Help with a stuck mash

[GGCD]

Hey there,

 

Second mash in 3000L mash tun. Attempted to let 100% wheat soak all night at a little over room temperature, being agitated the whole time. Mashed as normal the next morning bringing it up as high as 85C 185F and everything seemed fine until I went to vorlauf and the recirc pump couldn’t draw any wort. Opened the dump valve and it was packed with rock hard bright white substance (assuming it was starch). I was able to inject water back up the drain and able to break it up enough to vorlauf. I let it vorlauf for about 45 min and the OG came up a lot, presuming from the starch being converted.  Transferred to the fermenter no problem. Cleaned out the grain from on to of the false bottom and when I pulled a plate up it was packed to the underside of what looked like ballistic gel. Has anyone experienced this and if so did you find something that will dissolve it? I’ve had 3 test containers with the gel in it. One with laminex, one with caustic soda and one with citric acid. They don’t seem to have any effect on it. Hoping someone knows of a way to dissolve it before I have to crawl in and pull each plate and scrape it off with a putty knife. 
 

Thanks in advance for any help. 
 

Chris. 

[SlickFloss]

Did you use any enzymes

[JustAndy]

You should describe your mash process in deyail. You were trying to lauter 100% wheat and ferment off the grain, and didn't use enzymes? It looks like the fines settled through the gaps in the false bottom and then got cooked, essentially you made wheat polenta. The outside layer cooked hard so the inner layer gelatanized but then no enzyemes could reach it l. Did you use the laminex and caustic at their effective temperatures in your tests?  You might be able to get it to release by soaking with cold water but I think you'll have to dig it out 

[SlickFloss]

The "packed with rock hard bright white substance" is throwing me for a loop here..... Rock hard like mineral? Not just solidified gelatinized wheat like the bottom of tank?

 

Coarse ground wheat flour? Fine ground wheat flour?

How's your water chemistry? 

Enzymes enzymes enzymes brother.