.

Otherwise, I don’t really have any other ideas. I think realistic expectation for recirculation speed is in order. The malt pipe is tall and skinny so if you’re doing large batches or higher gravity you can expect that the flow through the grain bed will be slow because it has a long way to go. I just did a wee heavy last weekend where I maxed out the malt pipe - I recirculated very slowly, otherwise I could see the liquid level rise. But, with barely more than a trickle it had no problem maintaining the temp. Once the wort ran more clear I could increase it a little but the deep grain bed definitely was a factor.

So, probably not that helpful but my only two suggestions are to line the malt pipe with a mesh bag to contain any bits and try some rice hulls; they’re really cheap and do fluff up the mash giving more space for wort to flow.

Thanks, what you’ve said all makes sense. My next attempt is going to incorporate rice hulls, I’m also going to keep an external probe in the grain bed, this will allow me to monitor temps and perhaps not worry so much about increasing the flow too much. As long as it’s the temp I need from top to bottom then maybe that’ll satisfy regardless of the flow I feel is needed.

 

[amr]

hey @KegLand by any chance are you guys planning to launch a new whirpool arm for gen 4 in the coming months or is the current KL14199 the go to model to use?

I believe that they decided that they don't need a whirlpool arm given the new bottom drain design - or so I was told a year ago when I bought the system. I have used the Gen 4 35L for whirpool addition and can confirm that we don't really need it if you simply keep the recirc arm on through the whirlpooling.

 

[amr]

Hey all,
I’ve been following this thread and it’s been really informative and helpful so far, but I’m still getting a stuck mash with my Brewzilla Gen 4 (35l).

I’ve tried most of the suggested advice mentioned in this thread including:
1. Once mashed in, allowing the mash to settle for 15 mins before turning on recirc
2. When turning on recirc opening the ball valve in small increments every 10/15mins throughout the mash, avoiding full flow.
3. Stirring the mash every 10/20/30 minutes leaving around 1/3 of grain bed intact.
4. Top plate or no top plate

I’m out of ideas other than my grain crush. I purchased 25kg pre crushed of Maris Otter, I’ve got through the whole bag but each time have experienced a stuck mashed. The malt pipe will continue filling and the false bottom will run dry. Sometimes the pump will block too.

The only thing I haven’t tried is rice hulls.

Stuck sparge seems to be an issue mentioned a lot on the few threads/discussions I can find relating to the Gen 4.

Attached is my crush, hoping to get some thoughts on this.

Appreciate any help, thanks all.

This is what I have seen work for me
1. Use a bag - I use mine outside the malt pipe
2. Never let the recirc arm hit the liquid when mashing - this will ensure that there is no blowback of grain
3. Use the top plate - helps keep the grain compacted and I have not had any efficiency issues thus dar
4. Use rice hulls if brewing with wheat.

In addition, I am also going to get the new Sergeant Sparge Head which will ensure that there is even less chance of a blowback.

Hope this helps.

P.S: I get my grain pre-milled and honestly do not know the exact specs but it seems to work just fine.

 

[amr]

Stumbled upon this hack (by pure chance). I find that putting the recirc arm at a 90 degree angle ensures that the silicon can easily be put in place above the grain bed so that there is no chance of blowback. Also ensures that the flow is not constricted by the silicon tube being twisted.

 

[mashdar]

Stumbled upon this hack (by pure chance). I find that putting the recirc arm at a 90 degree angle ensures that the silicon can easily be put in place above the grain bed so that there is no chance of blowback. Also ensures that the flow is not constricted by the silicon tube being twisted.

Do you mash with the lid off? I keep the lid on to conserve heat although obviously it has to get removed periodically.

I do the same arm-tangent-to-vessel arrangement. I actually use the tube end to detect small changes in water level to adjust pump flow. I keep the end just below mash level, but I also keep the pump running continuously while the tube is in. If the water rises >1cm I figure I'm fixing to starve/overflow.

