I was having the same problem as you. The problem turned out to be lack of a good seal at the valve threads, the poor seal caused the line to be air bound. I fixed the problem by using teflon tape in the threads, it stopped the air bound problem and have had smooth runoffs since.
When you say valve threads do you mean the male QD at the end of the valve or the valve threads connecting it to the mashtun? I did have an issue at the valve threads when I first assembled the mashtun but it was to the point where it was actually leaking so the teflon tape was added to solve that problem. I don’t have teflon tape on the QD connector so I guess it’s possible air could be leaking there. I’ll throw some on there just to be safe.
I probably won’t be brewing for another month or so but I’ll post the results of my changes to this thread after my next batch.
Need to see pictures of your tun inside. Were you brewing anything with wheat or rye? THe ground you are on is it level? If your titlting it and it is coming out fine seems like it may just not be level and sitting backwards a little?
Those hoses are fine, using them for ten plus years and no issues.
Just fill it up with water does it run out fine?
Anytime you disturb your grain bed you are going to have to vorlauf again or you will be boiling grain.
Matt I put Teflon tape on all male connections whether they are stainless or brass, copper, etc.
Saves on headaches later. Really like that set up Grainbelt.
Woops, sorry I meant Hd4Mark.
Some updates on this. After I moved to using a stainless braid and putting thread tape on basically EVERYTHING threaded I still had the issue. Flow never completely stopped so I didn’t have to disrupt the grain bed but when I got to about 2 gallons left in the tun it basically dropped to a trickle. It took forever to get all the liquid out and I even had to leave a good half gallon in there cause it just wouldn’t come out.
I still hit my target gravity with a total brewhouse efficiency of about 76% so I may adjust my mill gap and adjust my recipes for a lower efficiency on my next recipe to see if that might be the issue.
[quote=“mattnaik”]Some updates on this. After I moved to using a stainless braid and putting thread tape on basically EVERYTHING threaded I still had the issue. Flow never completely stopped so I didn’t have to disrupt the grain bed but when I got to about 2 gallons left in the tun it basically dropped to a trickle. It took forever to get all the liquid out and I even had to leave a good half gallon in there cause it just wouldn’t come out.
I still hit my target gravity with a total brewhouse efficiency of about 76% so I may adjust my mill gap and adjust my recipes for a lower efficiency on my next recipe to see if that might be the issue.[/quote]
is it a pressure issue somewhere?
How much dead space do you have with a run with just water no grain?
[quote=“grainbelt”][quote=“mattnaik”]Some updates on this. After I moved to using a stainless braid and putting thread tape on basically EVERYTHING threaded I still had the issue. Flow never completely stopped so I didn’t have to disrupt the grain bed but when I got to about 2 gallons left in the tun it basically dropped to a trickle. It took forever to get all the liquid out and I even had to leave a good half gallon in there cause it just wouldn’t come out.
I still hit my target gravity with a total brewhouse efficiency of about 76% so I may adjust my mill gap and adjust my recipes for a lower efficiency on my next recipe to see if that might be the issue.[/quote]
is it a pressure issue somewhere?
How much dead space do you have with a run with just water no grain?[/quote]
It could be. I hear a lot of gurgling when the flow restriction breaks so I assume there is air entering somewhere but I can’t tell if its from my fidgeting with the hose/QD or just randomly finding space through the grainbed. A lot of the water pools on the far side of the mashtun away from the outlet. When I tilt is, the water doesn’t really move like it can’t push through the grain. This is what lead me to wondering if I’m crushing too fine.
Not sure what the total deadspace is in the mashtun but I would have to guess its less than half a gallon but ive never really tested it so I could be way off.
[quote=“mattnaik”][quote=“grainbelt”][quote=“mattnaik”]Some updates on this. After I moved to using a stainless braid and putting thread tape on basically EVERYTHING threaded I still had the issue. Flow never completely stopped so I didn’t have to disrupt the grain bed but when I got to about 2 gallons left in the tun it basically dropped to a trickle. It took forever to get all the liquid out and I even had to leave a good half gallon in there cause it just wouldn’t come out.
I still hit my target gravity with a total brewhouse efficiency of about 76% so I may adjust my mill gap and adjust my recipes for a lower efficiency on my next recipe to see if that might be the issue.[/quote]
is it a pressure issue somewhere?
How much dead space do you have with a run with just water no grain?[/quote]
It could be. I hear a lot of gurgling when the flow restriction breaks so I assume there is air entering somewhere but I can’t tell if its from my fidgeting with the hose/QD or just randomly finding space through the grainbed. A lot of the water pools on the far side of the mashtun away from the outlet. When I tilt is, the water doesn’t really move like it can’t push through the grain. This is what lead me to wondering if I’m crushing too fine.
Not sure what the total deadspace is in the mashtun but I would have to guess its less than half a gallon but ive never really tested it so I could be way off.[/quote]
fill it up with water and let it run out, no tipping, dump that water out after it stops running and measure that.
