Stuck Sparge

[tazman67]

Hi guys,
Have heard of this happening....Whats the best method to fix this ?
Im still a noobie in AG beers and just thinking of a what if ?? this would happen ? What would I do ?

[lethaldog]

ill probably get slaughtered for saying this but in my experience the best way to fix it is to blow back up the hose, this is where false bottoms come in very handy

[warra48]

I agree with lethal.
When I've had a stuck sparge, I've blown up the tube to get it flowing again.
If that fails, you may have no choice but to turn off your tap, stir your mash, vorlauf again, before resuming your run off.

[tazman67]

Thanks guys for answering my "what if question".
Ill just relax now and have a home brew
Cheers

[rwh]

Your other option is to "cut" the mash. Essentially, this involves running a knife through the mash, sharp edge first. This increases the flow through the mash while avoiding "channelling" which is where the water flows down channels in the mash which bypasses the bulk of the mash (reducing efficiency).

If it's really bad, you can also stop the mash, stir it, then recirculate until the runoff clears and continue.

[Kevnlis]

I usually stop the run off, add back any wort that was run off, chuck in a hand full or two of rice hulls, stir like mad for a few minutes then let it settle for 10 and try again. Repeat if necessary (or if using Wheat Bix )!

[Biernut]

My first experience last weekend of the new mash tun with a dome false bottom, the first runnings came out fairly fast with bits of grain which I put back in tun then wort started to slow and was quite clear. I was aiming for 28L-30L of wort but was getting worried when runnings slowed to a trickle (I could pee faster), My trick was to break up the mash bed with the stirring paddle which got the flow going again but very slow. Took an hour to get a full 30L in the boiler. The mash bed seemed to be very compact which I put down to cracking the grain in a blender and maybe was a bit fine. After filling the boiler wort still had a trace of sweetness not sure of efficiency but post boil SG was 1046 at 20C off 5 kilo's of grain. Looking around now for a mill to do a better job of cracking grain. Not sure what one should expect in time to run off 30L of wort