It would be nice if the malt pipe was graded. Maybe I'll etch it some time. I imagine stamping it would add too much cost for production? (@KegLand ?) It's easy to wish for bells and whistles when not concerned with price & profit

 

[meako]

This is what I have seen work for me

1. Use a bag - I use mine outside the malt pipe
2. Never let the recirc arm hit the liquid when mashing - this will ensure that there is no blowback of grain
3. Use the top plate - helps keep the grain compacted and I have not had any efficiency issues thus dar
4. Use rice hulls if brewing with wheat.

In addition, I am also going to get the new Sergeant Sparge Head which will ensure that there is even less chance of a blowback.

Hope this helps.

P.S: I get my grain pre-milled and honestly do not know the exact specs but it seems to work just fine.

From the first few brew days I’d keep the pipe right in the mash, but then read doing so can potentially create an easy flow direct to the drain/pump inlet, thus missing rest of the grain.

I began using the top plate to avoid this, but quickly started getting water backing up above the plate.

I now curl the hose around the lid handle and place it just about a centimetre above the mash so it allows me to keep a close eye on whether the mash is stuck, i.e water backing up on the top plate.

As mentioned before I don’t want to use a grain bag, I see that as a workaround to an issue that should not really be an issue with the out of the box equipment. I appreciate the suggestion though.

I’ve got my eye on those sparge heads too, they sound like a useful accessory.

 

[amr]

Do you mash with the lid off? I keep the lid on to conserve heat although obviously it has to get removed periodically.

I do the same arm-tangent-to-vessel arrangement. I actually use the tube end to detect small changes in water level to adjust pump flow. I keep the end just below mash level, but I also keep the pump running continuously while the tube is in. If the water rises >1cm I figure I'm fixing to starve/overflow.

It would be nice if the malt pipe was graded. Maybe I'll etch it some time. I imagine stamping it would add too much cost for production? (@KegLand ?) It's easy to wish for bells and whistles when not concerned with price & profit

I keep the lid on (I think this image was taken when I had perhaps not put the lid on as yet). I also find that if the angle is just so that the pipe is right on the side, it sort of fans out naturally along the walls and almost never leads to liquid levels that are not quite right. Also, I almost always never go beyond the 7 or maybe 8 o clock position on the valve. Seems to work alright for me!

 

[amr]

This is what I have seen work for me

From the first few brew days I’d keep the pipe right in the mash, but then read doing so can potentially create an easy flow direct to the drain/pump inlet, thus missing rest of the grain.

I began using the top plate to avoid this, but quickly started getting water backing up above the plate.

I now curl the hose around the lid handle and place it just about a centimetre above the mash so it allows me to keep a close eye on whether the mash is stuck, i.e water backing up on the top plate.

As mentioned before I don’t want to use a grain bag, I see that as a workaround to an issue that should not really be an issue with the out of the box equipment. I appreciate the suggestion though.

I’ve got my eye on those sparge heads too, they sound like a useful accessory.

I am looking at the sparge heads as well. Seem nice. Before that though, I would suggest you put the tube right at the wall of the malt pipe which means that it naturally fans (spreads?) the liquid out along the wall. Seems to work for me.

 

[DuncB]

One option for better stability might be to divert some flow around the malt pipe, to kind of jacket the grain bed? (edit: credit bobby for this idea. He has a white paper somewhere describing his solution.)

I've done the stirring flow in the dead space between malt pipe and kettle by splitting the flow of recirculation and the whirlpool port.
You could try this by splitting flow with a Y connection and then using brewzilla whirlpool arm tucked down the gap.
So you'd be adding to the top and mixing.
This reduction in dead space does improve efficiency.

 

[JoepH]

This is what I have seen work for me
1. Use a bag - I use mine outside the malt pipe
2. Never let the recirc arm hit the liquid when mashing - this will ensure that there is no blowback of grain
3. Use the top plate - helps keep the grain compacted and I have not had any efficiency issues thus dar
4. Use rice hulls if brewing with wheat.

In addition, I am also going to get the new Sergeant Sparge Head which will ensure that there is even less chance of a blowback.

Hope this helps.

P.S: I get my grain pre-milled and honestly do not know the exact specs but it seems to work just fine.

