Djlunchbox

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does one have to worry about oxygenation (sp?) during the lautering stage of all grain? i assume no, because you still have to do the boil. i'm reading "How To Brew" at the moment, and i am thinking about my wet-dry filter for my fish tank, and its sprinkler system. i'm guessing a sprinkler type system, or a "spray" type system would be more apt to mixing the wort then just a simple drain line back into the MLT. am i wrong? would it foam too much? is it a waste of time?

second question, and its hard for me to explain. while adding the sparge water to the MLT, i should be letting some of the wort out into the brew kettle. so it seems to me that i would have to get my flow rates pretty damn good and close together if i were to use some 3/8" ball valves to controll it. from what i read, we want to keep about an inch of water over the grains to keep them from getting stuck. so if i crack my ball valves wide open, it should only take a few mins for the sparge water to drain out of the HLT and the MLT, into the BK. is this long enough for a good extraction? is this what all the AG guys do with their brews?

thedailyaustin

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1) I'm in the camp that believe HSA(hot side aeration) causes very little harm to the beer. However if I am reading your question correctly, spaying water over the top of the grain bed during sparge/lauter works fine. I'm a little confused by your wording, but you don't need to be re-circulating wort back through your mash to fully extract it.

2) You should be slowly draining wort from the MLT as you slowly add sparge water to the MLT. If you have your outbound line going full speed, regardless of your inbound, you are likely to stick your mash.

Let me know if I mis-understood your questions.

Djlunchbox

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no, i think you understood fine . 1) ok, so draining a said amount of wort, and at the same time adding the same said amount of sparge water is fine to extract all that i can, if i am reading correctly. and 2) so it doesn't really matter if i have a "faucet" pouring the sparge water into the MLT, or a "sprinkler" (think rain drops) dripping the sparge water in. correct?

3) i just re-read my OP. picture a 5 gallon batch total. now if mash with lets say 2 gallons, i was wanting to sparge by recirculating the wort from the bottom of the MLT to the top, WHILE mixing in the new sparge water. when the MLT gets to 5 gallons ( or more for boil off) i would stop adding sparge water and pump from the MLT to the BK . does this make sense?

Hang Glider

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Fly Sparge - raindrops. Batch Sparge - drain all the wort out, refill with hot water (170F), stir, drain. you're done.

No "faucet" sparge - that just runs through the middle and doesn't rinse any sugar out of the grains except the thin hole where the faucet went through - unless by faucet you mean batch sparge. then see above. Gentleness is not required.

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Djlunchbox

Recipes 

which is more efficent at extracting all the goodness?