I have a batch sparge trick to share

It seemed to me that a double batch sparge was still leaving too much sugar behind so I found a 2 qt plastic measuring cup with handle and drilled about 15 small holes in the bottom to make a sprinkler tool for a final grainbed rinse. I reserve 2 qts of sparge water. After my double batch sparge I sprinkle the grainbed by pouring the last 2 qts of sparge water into the sprinkler and let it sprinkle out as I pass it slowly over the grainbed. It takes about 45 seconds to run through. The final 2qts of runnings were 1.030 so I know my technique helps. The extra step raised my efficiency several points too!
Beerbeque

Sweet Action Man!

I'm gonna try that.

Sounds like you're essentially fly sparging the last 2qts. Probably not too different from the way BierMuncher ladles his sparge water (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=59137).

Cool, doo you have the valve of your mlt open while doing that?

Yes,I keep the drain valve open so the water passes right through,giving a true rinse. I get the benefits of batch sparging along with the grain rinsing benefit of fly sparging.
Beerbeque

Sounds like a great idea. It's simple, and it doesn't take too much extra effort. Thanks for this tip.

I'm suspect of the utility but I'd like to know more about your regular batch sparge technique. What temp are you using? Have you measured the gravity of the 3rd runnings prior to the micro fly sparge?

I've always batch sparged the most common and popular way. My sparge water is at 170. I put about half the water into my mlt after draining my first runnings. I stir,vorlauf and drain. Then the final half of my 170 sparge water goes in and again I stir, rest, vorlauf and drain. But now I just add one more step with 2 qts of the sparge water that I reserved from the two infusions. ( so now I just use about 1 qt less per sparge)

Beerbeque

Do me a big favor and go back to your old method but crank the temp of the sparge to 185F. I would wager a much larger increase in efficiency than you're seeing with the 2 quart fly sparge. If I'm lyin, I'm dyin.

Bobby
I'm still new at this but I respect your experience here. I thought that 185 was too hot for sparging but I'll take your advice on my next batch.
Beerbeque

185 is on the high side of the spectrum.

Anything more would be too much.

brewjunky said:

185 is on the high side of the spectrum.

Anything more would be too much.

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I think what Bobby is saying is 185f sparge water, the grainbed will not get that hot, it is my experience that the first infusion will get your temp to 168f, and the second will be about 174f, hope this helps, good luck, and brew on bro.

On a related note, I have always had pretty good efficiency. I fly sparge, but I know that with 170 sparge water the grain bed is much colder and rarely goes up a few degrees from mash temp. I am thinking about pushing the sparge temp up next time but am concerned about tannin extraction. What I wonder is, do you guys keep a thermometer in your mash and is that the actual indicator of when you get in the danger zone for tannin extraction? I think I just answered my own question, but would like to hear opinions.

168F was the magic number for fly sparging because they usually include a very hot mash out infusion of about 200F to get the grainbed up to 168F just before starting the sparge. At that point the sparge infusion could be 168F and it would maintain the temp during the sparge.

185F on batch sparging is completely reasonable and you can test its effects out yourself. After the first batch sparge infusion, stir really well and put a thermo in there. You'll see something like 164F. After the second one, it will be nearly 168F. Of course I'm generalizing because the exact number will depend on where your mash temp ended up. Software will help you select optimum temps.

If 185F infusions were dangerous, ask yourself how fly spargers get away with infusing nearly boiling water for the mash out. The answer is that the 168F threshold is based on equilized grainbed temps and NOT infusion temps.

A piece of aluminum foil with holes pierced in it laying on top of the grain bed will do the same thing and you don't have to hold it like you would a cup or pitcher.

The timing of this thread couldn't be better. I've been trying to diagnose my efficiency, it's consistent but really bad, and my sparge is the next target. This is a great idea, in addition to using aluminum foil. Now ya got me thinkin'...

I'm raising my sparge water per Bobby_M next brew and seeing if I can get back to my old "high" effiency. Now that I have another filter in my MT, I am doing a finer crush as well.

I am so glad to hear other brewers use aluminum foil!

I am a new poster here, but have been brewing for several years, and I have been doing the 'hybrid' fly sparge for the past couple of years. I recently upgraded from my 5 gal. round cooler to a 70 qt, and now a 150 qt cooler. People in my brewclub have fly sparge whirly dealies, but I would just use the 'pot ladling' method. I would try to be careful to not disturb the grain bed too much, but it would still get stirred up. So I put some aluminum foil down and punched a bunch of holes in it with my thermometer! It worked great, it floats up sometimes but I don't worry about that. Now I am running a vinyl tube from the HLT to my Mash tun and it still doesn't disturb the grain although I am considering getting a few plastic T's to split the water flow into 4-8 different direction so there isn't a current.

abracadabra said:

A piece of aluminum foil with holes pierced in it laying on top of the grain bed will do the same thing and you don't have to hold it like you would a cup or pitcher.

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word. i've done this a couple of times with great success.

lupulin said:

I am so glad to hear other brewers use aluminum foil!

I am a new poster here, but have been brewing for several years, and I have been doing the 'hybrid' fly sparge for the past couple of years. I recently upgraded from my 5 gal. round cooler to a 70 qt, and now a 150 qt cooler. People in my brewclub have fly sparge whirly dealies, but I would just use the 'pot ladling' method. I would try to be careful to not disturb the grain bed too much, but it would still get stirred up. So I put some aluminum foil down and punched a bunch of holes in it with my thermometer! It worked great, it floats up sometimes but I don't worry about that. Now I am running a vinyl tube from the HLT to my Mash tun and it still doesn't disturb the grain although I am considering getting a few plastic T's to split the water flow into 4-8 different direction so there isn't a current.

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Again, I have to ask, exactly how is this method different enough from traditional fly sparging to warrant a totally new name? If the only difference is not using a rotating sparge arm, I'm not buying.

Bobby_M said:

Again, I have to ask, exactly how is this method different enough from traditional fly sparging to warrant a totally new name? If the only difference is not using a rotating sparge arm, I'm not buying.

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I agree with you. I don't think it is different at all. That's why I put Hybrid in quotes.