Channeling in mash

#1

i brewed my first batch with Robobrew ( Cream of 3 Crops recipe) and had issues with a VERY slow Sparge. It took 3 hours.
A t cleanup of the malt pipe, I noticed that the grain bed was very compressed ( much denser than in my previous cooler mash tun) and that it did not extend all the way to the side of the malt pipe. The filter bed was somewhat cone shaped with the lowest part of the grain bed about 1/4 inch from the sides of the malt pipe, and the top of the filter bed was a good 1/2 inch from the sides of the malt pipe. I was circulating during the mash,
Is this channeling normal? Was I circulating too fast?

#2

I too have had compacted mash and very slow draining even with rice hulls . I did not notice if i had the cone shaping of the grain bed because i broke out the mash paddle and tried to break up the compressed grain. I did not vorlauf and performing one is never mentioned anywhere. I bet this will help and will be doing so next time. Also i think lifting the grain tube slowly will help. By pulling up the tube with all that grain suspended in the wort the draining action of the liquid would pull down the grain as it quickly flows out. Lifting it out slowly say on a rope and pully i think will help a lot too. Just a few thoughts and observations.

#3

Hi Guys, I’ve just joined the forum so am catching up with posts.

When I’m ready to sparge I raise the grain pipe, using a pulley attached to the roof of the shed, and rest it on the points inside the main body of the unit. Once most of the wort has drained out I put my sparge water into a watering can and spray it evenly over the top of the grain bed.

Cheers, Doug

#4

I think I solved my issue. When the issue occurred , I had the wort recirculating tube positioned so that the wort was traveling in a circular direction around the outside of the kettle. . Since then I have the wort recirculating tube postponed so it does cause this circular motion. No more channeling along the edges of the grain tube.