The Seargant Sparge Head is no good.ine little piece of grain or ricehuls will block the fout tiny holes in the Sparge Head. A flawed design if uou want to use it while mashing.
It only works while sparging. That was not the promise of kegland.

 

[SudzMaker]

Brewers, I’m trying to decide on the BrewZilla 3.1.1 vs the 4.0. However, the v4 is over twice ($399 vs $830) as much as the 3.1.1. I would want to add

• Whirlpool Arm
• Sight Glass

This would bring the difference to twice as much.
Is it really that much better than the 3.1.1? I know it has Wi-Fi and the programming unit is at the top.

I currently brew on 3 vessels using propane which is a long day and running out of gas in can be an issue.
I’ve been brewing for a while but would like to reduce the brew day timeline.

Any thoughts?

 

[agentbud]

Brewers, I’m trying to decide on the BrewZilla 3.1.1 vs the 4.0. However, the v4 is over twice ($399 vs $830) as much as the 3.1.1. I would want to add

• Whirlpool Arm
• Sight Glass

This would bring the difference to twice as much.
Is it really that much better than the 3.1.1? I know it has Wi-Fi and the programming unit is at the top.

I currently brew on 3 vessels using propane which is a long day and running out of gas in can be an issue.
I’ve been brewing for a while but would like to reduce the brew day timeline.

Any thoughts?

where are you located. the gen4 on morebeer.com is $599 w free shipping

 

[mashdar]

Is there a sight glass for v4? I thought that was v3 only, but I never looked closely.

I have and like the v4, but I think you get more bang out of it if you use other rapt stuff. Functionally they are probably fairly similar AFAIK.

 

[Whisky River]

I assume you meant you wanted to get the sight glass and whirlpool arm for the Gen 3 because there’s no point in getting a whirlpool arm for the G4. If you are looking to whirlpool the G4 is probably not for you.

 

[amr]

Brewers, I’m trying to decide on the BrewZilla 3.1.1 vs the 4.0. However, the v4 is over twice ($399 vs $830) as much as the 3.1.1. I would want to add

• Whirlpool Arm
• Sight Glass

This would bring the difference to twice as much.
Is it really that much better than the 3.1.1? I know it has Wi-Fi and the programming unit is at the top.

I currently brew on 3 vessels using propane which is a long day and running out of gas in can be an issue.
I’ve been brewing for a while but would like to reduce the brew day timeline.

Any thoughts?

Do not own the 3.1.1 but I can say that the Gen 4 is very good. I would suggest that the only "mandatory accessory" that you get is the BT temp probe but otherwise, I use the system as is. I do not really think you need a sight glass or a whirlpool arm. Just keep the recirc arm on and use a hop spider and you're good to go.

 

[Dr P]

Our brew crew has both the 65L(220) and 35L(110). The 35L has the site glass, which I would not recommend as it restricts the pump/liquid volume. I highly recommend the 220 if you can power it, huge difference in heating capability. Love these units, both Gen 3.1.1.

 

[SudzMaker]

where are you located. the gen4 on morebeer.com is $599 w free shipping

Actually, I've been brewing 10g for years so I was looking at the 65L/17.1G version

 

[SudzMaker]

I assume you meant you wanted to get the sight glass and whirlpool arm for the Gen 3 because there’s no point in getting a whirlpool arm for the G4. If you are looking to whirlpool the G4 is probably not for you.

My apologies, you are correct. I just wanted to addon those items to the v3 purchase when I was reviewing the options.

 

[SudzMaker]

Actually, I've been brewing 10g for years so I was looking at the 65L/17.1G version

Sorry about that I have been using 15g pots for years making 10g batches.

 

[Barão]

Hey... in Brewzilla 35 gen 4 do you consider the dead space under the tube?...I was considering zero...as the wort is all used...correct ? since it is all used

 

[mashdar]

Hey... in Brewzilla 35 gen 4 do you consider the dead space under the tube?...I was considering zero...as the wort is all used...correct ? since it is all used

When people talk about dead space, they are usually talking about mash water:grain ratio. The water/wort outside of the malt tube isn't helping keep the grain wet.

