Beer Forum

This past friday I made Bugeater's Oatmeal Raisin Cookie ale, and I could not get the grain bed to set.
About 4 gallons in, the wort started to clear up, but not all the way.
This recipe calls for 7lbs of grain and 1lb of flaked oats.
I was using a domed false bottom in a 10-gal kettle, with a 3-piece 1/4 turn valve.
I started out with the valve at about 50%, and filled a 2qt pitcher 3 times before I got frustrated and opened it all the way to fill the same pitcher 2 more times. Finally just said F it, and let it rip into a bucket while I poured the sparge water on top of the grain bed.
The first bucket had 4 gallons that were very cloudy and had quite a bit of sediment in the bottom.
The second bucket had 2.5 gallons-ish and was much more clear with no sediment.

Any ideas what wasn't happening right? Was it because of all the flaked oat, or was I doing something procedurally wrong?

Sounds like you just got impatient & didn't recirc enough.

Yea seems that way, but how many quarts should someone reasonably expect to recirculate?

Depends.

Each grain bill is going to be a little different. Each mill is going to be a little different. Each mashtun is going to be a little different. Recirc until it's set. Personally I use a continuously recirculating system. You can't hurt it by recirculating too much.

Ozwald wrote:Depends.

Each grain bill is going to be a little different. Each mill is going to be a little different. Each mashtun is going to be a little different. Recirc until it's set. Personally I use a continuously recirculating system. You can't hurt it by recirculating too much.

I don't have a pump, I guess I could just fill a bottling bucket up and keep emptying it on top.
I'll try that next time.

You don't need a pump, but they are helpful. It's just the matter of recirculating a larger volume & not disrupting the top of the bed.

I don't have a sparge arm thing so I just pour new water down my mash paddle which I keep close to the surface. Good enough?

That's good enough. I just put a ceramic dessert plate on top of the grain bed and pour onto that.