How clear is your vorlauf?

[Jocky]

How clear does everyone like to get the runnings from their vorlauf before running into the boiler?

Having moved up from BIAB, where you don't vorlauf, to a separate mash tun and kettle, I find myself wondering how much I need to 'clear' the mash runnings by recirculation.

Personally I've found that with the false bottom on my system draining into a 2 litre jug I get a quite a bit grain coming through in the first jug and the runnings look muddy. By the third jug the runnings are cloudy, but are getting more translucent than outright muddy, I still have small amounts of little bits of grain coming through, but that's about as 'clear' as my runnings get.

My thinking is that I'm just trying to avoid getting lots of grain, particularly the husks, going into the boil.

What do you do?

[lord groan]

I batch sparge and I've fallen unintentionally into recirculating the whole initial mash volume, so I usually do 12-13 1l jugfuls on my 23l brews. I've settled on 12l mash -10l 1st sparge - 10l 2nd sparge approx. The initial 12-13l recirc has certainly helped reduce boiler sludge but I suspect at least half is unnecessary. I mainly brew dark beers or stouts so wort clarity isn't easy to be certain of. I reckon 3 or 4 jugfuls is likely to be enough, on the 1st and 2nd sparge I usually recirc 2 or 3 jugfuls each time.
I think my boiler wallpaper-paste type sludge has dropped by about 500ml through doing this.

[MTW]

I always top up my coolbox to get an immediate mash out (76c) before dong anything, usually 5-7 litres (23L brewlength), so I have to let the grain bed settle for around 10 mins before vorlaufing. This usually takes about 3 or 4 litres, before I'm happy with the clarity: pretty clear, maybe some tiny specks. I'm using a 2L jug with the coolbox tun. In the Mikeller book, it's recommended that once the tap is open, it should not really be closed again (presumably for fly sparges, though I take the same advice as read for within each batch sparge too). I haven't yet bothered with a two jug 'system' to achieve this, with no obvious detriment.

With the top up and two batches to follow, my grain bed has to resettle three times - not the quickest brewday! By the last batch I find I have to vorlauf more to get decent clarity.

[Rick_UK]

I don't worry too much about wort clarity pre or post boil as it all drops out in the FV especially if crash cooling. That said I usually recirculate the first couple of litres (jug full) and its not as cloudy after that.

I had a stuck sparge the other week and had to stir up the grainbed mid run off which made it go very cloudy. The beer is clear as a bell now after crash cooling.

Rick

[guypettigrew]

I recirculate about 2 litres before beginning the run off from the mash tun to the boiler. the first litre is always cloudy and has loads of bits. The second is much cleaner looking.

The most important contributor to wort clarity from the mash tun seems to me to be the speed of run off from the tun.

A fast run off gives a cloudy wort, a slow run off gives a clear wort.

Guy

[Rhodesy]

I have a 12" domed false bottom in a rounded igloo cooler. I tend to only run 1L before recirculating as for the 6 AG brews I have done to date it has been more or less clear from the outset. I then fly sparge.

[simpleton]

I stop recirculating as soon as there is no grain in the runoff, regardless of clarity. Sometimes this can be ages, sometimes only a jug go or so. It always drops clear in the end. Apart from chill haze, but thats another matter!

[Fil]

I stop recirculating as soon as there is no grain in the runoff, regardless of clarity. Sometimes this can be ages, sometimes only a jug go or so. It always drops clear in the end. Apart from chill haze, but thats another matter!

+1

all the texts suggest one or 2 jugfulls in the pursuit of a clear liquor i have jugged back loads more the whole volume x times over on occasions and still it hasnt run as clear as some i have seen posted here and elswhere,,

the secret to a clear liquor from the tun is mash recirculation (herms or rims)... I brewed with my shiny new grainfarther for the first time on friday..

This is what the liquor looked like at the start of the recirculated mash, and looks very much like the murky liquor i drain from my 3vessel system tun after a massive jug back session..


however 30 mins later the recirculation had cleared the liquor dramatically


the rising steam/vapor hides the crystal clarity of the liquor from the camera but if you squint you can see the perforated SS top plate through the inch or so of liqour above it

But dont fret too much about flour in the liquor out of the tun, the boil and hot break, addition of kettle finnings and a good chill for a cold break and a sit in the FV will all contribute to a brite beer for the bottle or keg allright.

[daddies-beer-factory]

[quote="Rick_UK"]I don't worry too much about wort clarity pre or post boil as it all drops out in the FV especially if crash cooling. That said I usually recirculate the first couple of litres (jug full) and its not as cloudy after that.

+ 1

[chefgage]

At first i was a bit hung up about how clear the runnings needed to be. I jugged quite a few before i was satisfied and even then it wasnt that clear. The last few brews i have had problems with lots of grain getting past the false bottom so in the end i gave up with the jugs as it was not getting any clearer with LOTS of grain getting through.

After fermentation, as stated above the beer turned out very clear, as clear as some of the other brews.

So i think even if you dont get the runnings clear after a few jugs you can still get a nice clear beer

[Jocky]

With a couple of batches under my belt I've learned that I just need to avoid grain husks and for the runnings to clear a bit. It takes a couple of litres - the false bottom does a great job.

My runnings look like this:




They still have a very small bits of grain, but not a lot, and after a boil and rapid cooling this is what ends up in the fermenter:

[Jocky]

D'oh image links weren't working. Now fixed.

[timbo41]

Perhaps getting some rice hulls into the mash will help also, if you don't already. Also I've found that allowing any matter to settle for maybe half an hour between run offs tends to give brighter clarity although the brew day does get a bit longer obviously