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mendozer · 05-18-2012, 07:20 AM

I've been doing AG for a while now and I just recently saw something about doing vorlauf, or clarifying the wort. With my mash tun, I made a manifold with tiny tiny holes and slits. No grain gets through so it's always clear.

So do I really need to vorlauf if it's clear?

I've been hitting gravities (and in some cases, exceeding them) so I'm just curious.

**Dan** · 05-18-2012, 07:56 AM

Maybe not.

If you are running clear wort out of the mash tun there is no reason IMHO to vorlauf.

ChandlerBang · 05-18-2012, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan

Maybe not.

If you are running clear wort out of the mash tun there is no reason IMHO to vorlauf.

This. The point of the vorlauf is to clear the wort. If your wort is clear, what's the point?

Special Hops · 05-18-2012, 10:16 AM

I never frolauf anymore. My wort comes out pretty clear. I do drain though my hop nap on the kettle just in case. But there is never anything significant solids that come through.

**Homercidal** · 05-18-2012, 12:55 PM

I use a drilled copper manifold and get some small bits of grain at the very start. After a few seconds they are gone and the wort looks pretty good. However, after drawing about 2 quarts, the clarity is so much better. It's not the bits of grain that are a concern, it's the small particles that get filtered by the grain bed. That stuff is full of proteins.

There so little time saved in not doing a vorlauf that it's not worth skipping IMO.

And if you recirculate your mash, you are vorlaufing constantly anyway.

mendozer · 05-18-2012, 04:33 PM

i batch sparge, although I'm thinking about fly sparging once I build an arm

mendozer · 05-18-2012, 04:37 PM

and my clarifying you mean just not murky?

on a side note, do manifolds yield a clearer wort than false bottoms?

**richbrew99** · 05-19-2012, 01:24 AM

Last two batches I forgot to vorleuf and everything turned out perfect, so I'm thinking maybe it's not necessary too.

**dan6310** · 05-19-2012, 01:54 AM

With BIAB, after the bag is pulled from the wort, it is very murky and the beers always turn out fine. With whirl pooling and adding clarifiers I don't think it is necessary.

Scooby_Brew · 05-19-2012, 02:15 AM

Vorlauf helps. Even if you run a clear wort over all, the first pint or two will be more cloudy, before the grain bed will settle down and form a good filter. I do it, it takes a second, I just collect the first couple of pints in a pitcher and then return it back to the mush tun through a strainer, so it goes back slow and it doesn't mess up the grain bed.