Hi, im a little confuse with sparging, lets say I want to do 5 gallon batch of an american ale with an OG of 1.052. How much water I add up initially for mash?? How much water I add up in sparging? Whats going to be the OG before I add up sparge water? And After?
Sparging and Gravity
- Thread starter jvend
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Copbrew133
Well-Known Member
It kind of depends on your system and preference. I usually mash in at a ratio of 1.3 quarts per pound of grain. Of course the temperature of the initial strike water is dependant on your grain temp, amount, your target mash temp, and how much heat your mash tun sucks out of the water. As far as sparging...are you fly sparging or batch sparging? If batch calculate the difference between your target volume you planned on going into the fermenter and what you collected in the 1st runnings. The difference will be how much water you need. Your first runnings will have a higher gravity than the runnings you collect after sparging as the concentration of sugars will be reduced.
Figure about 1.25 gallons per pound of grain for the mash, and about 1/2 gallon per pound for the sparge.
There is some great information here and here.
If you are fly sparge, take a reading from the first runnings from the mash tun. It will be very high, perhaps somewhere between 1.080 and 1.100. Take another reading from the last runnings -- that should be quite low, not more than 1.010. The closer you can get that to 1.000 the better. Remember, when you fly sparge, slower is better. For a 5 gallon batch, sparging should take a minimum of 45 minutes.
See also John Palmer's book How to Brew. the text is also available online for free here .
Good luck, and enjoy!
There is some great information here and here.
If you are fly sparge, take a reading from the first runnings from the mash tun. It will be very high, perhaps somewhere between 1.080 and 1.100. Take another reading from the last runnings -- that should be quite low, not more than 1.010. The closer you can get that to 1.000 the better. Remember, when you fly sparge, slower is better. For a 5 gallon batch, sparging should take a minimum of 45 minutes.
See also John Palmer's book How to Brew. the text is also available online for free here .
Good luck, and enjoy!
ProfessorBrew
Well-Known Member
hecher: Don't you mean 1.25 *quarts* per pound in the mash?
My bad -- you are absolutely right. 1.25 quarters/pound.
The purpose of sparging, jvend, is to rinse the sugars out of the mash and collect them in your kettle. Even if you mash with sufficient water to collect 6.5 gallons, you'll likely leave a lot of fermentables behind.
Northcalais40
Well-Known Member
Jvend, Yes you can do that, but you will take a hit in efficiency. What I am doing is splitting my total volume in half. I will mash with 1.25 qts of water per lb of grain (this beer has 24 lbs of grain for a 10 gallon batch). I will mash with 30 qts of water, and then sparge with 30.25 qts. Because of the water that the grain will absorb in the mashtun, and the wort that the hops will absorb in the boil kettle, I will end up with (I hope) 10 gallons in the carboys.
I am batch sparging.
I use a basic spreadsheet to do all my calculations. I enter the total grain amount and assume that it will absorb .1 gallons of water per lb. I then enter the mash ratio in qts per lb and the total preboil volume (batch volume +1.5 gallons works for me) and it kicks out the sparge volume. I can then adjust the mash ratio until my mash volume equals my sparge volume, if that is what I want to do.
Some folks use brewing software. I made my own simple spreadsheet.
I am batch sparging.
I use a basic spreadsheet to do all my calculations. I enter the total grain amount and assume that it will absorb .1 gallons of water per lb. I then enter the mash ratio in qts per lb and the total preboil volume (batch volume +1.5 gallons works for me) and it kicks out the sparge volume. I can then adjust the mash ratio until my mash volume equals my sparge volume, if that is what I want to do.
Some folks use brewing software. I made my own simple spreadsheet.
brycelarson
Well-Known Member
AND you have to account for the water you're not going to get back out of the grain.
For a beer with 10 pounds of grain aiming for a pre-boil gravity of about 1040 and an OG of about 1046 I'll be using something like 7.5 gallons of water - giving me 6.25-6.5 gallons of wort pre-boil. I lose just over a gallon during my boil - so that'll put slightly over 5 gallons into my fermenter after loss to trub.
I use brew smith software to help with the calculations.
ron,ar
Well-Known Member
I use this as a general rule and direction for getting my volumes right. It is generic and each user needs to tweek it to their own equipment and recipe...but it works as a simple guideline everytime for me.
http://www.suebob.com/index.php?opt...in-primer&catid=40:brewing-articles&Itemid=66
http://www.suebob.com/index.php?opt...in-primer&catid=40:brewing-articles&Itemid=66
blacksailj
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2012
- Messages
- 83
- Reaction score
- 0
hercher said:
It is suggested in several texts that when nearing the end of your run off not go past 1.006 to prevent extracting harsh tannins from the husks.
Actually, my rule of thumb is to not go below 1.010- if you go lower, you may have some pH issues and extract some tannins and have some astringency in the finished beer. Also, remember that adding that low of runnings to your wort will dilute the wort and lower the OG.
blacksailj
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2012
- Messages
- 83
- Reaction score
- 0
Everywhere I've read as well as some pro brewers said 1.006-1.008 was the point where the tannins are extracted, but regardless what the magic number you are right about the pH. Once it starts to change its time to stop the run off. Most of the time I find I hit my preboil volume when the run off is around 1.013 so I've never needed to truly test these theories, and I do 90 minute boils.
brycelarson
Well-Known Member
same here - I get my kettle to where I need before I hit 1010 normally.
another question, lets say that when preboil gravity is 1.046 and I want 1.052, what can I do? Also, I moticed that if I add 1.25qts of water per pound the grains arent covered completely by the water so I guess they aren't converting sugars right? what do.I do? sparging is complicated isnt best.to. bre with grain filters?
jvend said:
Question#1: if your pre-boil is lower than you want your mash efficiency is off and you can either add DME to the boil or boil longer to concentrate the wort to your desired OG but you'll get less beer.
Question#2up the water to 1.5qt/lb. be sure that you stir well as you add the grains and prevent dough balls which can effect efficiency as well.
For improving your efficiency check the quality of the crush and be sure to stir well when dough in and stir again half way. If batch sparging be sure to stir really well prior to draining the wort to knock the sugars and try to use 180-190F water for the sparge as well.
If you are not killing your own grains then ask the LHBS to crush twice or tighten the gap for you.
Similar threads