The dead space is fixed at the bottom, but on the sides of the malt pipe is a dead space that varies in volume with the water level in the pipe.

That said, most water:grain ratios people share are ignoring the dead space.

 

[micraftbeer]

Here's my BrewFather settings for the Gen4 BrewZilla. This 80% mash efficiency is what I typically get with multi-step mashes (100, 122, ~150, then 168F). My single step mash (~150, then 168F) is about 78% efficiency.

These volume losses are also based on my wort chiller of choice, a Counter Flow Chiller.

 

[Barão]

Here's my BrewFather settings for the Gen4 BrewZilla. This 80% mash efficiency is what I typically get with multi-step mashes (100, 122, ~150, then 168F). My single step mash (~150, then 168F) is about 78% efficiency.

These volume losses are also based on my wort chiller of choice, a Counter Flow Chiller.

View attachment 832667

thanks .... I consider dead space to be zero...just like BIAB...due to the conical shape of the bottom of the pan, all the must is used

 

[micraftbeer]

Brewfather uses these two values like this-

Mash Tun Loss- the amount of wort left behind in your mash tun that doesn't transfer to your boil kettle. This affects your volume calculations to ensure you have enough wort in the kettle pre boil to hit your post boil volume. So in all-in-one systems, this is 0. Because you lift the basket out and your mash tun becomes your boil kettle.

Mash Tun Deadspace- the amount of water in your mash tun that fills up volume that doesn't get into your grains while mashing. It uses this to calculate how much water to put in your mash tun to achieve your mash thickness target of qt/lb. If you're doing full volume mash, this doesn't matter. If you're holding sparge water separately, this adjusts the numbers so you get your desired mash thickness.

 

[Barão]

Brewfather uses these two values like this-

Mash Tun Loss- the amount of wort left behind in your mash tun that doesn't transfer to your boil kettle. This affects your volume calculations to ensure you have enough wort in the kettle pre boil to hit your post boil volume. So in all-in-one systems, this is 0. Because you lift the basket out and your mash tun becomes your boil kettle.

Mash Tun Deadspace- the amount of water in your mash tun that fills up volume that doesn't get into your grains while mashing. It uses this to calculate how much water to put in your mash tun to achieve your mash thickness target of qt/lb. If you're doing full volume mash, this doesn't matter. If you're holding sparge water separately, this adjusts the numbers so you get your desired mash thickness.

thank you for your help

 

[renaud00]

Can you send us some photos of your grist. It's also strange as it sounds like you are doing everything correctly. I think looking at the grist is more important that measuring the gap in my opinion. Measuring the gap gives you some idea but really you just want to only go as narrow with the gap setting as you have to based on looking at the grist.

If you are filling the malt pipe absolutely to the brim I should also say that this increases the chances of a stuck sparge. How much grain are you putting into the malt pipe?

Also do you put the malt pipe in empty and gradually add the grain or do you fill the malt pipe and then dunk the whole malt pipe into the liquid full? If you fill half and then stir and then gradually add the remainder of the grain this is the best process especially if you are doing a large batch at max capacity.

Hey @KegLand, you were asking me for a picture of my grain crush so here it is. I'm using the second biggest setting on my mill and it barely crush most grain, some are still not crush. I think there must be something else than just my grain crush as it was perfectly fine with my Grainfather G30 before and also that I did a test with just rice hulls and also had blockage.

I bought a brew bag since I was not having fun and it was suggested by another user with the same problem and obviouly that has fixed my issue but would still prefer not having to have another things to clean...

 

[KegLand]

Hey @KegLand, you were asking me for a picture of my grain crush so here it is. I'm using the second biggest setting on my mill and it barely crush most grain, some are still not crush. I think there must be something else than just my grain crush as it was perfectly fine with my Grainfather G30 before and also that I did a test with just rice hulls and also had blockage.

I bought a brew bag since I was not having fun and it was suggested by another user with the same problem and obviouly that has fixed my issue but would still prefer not having to have another things to clean...

