Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Any hardware used for mashing, fermenting or aging.

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Newtothis
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Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Post by Newtothis »

So I had a 15 gallon Mach that had been stuck at 1.032 for about 3weeks now. It’s a all heavy peated barely mash that I was going to mix 50/50 with a all corn mash that I mash separately and mix together at the still. Started at 1.072 dropped down to 1.032 within 3 days or so then just stalled out, I was trying to be patient while it took it’s sweet time,
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Re: Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Post by still_stirrin »

How do you know it’s stalled?

Latent fermentation is asymptotical, meaning the “rate of fermentation” slows as the fermentation progresses. And depending on how you mashed the grains may affect the amount of fermentable material (success of starch conversion) you actually have in the fermenter.

You can’t judge a ferment as “terminal” by the calendar. You need to hone your brewing skills.
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Newtothis
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Re: Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Post by Newtothis »

still_stirrin wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 7:48 pm How do you know it’s stalled?

Latent fermentation is asymptotical, meaning the “rate of fermentation” slows as the fermentation progresses. And depending on how you mashed the grains may affect the amount of fermentable material (success of starch conversion) you actually have in the fermenter.

You can’t judge a ferment as “terminal” by the calendar. You need to hone your brewing skills.
ss
I don’t know it stalled for sure, but when comparing it to a identical batch I did a few weeks earlier that had the same starting SG and relative same environment, same mash temps, same rest times, same grain to water to temp ratio, same amount of airation, same yeast and same amount of yeast, and but the first batch ran down to .0998 in less than a week, I start thinking, maybe there is an issue. Like I said in my post which you may have overlooked , that I was trying to be patient but decided to try something that low and behold seems to be working. But alas you may be correct with needing to hone my brewing skills. 19 years of brewing all grain batches and my first batch of extract beer that got me into brewing was done now let’s see 25 years ago, even got good at making all grain pilsners, but you are correct , never too old to learn something new. Cheers!
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Re: Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Post by shadylane »

Newtothis wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 5:29 pm So I had a 15 gallon Mach that had been stuck at 1.032 for about 3weeks now....
... Started at 1.072 dropped down to 1.032 within 3 days or so then just stalled out,
Sounds like it's done, not stalled.
The 1.032 final gravity means your mashing process wasn't as good as it could have been.
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Re: Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Bung a finger in there and have a taste.......report back.
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Re: Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Post by tommysb »

Sounds like a stalled ferment rather than a stuck mash. In my part of the world, a stuck mash is when the grain bed collapses during sparging and refuses to drain from the mash tun.
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Re: Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Post by greggn »

Newtothis wrote: Mon May 16, 2022 9:13 pm
I don’t know it stalled for sure, but when comparing it to a identical batch I did a few weeks earlier that had the same starting SG and relative same environment, same mash temps,

The weather can change a lot in just a few weeks ... is your ambient and ferment temperatures the same now as with the previously successful batch ? What yeast are you using ?
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Ben
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Re: Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Post by Ben »

Any chance you are measuring your FG with a refractometer rather than a hydrometer? Your gravity is a smidge high but unless your temp is way off for the yeast it's unlikely to be stalled that high.
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Re: Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Post by Newtothis »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 12:10 am Bung a finger in there and have a taste.......report back.
Overly sweet when I tasted it before I mixed it. So it’s bubbling away very actively now that I have 50/50’ed it on the finished corn mash. I’m going to leave it for now till the activity slows down.
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Re: Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Post by psf »


Like I said in my post which you may have overlooked , that I was trying to be patient but decided to try something that low and behold seems to be working. But alas you may be correct with needing to hone my brewing skills. 19 years of brewing all grain batches and my first batch of extract beer that got me into brewing was done now let’s see 25 years ago, even got good at making all grain pilsners, but you are correct , never too old to learn something new. Cheers!
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Re: Got a stuck mash unstuck? Maybe?

Post by Newtothis »

psf wrote: Tue May 17, 2022 6:03 am

Cheers!
Don’t confuse effort with results.
Very yoda thing to say.
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