Is recirculation really necessary?
 

Is there any reason why you cant just run the first runnings through a strainer instead of recirculating when fly sparging?

It seems like your just adding sugars right back into where you want them out of.. It saves time and the chance of tunneling.

Thoughts?

You only recirculate enough to "set" the grainbed to set it up for filtering, usually less than 2 quarts, so it's not really recirculating. Just a simple vorlauf will do.

It's just a matter of how clear you want your wort to be. I find that going for a clear wort to begin with by doing a proper vorlauf, skimming hot break and leaving cold break/hop particles behind in the kettle, I can turn my beers around a lot faster since there are less undesirable flavors that need to meld and mellow.

After vorlaufing 2-4 qts, you will see much clearer wort. So, not only do you set the grain bed and eliminate the hull particulate, you also clear the runnings.

Bull

Here is what I do
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f...lear_Hell1.jpg

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/f..._Run_Hell2.jpg

Cheers,
ClaudiusB

I think it also depends on your system. If you use a Rubbermaid setup then only a little. I use direct heat on my batches, and they are always 10 gallon so I use constant recirculation. I think the sugars will not be wasted if that was you concern. You recirculate before sparging so you don’t loose anything.

I think it also depends on your system. If you use a Rubbermaid setup then only a little. I use direct heat on my batches, and they are always 10 gallon so I use constant recirculation. I think the sugars will not be wasted if that was you concern. You recirculate before sparging so you don’t loose anything.

Im extremely anal about having clear wort going into the BK. With a pump its easy, let it run @ 45 minutes into the mash for a full 15 minutes. Once the grain bed is set it acts as an amazing filter and removes the smallest particles and traps them in the grain bed itself.