About to do my first AG...

And I want to tie up some loose ends before I start. I have read as much as I can on the subject, twice. So here it goes:

1) How do I actually add the sparge water? Just pour it in?

2) The 1.25qt/lb ratio doesnt give me the water I need to sparge? I just determine that by measuring the amount of wort I get from mashing and subtracting that from my batch size goal?

3) I dont have to add water after my boil to reach 5 gallons? All that is gathered from sparging and mashing? So boil 7 gallons of wort down to 5, for instance?

I think that is all the question I have

thanks

1. I typically add about 1/3 of the grains initially and start adding the strike water with a 2qt measuring cup. After I've poured in a gallon or so I then usually at the rest of the grain and then continue using the measuring cup until I can pour in the rest of the water without risk of burning myself. No specific reason I do it this way, but it works.
There's actually a thread devoted to this

2. I batch sparge and use Brewheads.com - Batch Sparge Calculator

3. No adding water. You'll probably lose about a gallon per hour so 6 gallons would give you close to 5 with a 60 min boil. I tend to shoot for 5.5 gallons however, as 5 typically gives me less than 2 cases of beer.

Hmm. I was thinking today during my Calc 2 class, what if I were to get a deep baking pan that fits neatly in my mash tun. Drill bucu holes in it and place it over the tun. Pour in the batch sparge water so i distributes it equally. It wont be a fly sparge as the water would drain through the pan rather quickly.

What say you?

Shwagger said:

Hmm. I was thinking today during my Calc 2 class, what if I were to get a deep baking pan that fits neatly in my mash tun. Drill bucu holes in it and place it over the tun. Pour in the batch sparge water so i distributes it equally. It wont be a fly sparge as the water would drain through the pan rather quickly.

What say you?

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If by bucu you mean beaucoup, and I think you do, go for it. I use a spent newspaper printing plate with holes drilled all over it. It works great.

yes, its the shorthand version

if it works then I will give it a go

That sounds very labor intensive if you will have to continually spoon in water. Do you have another bucket or cooler that you could have slowly feeding into the mash tun?

danielinva said:

That sounds very labor intensive if you will have to continually spoon in water. Do you have another bucket or cooler that you could have slowly feeding into the mash tun?

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I have 2 20qt pots. I was planning on bringing both to temps, pouring one in, drain, pour the other in, drain and tada! Done. Since I plan on using a deep baking pan, and doing 2 sparges, I could easily pour one pot in at a time almost without stopping.

Or so thats the plan.

Of course, I could sacrifice my turkey frying pot and put a bulkhead in it.

If your using beersmith it wont give you your sparge water quantities until you preview your brewsheet.

You're batch sparging. Don't over do it with drilling holes in a pan. Read this link for a good explanation of the process. >> dennybrew

Yeah, that sounds like batch sparging without allowing the water to sit long enough to remove the sugars from the grain. Fly sparging as I understand it typically takes 45min to an hour with water slowly dripping through the grains.

1.) yes
2.) yes
3.) yes

Denny said:

1.) yes
2.) yes
3.) yes

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haha, that about does it lol. I suppose I was a little bored during class and got a little over stimulated with my idea.

Just a suggestion - If you calculate your pre-boil gravity, you can just batch sparge enough times until you hit your pre-boil gravity in the kettle. That's what I do and I never miss my OG after boiling.

If you know your boil-off rate, then figuring pre-boil gravity is very simple and easy. In fact, your brewing software should do it for you - if you use software.