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Stuck Sparge

cowboy up

Brewer
Joined
Dec 21, 2008
Messages
48
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0
Location
WYOMING
Recently I have had trouble with stuck sparges. When I used my 10 gal. Igloo cooler M.T. I never had a problem with a stuck sparge. Now I have gone to an all electric brewing system and my M.T. now is a 20 gal. Blichman with mash plate. Ever since I switched to this new M.T. I have had stuck sparges on a regular basis. I adjusted my mill to .042 gap, thinking a courser grind would help, but not really. I really don't want  the added expense to add rice hulls to every batch of brew. It doesn't matter what type of beer I brew, or grain I use. The sparge is pretty well stuck right from the time I open the valve to recirculate the first runnings. My sparge water is at 180 degs. I always wind up blowing back through the valve mutiple times to get the sparge to start, something I really hate to do. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
Ive never used a single Blichmann product in my life but the first thing I would try would be a new false bottom. I wouldn't want to add the rice hulls either and from the sounds of it the single biggest change would be the false bottom. Thats just my two sense. Best of luck.
 
After my last stuck sparge I sewed a BIAB-type bag to line my mash tun. No more stuck mashes or sparges. When my pump died I pulled my bag, dropped it into my mash kettle and did a true BIAB.
 
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