sparging

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skaboyd

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I am new to all grain brewing and could use any help on the sparging process the books I have left me with alittle question. I would apriciate any help. I just can't belive it is that complicated but pls help if you can
 
I batch sparge...it's really easy. Recirculate the first runnings until the wort clears, then empty the mash tun quickly until the grain bed just begins to compact. Then add 70C to 80C water, gently stir and leave for 10-15 mins. Recirculate and then empty quickly again. Continue to do this until the required volume is reached or the gravity is around 1008.

Hope this helps.
 
... and I fly sparge. This involves draining the runnings then slowly sprinkling 75C water over the grain bed, while draining, so that there is a half-inch layer of water over it. This is done slowly for an hour or more so as to rinse out as much sugar as possible.
 
And whether you decide to batch or fly sparge, add about 1g of near boiling water to the mash and stir to raise the temp up to 168F (75C) before starting. This will greatly improve your efficiency (at least, it did for me.)

-a.
 
My main concern is how do I fly or batch sparge. I have read using two 5 gallon buckets one with 1/8 inch holes drilled in the bottom to I guess ( fly sparge). I hate to sound like a novice but I have been used to using pre made malts and well I want to get a little more experimenting in with all grains I belive there is alot of posiblilitys with mixing some grains to create my own malt. Unfortunatly I am not ready to spend money to buy equipmenty untill I can do it a few times. The 60 to 90 min sparge time claims I need to have the water above the grain bed as I extract the sugars at a constant of 170-180 deg F ( 77-82 C). I have seen a couple of options to create a lauter-tun out of 5 gal. buckets and coolers. If I do this and pour the hot water in to the buckets mixing mash into it as well do I initially let the hot water set and slowly drain while adding more hot water The description of this in my book seems a little vauge and I am worried if I do not sparge properly I will be losing the extra umph my brew should have. Does this sound right or am I heading in the wrong direction? and once again thanks for the comments
 
budbo said:
What is the question?

You just want to spoil the surpise don't you :D Actually.... that is not a bad question to his question (or lack of it actually).
 
Palmer has plans for building a mash tun at www.howtobrew.com

I made mine out of a 5 gal. round igloo. You have the right idea how it works. Check out Palmer's site. It should clear everything up, I hope. If not, that's why we're here.
 
skaboyd said:
Unfortunatly I am not ready to spend money to buy equipmenty untill I can do it a few times. The 60 to 90 min sparge time claims I need to have the water above the grain bed as I extract the sugars at a constant of 170-180 deg F ( 77-82 C). I have seen a couple of options to create a lauter-tun out of 5 gal. buckets and coolers. If I do this and pour the hot water in to the buckets mixing mash into it as well do I initially let the hot water set and slowly drain while adding more hot water The description of this in my book seems a little vauge and I am worried if I do not sparge properly I will be losing the extra umph my brew should have. Does this sound right or am I heading in the wrong direction? and once again thanks for the comments

Well you sound like you have the basics down.... though I'm confused on how you plan to do it a few times if your not ready to spend the money to buy the equipment needed. What book are you using? You being concerned about loosing the "extra umph" in your brew sounds justified. You might want to try doing a partial mash where you could use a grain bag. This way you might be able to get away with using the brewpot your using now. My personal preference is to do things right the first time. What are you doing now and why do you want to go to an AG route? There are tons of things you can do to improve your beer without going AG.
 

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