Mash tun pick up pipe problems

[ryan]

Been having this same problem for quite a while now... It takes hours to drain and sparge. My mash tun drains at a fair speed for a while but then it slows down to a trickle after about 10 minutes. I have to give it a nudge when it slows down but this causes loads of grain to come through for quite a while and I have to lauter it all back into the mash for 5 - 10 minutes. A pain in the arse as I have the right setup to be able to get really clear runnings from the mash but it always does this. I infact had it recurculating yesterday at a good speed for at least 40 minutes with the pump pulling from the bottom of the mash and feeding it back up to the top. When I came back to it it was really clear but then as soon as i directed it to the kettle (closing a valve then opening another) it puked out a bunch of grain and it was back to the same old problems. :?

I soldiered a new (15mm) pickup pipe together for the last brew and filed it down to about 3mm off the bottom of the tun thinking this should be fine. Is this still too close? I'm thinking it's either too close or the false bottom gets lifted up when I nudge it and it gets grain under the edge where it rests down on the base of the tun.

Anyone have any ideas on what is most likely the problem and what I should do?

How close do you lot have the pickup pipe to the base?

 

[prolix]

is it possible to open the kettle valve then close the recirc this won't stop the pumping. could be worth a try

 

[ryan]

Yeah I was going to do that .. isn't really a fix though.. something's wrong.

I filed the pipe down quite a bit so hopefully that might fix i. Maybe it was just too close to the bottom of the tun.

 

[Vossy1]

Been meaning to post a reply to this for a while, sorry Ryan
I had a similar problem, it might be the reason you're having problems.

I was using a Nordic Optical stock pot and Morebeer false bottom. Try pushing the centre of the pot down when empty.
My Nordic pot pimpled inwards when empty. If the base moves down when you push it, with an adiable popping noise that mat be the problem.

I attached my Morebeer fb to the taps rear when the pot was empty. When the pot was filled, the base of the pot moved 3-5mm down. When I started the recir of the mash a load of grain would come through until finally the mash bed created a seal around the base of the fb and the runnings were brilliantly clear. If I turned the pump off though, for whatever reason, when I turned it back on I'd have the same problem, a load of grain would come through.

I put this down to the mash bed 'relaxing', moving upwards, thus destrying the grain seal around the fb. It would take a few mins recirc to get clear runnings again.

Sounds just like the problem you're having :hmm:
I got round it by having a full fb made so it wasn't affected by the 'dimpling' action.
I'm afraid it's just a problem with cheap thin walled pots and that type of fb.

 

[ryan]

Well from the two pots I ordered from nordic optical, I had one that did that and I used that for the HLT. The mash tun doesn't seem to do that but it's a possibility that that might be happening.

The false bottom can move freely up and down along the pipe though so I thought that if it moves at all it would sit back down again on the base... but I suppose if there's grain there around it the grain would get under the rim of it and wedge it up though wouldn't it?

One thing I could do if that's the case then would be to keep it forced downwards onto the base so it can't move freely at all. I can do it quite easily by putting a little rubber cider stopper around the top of that 22mm pipe fitting. I'll post a pic of that in a minute..

 

[Vossy1]

Did you see my fb, you could adapt your's the same way to fix it?

 

[ryan]

 

[ryan]

No, have you got a link to it?

 

[Vossy1]

I used to use one of these to go on to the tap nipple, then I used a reducer in the compression fitting to take it from 15mm to 10mm, then 10mm pipe to fb where it fed though this. I drilled that fitting so the 10mm pipe would pass though it and replaced the 1/2" nut with a 1/2" flat nut.

You could use one of these and keep it all 15mm pipe, but you'd obviously have to solder a elbow to make the bottom pick up and drill it through with a 15mm bit.

Just a few ideas.

 

[ryan]

So you took your tap down to 15mm, used a recucing comp fitting to take it to 10mm, then why did you drill through the 15mm x 10mm coupler?


Soldering isn't a problem really but what is the need in using going through that coupler fitting? I can't see what you were trying to do!

 

[ryan]

Oh I see, to take it through the FB and keep it locked in that position on the pipe...

 

[ryan]

Well I was going to do that like I did with my kettle but there's not enough room vertically for the fitting before it needs to do a right angle for the tap.

It's a 15x15mm coupler fitting with a lock nut on the underside.

 

[Vossy1]

Well I was going to do that like I did with my kettle but there's not enough room vertically for the fitting before it needs to do a right angle for the tap.

bugger

 

[ryan]

Can always do it like this though.

Couple of cuts of a silicone hose around the 22 x 15mm converter to keep the FB pushed down...