Evan!
Well-Known Member
So, my first AG attempt went swimmingly, hit 72% efficiency. Not too shabby.
What I'm not terribly clear on (Papazian doesn't go into too much detail here) is sparging. I don't have a sparging arm or any of that fancy gadgetry...my process was a simple batch sparge: drain out the mash liquid into the kettle, then pour 3 gallons of 170f water into the tun, stir for a couple minutes, then drain that after recycling a few bowlfuls.
Is there anything to be said for leaving the sparge water on the grains for longer than a few minutes? What exactly is the benefit of fly sparging? What's the best way to go about this whole process anyway, without spending any additional money on sparging arms, etc.? 72% ain't bad, but I could do better.
What I'm not terribly clear on (Papazian doesn't go into too much detail here) is sparging. I don't have a sparging arm or any of that fancy gadgetry...my process was a simple batch sparge: drain out the mash liquid into the kettle, then pour 3 gallons of 170f water into the tun, stir for a couple minutes, then drain that after recycling a few bowlfuls.
Is there anything to be said for leaving the sparge water on the grains for longer than a few minutes? What exactly is the benefit of fly sparging? What's the best way to go about this whole process anyway, without spending any additional money on sparging arms, etc.? 72% ain't bad, but I could do better.