If it’s your only kettle...
Do you have the strainer for the bottom tap - used for recirculating, etc? If so:
Do your mash as normal. You will need to pay more attention to the mash process because the middle of your mash will cool 3-5 degrees at least, so keep the recirculation going and you can still lift the malt pipe, but there will be some spillage.
Once you have a good read on your gravity and are ready to proceed to the boil
- offload your wort to your fermenter with the pump ( I used another kettle )
- dump the grains from the Anvil. Hose out if needed. Make sure the burner element / bottom is clean and not caked. clean that.
- transfer the wort back to the Anvil
- resume brew day at the boil.
If you don’t have the “V” shaped anvil strainer, you could tie a muslin bag on to the pickup tube.
A few years ago this happened to me when I thought I could get _one__more____brew day out of my bag. I was incorrect. The bag split open spilling the grains into the malt pipe, which mostly stayed int the malt pipe, but not all. It was an unexpected and unforced error and set me back about 75 minutes.
The Black Friday before, I picked up a Digiboil kettle for like 99 bucks. For that price, I couldn’t afford to not buy it. While my mash was going on, I did a quick clean and sanitize on the digiboil. I got to the point of the boil and transferred my wort, pulled the malt pipe, and had quite the mess. I got the grains out, and started the transfer back. Until the pump got clogged.
Ugh. Eventually I stopped fighting the pump, picked up the remaining 4-5 gallons and manually transferred the wort back to the Anvil. I made it most of the way through the boil to :
blank screen, power off. I had a short in the switch.
Transfer the wort BACK to the Digiboil.
There was less clogging this time because the strainer was fighting less grain contamination. I resumed the boil and finished out the day, with quite a bit to clean up. That was a Vienna lager IIRC, and despite the difficulty came out pretty good.
The anvil power issue was my fault. I’d previously used a surge protector to connect it. The next boil, I fried the switch, replaced it, thinking I fixed it. I didn’t. I’d actually fried one leg of the power cord as well. DOH.
I agree though, the bag will make life easier.
