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bigbeergeek · 10-27-2011, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denny

What are you thinking of as high OG? My efficiency remains pretty much the same up to the mid 80s OG.

Interesting. I crush my own grains and have a very consistent fly-sparging procedure. My mash tun volume is 12.5 gallons and has a slotted "figure eight" CPVC manifold at the bottom that is well-spaced from the walls of the tun.

My fly-sparge efficiency ranges from 87% on smaller beers (1.040's) to 70ish% (1.075+).

It seems odd that your efficiency could remain the same across such a wide range of gravities, given that the volume of water passing through the differing volumes of grain is about the same...

bigbeergeek · 10-27-2011, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby_M

Here's are some real world anecdotes to chew on.

If you have a lot of dead space in your mash tun, fly sparging will be more efficient than batch.
If you rely on a siphon tube in your tun, such as in a converted Keg MLT, fly sparging is actually easier than batch sparging due to the inherent and repeated loss of siphon at the end of each run.
If you have a MLT with a stainless braid/bazooka tube, batch sparge.
Efficiency variations between low OG and high OG batches are minimized with fly sparging (not by much, but it's noticeable).

Good stuff Bobby. Can't wait to try my first DBS.

**Bobby_M** · 10-27-2011, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denny

What are you thinking of as high OG? My efficiency remains pretty much the same up to the mid 80s OG.

I've noticed very consistent efficiency loss as OG goes up without any particular OG threshold. It's pretty linear in my experience and tracks closely with Kai's analysis:

I've only been fly sparging for a short time so I don't have as much sample data but I've noticed less variation in efficiency between batches in the 1.040-1.070 ranges.

I'd be interested to know what others are finding in this regard, especially those who have done both for many batches and cared enough to note such things. Since I barely find time to brew, I'm much less likely to sweat details like this and am happy enough to make maltose water.