Sparging Questions from a New AG'er

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.

After adding a batch of sparge water I give my mash a good stir to dissolve sugars into solution. After this, I let it sit for ~5-10 minutes, no more, which allows the husks, endosperms, and insoluble proteins to settle out in that order which promotes a good runoff.

Baron von BeeGee said:

After adding a batch of sparge water I give my mash a good stir to dissolve sugars into solution. After this, I let it sit for ~5-10 minutes, no more, which allows the husks, endosperms, and insoluble proteins to settle out in that order which promotes a good runoff.

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Yeah, mine sat for maybe 5 minutes. Now, when you say it allows that junk to settle, what do you mean? Settle to where? The surface of the grain bed? The surface of the false bottom? I'm not quite following that.

When you add a batch of water and stir it you are stirring the entire grist from the false bottom up. Since it's all heavier than water it's going to settle back down to the bottom of your tun. The suction created when you begin runoff causes it to compact even more (depending on your lautertun design, I suppose).

What about collecting more sparge water? You would have to boil more off but I think the extra run off means more efficiency right?

I make the water temp of the second sparge at around 185. It heats the mash a bit and possibly a few more sugars out of the grains. 72% is pretty good the first time around.

67coupe390 said:

What about collecting more sparge water? You would have to boil more off but I think the extra run off means more efficiency right?

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To a point...if there are still sugars to be rinsed. You'll want your last runnings to be under 1.010 to be sure you've got the sugars out. After that (when your sparge water is looking more like water than wort) you really aren't getting much more eff. by running more gallons through there.

Try lowering the pH of the sparge with gypsum or 5.2 buffer - you may see a few points from that. 72% sure aint bad for a first time!

From what I recall reading there is a danger of oversparging and extracting tannins, although I am not sure what that all means nor if it holds true with batch sparging as much as it does with fly sparging, and then I believe it is a funciton of pH? Anyone have any experience with this?

Anyways, I fly sparge. I am getting very high efficiencies at the cost of time. But hey, I just ladle the water over the grains. Takes me roughly 30 to 40 minutes. Some folks use those arms but I followed Palmer's advice and just keep the water level a little over the grains and control the runoff at about 1 qt/min, I just stop when I collect enough wort. My water is slighlty acidic naturally which is a factor, but I think in general the worries about pH shouldn't stop people from having a go at it. I like using less grain for a batch, but in reality I probably end up saving a buck or so...but hey that's just me

Yes, tannins come out in a certain range of temperatures and pH's. If you use sparge water that is below pH 5.5 or so, you should not worry about extracting tannins under 200 degrees. In the mash the grain naturally lowers the pH so it's not as big a concern. Not to mention you are mashing at a lower temperature.