Too tired

[mntnmn]

So yesterday i did an over the top ipa at 7.7 percent and had tons of issues with the system.First the stout tanks 3bbl system we have was just no up to the task of mashing so much grain.Stuck 3 times...lesson learned.Any thing over 6% will get an addition of dme in the boil....Then since we did so well on the first and since i knew we had lots of locked up sugars still left in the grain we did a second run and collected 30gallon of wort at 1.032 sg.

I was way too tired to boil this run and left it overnight in a clean sanitized fermenter for boiling and new hop additions today...Done this before in homebrewing settings and all seemed to go well.

Come in today and it smells spoiled.

Is it possible to boil this off and save it?

[a10t2]

Boiling will kill off anything that's in there, but it may not do anything for off-flavors or -aromas that have already been created. I personally would probably just dump it because a quarter brew-length of low-gravity beer isn't worth it, but that's a judgment call.

[mntnmn]

yuk

Yup.Down it goes. No need to waste my time.

Anyone have any good threads on the stout tanks 3bbl system?

Learning alot here and by myself but any help is welcome.

[PSB-Roger]

Grain Bill?

How big was your grain bill? We regularly do 250+ lb grain bills and have no problems with our Stout 3bbl setup, we've only really ever had one problem and that was when we did a 350 lb grain bill for an imperial porter, and then we just had to cut back on the initial strike volume and just sparge a bit longer but still hit our numbers.

[nsenff]

I use rice hulls for bigger beers in our 4 BBL system. Two scoops per bag (feels like a cereal ad)

[mntnmn]

259lb 4.2oz.

Mashed in at 172. Temp settled at 150 on the nose and mash was 1hr 15 min long as i was fiddling with hoses and such.Should have been 1hr.

Slow sparge and just stuck on me twice.Stir and feed a bit more water to loosen things up as it slowed down and back fed wort from the bottom. Then the whirlpool did not want to work because i just tossed in the whirlpool addition without a bag.So the cone never formed and almost clogged up the HX. Been running warm pbw through it in reverse all day today.

On yesterdays run i did however get better "efficiency"from the grain than i thought i would as i got an sg of 1.070 and a target of .066.

On the attempt at second runnings a refilled the MT with 30 g of 168F water and let it rest for 20 after a good stir then drained it and got out 32 gallon of 1.028.I was way to tired to keep going so i just let it rest in a fermenter till this morning and was going to add 10 gal of water and 12lb of DME to at least get 1.035 Then boil it and add some citra but it smelled funky and when i did try to boil it off it just smelled bad and that little voice said "dont bother".I try to listen to him nowadays.

Would really like to speak with a few of you who have these stout tanks 3 bbl systems to compare notes and process.Any one interested please PM me and i will get to you.

[claponsie]

If you ever have to split the day again, bring the wort to a boil, flameout, purge with co2 and keep covered. This will reduce the chance of spoilage.

As for stout tanks, I'd say give them a call. I had issues with our 1bbl system from them and, per their recommendation, began doing an extended vorlauf prior to firing up the rims system. If you recirculate your mash, make sure the flow rate is really slow and set the grain bed first. I use a 3bbl Bubba's system and our mash never sticks unless we recirculate too quickly.

[Junkyard]

Have done numerous 330 lb bills with our stout tanks system. Rice hulls and a slow lauter does the trick. If you have the option, a higher mashout temp also increases viscosity.

[Brandjes]

We regularly do 170-180lbs in our Stout 2bbl. 1.5qts / lb fills it FULL. Grind is 67% coarse in a #14 sieve. Mash 45 min then recirc for 15. One hour sparge. 87-88% extraction efficiency

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[dmartin]

We double and triple batch into 7bbl and 10bbl fermenters
The first triple batch was hell, but it doesn't seem all that bad doing a triple batch of a ~1.050 beer now. I feel like we are constantly pushing our stout 3bbl to the limit and it takes the abuse


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[Adrenaline]

If you stuck it with that grain bill its because you rushed it. The 3BBL stout systems max out around 350# before you hit unavoidable problems. The type of grain used and the crush also makes a HUGE difference. Rice hulls can help a lot as mentioned. Also, if youre going to start something, finish it. Sure it might suck but cutting corners like that shouldnt be acceptable imo.

[blonberg]

I have a GW Kent 3bbl system, so not apples to apples, but that grain bill shouldn't give you any problems at all unless you're rushing the lauter. The best advice the guy who trained me at my first professional brewing gig ever gave me was "Always start so slow it drives you crazy, you can always make it go faster as you establish a good flow rate, but once you crash it, it is going to be slow forever." I barely open my butterfly valve at all when I start collecting into the grant. My grant is oversized at probably nearly 15 gallons, but I let it take 15 minutes to fill before vorlauf just to make sure I'm getting my wort to flow through the whole bed at an even rate without channeling or pushing down the bed too much. A long (15-20 minute) vorlauf is also important for a number of reasons, but one of them is it lets you really set the pace for the rest of the lauter. Sure, this might be overcautious, but you only get one chance as it, and I'd rather spend an extra half an hour while something positive is going on (sac.) than to spend a couple of hours later when temperatures are just getting colder, and the mash less efficient because of temp and because of sticking.

I don't bat an eye until my grain bill gets over 275lb. At that point I add a 5 gallon bucket of rice hulls. When it gets to 300+ I add two. And for those beers, My lauter takes an extra half an hour over my regular day because I run it very slow at the start, but it is so worth it. By the time I'm rounding the curve at 60% mash out I can get it up to normal speed without fear.

It takes a while to get your process right. Just trust yourself, take good notes, and start really, really slowly on big beers.

And I'm sorry, but I have to agree with the above comment... don't cut corners. If you are going to do it, do it, and if not, that's fine, too. A bad day just needs to be chalked up to being just that sometimes.