Thanks for that. Yes the crush looks good from the photo. I feel that we have already gone through the other common issues in the previous comments. Possibly you could try and mash in slightly hotter. If the temperature drops too much this can have a negative impact on stuck mashes.

 

[hungupdown]

Some help .... 2nd mashing and the wort level rises until it overflows... the pump stops and stops working... after 30 minutes...
What do I do to prevent this from happening?

Did the pump initially stop flowing because it had run dry, or is it clogging before that?

Test might be to stop pump, and blow back through sparge pipe (valve full open). Hard to blow and hear bubbles =liquid left. Easy to blow (once any block cleared) =little or no liquid. If grain pipe was still draining, you'd have to be quick to be sure which.

Anyway blowing through can get the pump working again in two ways; clearing a blockage, or clearing an airlock. Sometimes, once air is in the pump, there's no flow because it can't pump air, and back pressure from any wort left in the sparge rise pipe prevents wort flowing in from the base. Once you've blown most of the wort out, wort can then fill the pump.

If air got to the pump, did it work again, after enough wort has eventually drained through, or had it become clogged with grain?
The overflow could be taking some grain down, but then that should be caught on the false bottom.

While an overflow is happening, wort is effectively bypassing the (stuck) mash, so the pump shouldn't run dry. But maybe with a low enough level, air could still be sucked down.

 

[hungupdown]

Some help .... 2nd mashing and the wort level rises until it overflows... the pump stops and stops working... after 30 minutes...
What do I do to prevent this from happening?

Once the base contains mostly air, the malt pipe base would then be supporting the full load of grain weight + strike water, so maybe 30kg (ignoring any proportion taken by stiction with malt pipe sides). When the wort level (around malt pipe) has only dropped half way, the load might be 15kg.
That pressure will cause malt near the bottom to become compacted, and very likely to block any flow.

Even lifting the malt pipe too quickly, can cause compaction and a slow sparge. It should be lifted slowly enough for draining to keep wort level in pipe from rising too far above wort level in tun.
The sparge method recommended to avoid compaction, is to slowly drain the wort, while adding the sparge water at a rate which keeps the grain just covered in water.

Once you notice the level start rising, asap reduce or stop the pump flow, till draining is sorted. When I've had that happen (bz 3.1), it needed a good stir up of malts, especially across the base, to get the pipe draining again.

 

[Barão]

Once the base contains mostly air, the malt pipe base would then be supporting the full load of grain weight + strike water, so maybe 30kg (ignoring any proportion taken by stiction with malt pipe sides). When the wort level (around malt pipe) has only dropped half way, the load might be 15kg.
That pressure will cause malt near the bottom to become compacted, and very likely to block any flow.

Even lifting the malt pipe too quickly, can cause compaction and a slow sparge. It should be lifted slowly enough for draining to keep wort level in pipe from rising too far above wort level in tun.
The sparge method recommended to avoid compaction, is to slowly drain the wort, while adding the sparge water at a rate which keeps the grain just covered in water.

Once you notice the level start rising, asap reduce or stop the pump flow, till draining is sorted. When I've had that happen (bz 3.1), it needed a good stir up of malts, especially across the base, to get the pipe draining again.

thanks

 

[Barão]

Once the base contains mostly air, the malt pipe base would then be supporting the full load of grain weight + strike water, so maybe 30kg (ignoring any proportion taken by stiction with malt pipe sides). When the wort level (around malt pipe) has only dropped half way, the load might be 15kg.
That pressure will cause malt near the bottom to become compacted, and very likely to block any flow.

Even lifting the malt pipe too quickly, can cause compaction and a slow sparge. It should be lifted slowly enough for draining to keep wort level in pipe from rising too far above wort level in tun.
The sparge method recommended to avoid compaction, is to slowly drain the wort, while adding the sparge water at a rate which keeps the grain just covered in water.

Once you notice the level start rising, asap reduce or stop the pump flow, till draining is sorted. When I've had that happen (bz 3.1), it needed a good stir up of malts, especially across the base, to get the pipe draining again.

thanks