First bath sparge.
 

Not looking to debate on sparging methods, but I wanted to try bath sparging on my next AG brew. I was wondering if I needed to raise the temp of the grain bed To 170 before sparging? Or would the bath sparge be enough? And is there any other aspect I need to consider, As in voraugh speed, time, temp of water ect....

You don't have to do a mash out (raise the grainbed to 170) before your first addition of sparge water when you batch sparge. You can use hotter water for your first round of batch sparging, to get your grainbed up to 168 or so if you'd like. Usually 2 gallons of 202 degree water do that for me- bringing the grainbed from mash temps from 152ish to 168ish.

You simply drain the MLT, then add your first round of sparge water (if doing two additions- try to make them equal-ish). Stir well, and then vorlauf and drain. No need to go slow- you can just crack open your valve to vorlauf, then open it fully to drain. Then repeat if doing another round.

Perfect. Thank you

What do you use for a tun Yoop? I have a 10 gal. Rubbermaid and I've been batch sparging (each step) with about 180 degree water. I had read that much over that could warp the plastic of the cooler. I'd love to be able to use something closer to 200, but have just been afraid of f'n up my mash tun.

The tongue biting in this thread is admirable. :D

I'm a complete newbie...but won't sparging with water over 170 degrees cause tannin extraction from the grain?

The idea is that you are adding hotter water and bringing the temperature of the mash already in the tun up to around 168.

--Jimbot

Oh, yes, if you add hot water to the cooler it will warp. BUT- I'm not adding just the hot water. I'm adding it to the grainbed, which means that the grain + the hot water never exceeds 170.


No, bringing the GRAINBED up to over 170 degrees, combined with a high pH, can cause tannin extraction. Think about this- I do some decoction mashing which means I boil the grains. Having the proper pH and temperature at the same time means no worries about tannin extract.

I had a near freezing mash tun (i.e. Rubbermaid Cooler) in the garage and added 180 degree water to it once... Thing snap, crackle, and popped for nearly 15 mins while it preheated... My cooler now resides in the brewroom before adding strike water - no more bad noises!

Agree:mug: