One of the things I love about brewing is that on any given day you have the opportunity to learn something new. Be it about the process, recipe, or even about yourself. In my very early days of brewing I was in the situation of not being able to spend a lot of money on this- at the time- hobby. I did what I could to save money and built things myself where I could.
One thing most homebrewers have the capability to build themselves (for the most part) is a mash tun. My first design was a horizontal igloo cooler made with copper piping that I punched small holes in. It was a decent design and somewhat well-made from what I remember. I had yet to brew all-grain and was very excited to try my hand at it.
I remember a lot about that day, my sister was in town from Denver and I was so excited to show her my new passion I had discovered in brewing. I was brewing a pale ale from a recipe I had made myself. There were a lot of first for me on this day. Everything started like normal and seemed to be going alright. Once I was ready to strain the wort from the mash, to my surprise nothing came out. Imagine my shock, everything I had read and studied up to this point made me believe this part would be as easy as the rest.
When you don’t really know what your doing and something goes wrong you are not yet equipped with the instincts to know what to do or how to handle a bad situation. I should know from HHGTTG to not panic…. This is not what I did.
I began stirring the mash which didn’t help, I was blowing inside the hose to try and clear it up, this did not help; my last resort was to get angry and eventually feel defeated, those did not help either (weird I know).
Then something wonderful happened. For those who know me may know that I lost my big sister last year, it was devastating and something you never fully recover from. She was at my house this day just hanging out and coming out and watching the process. When she saw how upset I was, she simply put her arm on my back and said “Don’t get mad, don’t give up. You can do it.”
I remember this clear as day, she really did believe in me. I started scooping the grain out and into a funnel with a mesh bag I had draped inside. This process took a very long time and is not something I would recommend unless a last resort. I did however manage to get all the wort out and into the next pot and boiled like normal.
I finished the day at about one o’clock in the morning. I was exhausted but felt like I had accomplished something great that day. The beer turned out to be my best beer up to that point and one I will never forget.
I decided to write this because just recently I had my first stuck mash on our 10 bbl system at work. It tacked on about 4 hours to my day but was much less stressful because I knew how to handle it. Although 620 lbs of grain is different than 12lbs. I have made a list of some simple steps to get you out of trouble when dealing with a stuck mash and some precautions to avoid them in the future.
Prevent!
- Add rice hull(always) Adding a small amount of rice hulls to the mash doesn’t add much cost and can prevent a disaster later. They act as a filtering aid to help create channels in the mash. Do it!
- Be mindful of your grain crush. You may not have control of the mill when your barley gets crushed and that’s ok. Your local homebrew shop should be happy to help. If you’re milling your own, remember that almost every different type of barley is going to vary in size and can require a different adjustments on your mill. You want to crack them open without grinding them into a powder. Practice makes perfect.
- Make sure your false bottom is secured and working properly. Check for big gaps, loose piping, and adjust accordingly. Once the mash is in you cannot do this and one little gap can cause huge problems later.
- Don’t lauter to fast. When brewing small batches, don’t be in a hurry. The slower the better. Too fast can cause a grain bed to collapse in itself.
Revive!
- Don’t Panic! This doesn’t do any good. It will be ok, it’s just beer.
- Blow! Try blowing back in the hose. Careful not to burn your lips. Once you blow in the hose and hear/see the grain bed bubble, quickly close your ball valve and allow the grain to settle before lautering.
- Stir! Try stirring the mash, stir using your spoon or paddle trying not to move the false bottom around. Allow the grain bed to settle before trying again.
- Add! Add rice hulls if available, this is fairly easy with a small batch and you should adequately be able to stir them in. Allow the grain bed to settle before trying again.
- Settle! Notice the theme, you have to allow the grain to fully settle into itself again before attempting to lauter. It will create natural channels for itself if given enough time. You are better off to add 30 minutes now than to keep trying and adding on more and more time later.
- Slow! This is in Prevent as well, but go slow when lautering. Again, add a little time now or a bunch later.
Hope this helps and happy brewing. Cheers!