What kind of lid is on the cooler? Maybe there is not enough air getting in and a vacum is starting some how?
Take all fitings off except the actual valve and hose, get it bare bone and see what the dead space is with water. Knowing your dead space is needed for calculation on your recipe
post some pictures to
Maybe put a barb on and eliminate the QD from the equation just to see what happens? Since you’ve taped every threaded joint now there can’t be many other possibilities for air to enter…
Don’t see how you could have a stuck sparge crushing at .036.
[quote=“grainbelt”]
What kind of lid is on the cooler? Maybe there is not enough air getting in and a vacum is starting some how?
Take all fitings off except the actual valve and hose, get it bare bone and see what the dead space is with water. Knowing your dead space is needed for calculation on your recipe
post some pictures to[/quote]
The lid is open while I’m draining so i can’t see it being a vaccum issue. There should be pictures of my setup in the original post.
[quote=“dannyboy58”]Maybe put a barb on and eliminate the QD from the equation just to see what happens? Since you’ve taped every threaded joint now there can’t be many other possibilities for air to enter…
Don’t see how you could have a stuck sparge crushing at .036.[/quote]
Sorry, typo. I’m crushing at .026
[quote=“mattnaik”][quote=“grainbelt”]
What kind of lid is on the cooler? Maybe there is not enough air getting in and a vacum is starting some how?
Take all fitings off except the actual valve and hose, get it bare bone and see what the dead space is with water. Knowing your dead space is needed for calculation on your recipe
post some pictures to[/quote]
The lid is open while I’m draining so i can’t see it being a vaccum issue. There should be pictures of my setup in the original post.[/quote]
those picture do not show anything, do a run with water and see where you are at
This has already been said, but I’d eliminate the QD and replace with a barb and hose clamp.
I’m hoping to find some time to test it without any grain this week and see if i can reproduce the issue. If I can reproduce it without grain, I can at least eliminate the possibility of the crush being too fine and start focusing on plumbing.
If it is the QD, what does everyone suggest? New QD or just make the hose a “permanent” part of the mashtun by screwing the barb directly into the valve? Seems like that would make vorlaufing a pain as it would have to be done basically near the ground since the hose is designed to reach the bottom of the kettle to minimize splashing.
I’m hoping to find some time to test it without any grain this week and see if i can reproduce the issue. If I can reproduce it without grain, I can at least eliminate the possibility of the crush being too fine and start focusing on plumbing.
If it is the QD, what does everyone suggest? New QD or just make the hose a “permanent” part of the mashtun by screwing the barb directly into the valve? Seems like that would make vorlaufing a pain as it would have to be done basically near the ground since the hose is designed to reach the bottom of the kettle to minimize splashing.[/quote]
For a simple mash tun why a disconnect? I just have a barb on the valve and a hose easily slips on and off for storgae and cleaning
Will mention again that silicone tubing makes things a ton easier since you can see where air is trapped in the line.
http://morebeer.com/products/silicone-tubing-12-id-foot.html
Guessing that I’d be frequently confused if I couldn’t see what was going on with my setup.
[quote=“mattnaik”][quote=“dannyboy58”]Maybe put a barb on and eliminate the QD from the equation just to see what happens? Since you’ve taped every threaded joint now there can’t be many other possibilities for air to enter…
Don’t see how you could have a stuck sparge crushing at .036.[/quote]
Sorry, typo. I’m crushing at .026[/quote]
Couple things…
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0.026 is a pretty darn narrow gap. I mean, people go that narrow and maybe a tad more even… but 0.026 is tight. Also, I have a Cereal Killer. Hope you’re measuring your gap with a feeler gauge. The readings on the mill itself are bogus. I have found huge disconnect between mill setting levels and levels with a feeler gauge. I would gap it out to .035 and take the efficiency hit. If you really care, toss some sugar in the primary afterward.
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What’s your grist ratio? Things start getting pretty sticky at 1.25. Try increasing your water ratio by .25 qt/lb
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Weird question, but how fast are you opening ball valve when you drain? I used to just rip it all the way open and giver heck, but had flow issues as a result. Started opening VERY slowly and lautering a few quarts at a very slow rate. That seemed to help me.
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Are you using rice hulls?
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Can you post a picture of the plumbing inside the MLT?
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Can you post a picture of your crush while it’s still dry? Don’t know about others, but once the grist is wet, it is tough for me to see if the crush is too fine.
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I agree if you are just using gravity to drain the MLT into BK, and not using a pump, no need for QD’s. I would use silicone hose and barb.
I use the same hose/barb for draining my kettles as well. Just made it universal so I could switch it out easily instead of having to either unscrew the barb or unscrew the hose clamp. I suppose I can see if it will stay on without a clamp. I think I’m gonna order some of that clear hose mentioned so I’ll just grab an extra barb and see how it works out.
Answers in red below
