neoresin
Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2020
- Messages
- 10
- Reaction score
- 5
Hi all! I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Over the course of the last half year or so I've been making some major upgrades to my homebrew setup, trying to incorporate some recirculating concepts, like a HERMS coil (in a temperature controlled water bath in an extra pot I have), into the mix. I know it's going to sound strange, but I recently moved to using a basket instead of simply being in a mash tun since I really hate stuck sparges (who doesn't, right?).
Now that I've moved to one, I think I realize what I've been doing wrong, but I wanted input on it before I jump to conclusions and waste more grain (wasted 13.5 lbs last night). The reason I wasted the grain was because after doughing-in at about 135 deg. F, the recirculation... stopped... flowing... and I couldn't get the HERMS coil to heat the wort up without a flow stoppage. Why did it stop, you ask? Well, because the grain in the basket gummed up the holes in the basket to the point where the flow of wort was too slow to flow through the HERMS. Seriously, it just... wouldn't flow out of the holes of the grain basket (500 micron mesh size).
Now I'm looking at this and saying, "This could be due to one (or two, Idk) of two things:
1) my crush is too fine (0.018" or so according to my mill, which, yeah, I guess I was pushing the limit, but since the mesh has a 0.017" opening [https://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com...012/05/stainlessmeshcomparisons-500micron.jpg], and since it's BIABasket, I thought, "Why not?") OR
2) the temperature at dough-in was too low, resulting in a gummy mess in the grain basket. I had meant to hit 145 deg. F, but I guess it came in around 135 deg. F instead, but I thought, "Oh, I'll just increase the temperature using the HERMS coil (like how I intended this system to work)." But again, the flow out of the grain basket just wouldn't allow for a flow rate that would achieve that.
So at this point, I'm not giving up! BUT I do want input before I try again. Has anyone ever run into this problem? Lmk if I forgot anything please!
Now that I've moved to one, I think I realize what I've been doing wrong, but I wanted input on it before I jump to conclusions and waste more grain (wasted 13.5 lbs last night). The reason I wasted the grain was because after doughing-in at about 135 deg. F, the recirculation... stopped... flowing... and I couldn't get the HERMS coil to heat the wort up without a flow stoppage. Why did it stop, you ask? Well, because the grain in the basket gummed up the holes in the basket to the point where the flow of wort was too slow to flow through the HERMS. Seriously, it just... wouldn't flow out of the holes of the grain basket (500 micron mesh size).
Now I'm looking at this and saying, "This could be due to one (or two, Idk) of two things:
1) my crush is too fine (0.018" or so according to my mill, which, yeah, I guess I was pushing the limit, but since the mesh has a 0.017" opening [https://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com...012/05/stainlessmeshcomparisons-500micron.jpg], and since it's BIABasket, I thought, "Why not?") OR
2) the temperature at dough-in was too low, resulting in a gummy mess in the grain basket. I had meant to hit 145 deg. F, but I guess it came in around 135 deg. F instead, but I thought, "Oh, I'll just increase the temperature using the HERMS coil (like how I intended this system to work)." But again, the flow out of the grain basket just wouldn't allow for a flow rate that would achieve that.
So at this point, I'm not giving up! BUT I do want input before I try again. Has anyone ever run into this problem? Lmk if I forgot anything please!