So I'm wondering if others have noticed a greater amount of what I'm assuming to be leftover protein goo-like material on top of the grainbed in a no sparge, single influsion mash vs. batch sparging, or if this is also seen in fly sparging.
basically in several smaller beers (1.040-1.050 OG), i've tested the no sparge technique to potentially help increase malt flavors by intentionally cutting the efficiency down a bit and using more pounds of grain. while I didnt do a side by side test with normal batch sparging, the beers (dark mild, smoked dunkel, english pale) did come out quite good. However, more remarkable was the massive amount of proteinaceous material sitting in a peanut butter like spread on top of the grainbed after draining the tun. as such, the wort runoff during vorlauf and collection was exceptionally clear.
Likewise, in subsequent batch sparge beers, this settled clump of protein was somewhat resuspended during both a mashout addition of boiling water, and the batch sparge addition with mixing. as such, the runoff from these mashes was a good deal more cloudy which what I imagine is the floating protein.
Granted, all this protein does seem to settle out eventually, either in the kettle along with the trub, or in the fermenter, as a fair amount gets in. The beers taste fine in the end as well, but the observation got me thinking about the potential benefits to leaving that protein sludge (often thick enough to scoop out with a spoon) behind in the mash.
also, another thing to mention, in my system, an OG of about 1.052-53 seems to be the upper limit for getting a decent (not great but workable) efficiency on the beer. above that I've seen strongly diminishing returns for more malt added, leaving behind a significant amount of sugar. don' know if others have tested this on their setups as well.
cheers
basically in several smaller beers (1.040-1.050 OG), i've tested the no sparge technique to potentially help increase malt flavors by intentionally cutting the efficiency down a bit and using more pounds of grain. while I didnt do a side by side test with normal batch sparging, the beers (dark mild, smoked dunkel, english pale) did come out quite good. However, more remarkable was the massive amount of proteinaceous material sitting in a peanut butter like spread on top of the grainbed after draining the tun. as such, the wort runoff during vorlauf and collection was exceptionally clear.
Likewise, in subsequent batch sparge beers, this settled clump of protein was somewhat resuspended during both a mashout addition of boiling water, and the batch sparge addition with mixing. as such, the runoff from these mashes was a good deal more cloudy which what I imagine is the floating protein.
Granted, all this protein does seem to settle out eventually, either in the kettle along with the trub, or in the fermenter, as a fair amount gets in. The beers taste fine in the end as well, but the observation got me thinking about the potential benefits to leaving that protein sludge (often thick enough to scoop out with a spoon) behind in the mash.
also, another thing to mention, in my system, an OG of about 1.052-53 seems to be the upper limit for getting a decent (not great but workable) efficiency on the beer. above that I've seen strongly diminishing returns for more malt added, leaving behind a significant amount of sugar. don' know if others have tested this on their setups as well.
cheers
