Stuck Mash - Preventing and Dealing With a Stuck Mash

Remove drainage system

If all else fails, it might be time to remove the drainage system completely.

The lauter tun isn’t really that sophisticated of a piece of equipment. Historically brewers have used a lot of tricks to filter the water out of the grains. Some brewers in northern Europe put down a bed of juniper branches over a single corked hole in the bottom of their tun. After conversion, they simply pulled the cork and let the wort filter through the branches, leaving the grains behind. How about some beer with your pine sap?

In England, some brewers used a similar tun but left out the branches. They simply let the grains flow. They would continually sparge the grainy wort back into the tun until the wort flowed clear. This demonstrates the importance of the integrity of a good grain bed. If allowed to, it will actually filter itself.

So, if you’re hopelessly stuck, removing the manifold in the bottom of the lauter tun might do the trick. Get a smaller pot and move the drainage tube to it. Have another small pot ready. Open the drainage valve all of the way. Stick a long spoon or whatever you use to stir the mash down to the drainage system. If you didn’t weld or otherwise fix it into place it should be fairly easy disconnect the manifold. The wort and grain will flow freely. When the first pot is full, move the tube to the other and gently pour the first pot back into the lauter tun while the second fills then switch them again. You shouldn’t have to do this too many times before the grains begin to filter themselves. When the draining wort is free of grains, move the tube back to your boil vessel and continue the drain and sparge as usual.

If the drained wort isn’t free of grains by the fourth or fifth switch close the drainage valve and pour any remaining wort back into the tun. Put the lid on it and let it sit for thirty minutes or so. This should be enough time for a bed to form again. After the thirty minutes are up reopen the valve and try again. If the wort still contains grains after a few switches this method isn’t going to work for you.

Colander

Chances are you won’t get to the point but if everything else has failed you might simply have to run all of your mash through a colander. Hold the colander as close to the bottom of your boil vessel as you can. Hold the drainage tube as close to the colander as you can and open the valve. When the colander is fairly full of grain, turn off the valve and return the grains back to the tun. Once most of the wort has drained start the sparge water and continue draining through the colander.

After some of the wort has drained away and your mash becomes less soupy it might start to filter itself as described above. But it if doesn’t, there’s no need to worry. This will result in a mash and beer with little to no change in quality. Besides, you might end up with a great beer. The only problem will be in recreating it later!

Whatever happens, just keep trying. A stuck or slow mash should never ruin a beer. With patience, inventiveness and a few of the tips here you should be able to work around a stuck mash and brew a fine beer.

Previous

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Next