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thedude123 · 11-19-2009, 08:14 PM

My last 2 brews have been no sparge. One the RIS my efficiency was 75% and on my IIPA it was 65%, I am almost positive that the drop in efficiency was because of my mash PH. So you could very easily get 75-80% efficiency like Bobby M said.

**Bobby_M** · 11-19-2009, 08:39 PM

Anticipating the next post and pre-emptively answering....

"If I can get 80% on no sparge, why would I ever want to sparge?"

Efficiency is going to start falling off faster on big beers due to how much grain you end up using and therefore how much high gravity wort is going to remain in the grain.

Further, it requires a mashing vessel that can hold the full preboil volume, plus the volume of absorption, plus the actual grain.

If you tun is big enough and your OG is moderate, no sparge away.

thedude123 · 11-19-2009, 09:54 PM

I have a 120 quart mash tun so I have more then enough room.

bigin31 · 11-20-2009, 03:36 AM

JLem. I do no-sparge grain in a bag and run at about 70%. I use 5-6 lbs of grain and 4 gals preboil volume. To date, I have made several perfectly stable beers at about 4% each time, standard commercial ABV.

**Saccharomyces** · 11-20-2009, 06:11 PM

I attached a spreadsheet to the OP of my no sparge brewing thread. It assumes 95% conversion efficiency, and is dead on with my brews so far. The key is to adjust mash pH, whereas I would typically use salts in the mash and phosphoric acid in the sparge water I add them both up front.

Efficiency drops about 2% for every pound of grain you add to the grainbill, so I don't consider no-sparge practical over 1.060 unless you are planning to partigyle.