partial mash sparging

a couple of questions concerning sparging a partial-mash:

1) is sparging simply straining the mini-mash through a mesh colander and then adding the sparge water over the mashed grains in the colander?

2) do you "squeeze" the grains to get as much liquid out (kind of like squeezing a tea bag when making a cup of tea - though my grandfather says this makes the tea bitter) or just let it sit for a while and collect what drains out on its own?

Thanks!

1)yes

2)I don't squeeze, but some people do

1. That is one way to do it. Another way is to heat a seperate pot with 170 degree water and steep the grain bag in that to release any extra wort.

2. No, you will be squeezing out tannins, yuck!

Squeezing isn't a great idea. You will be extracting things you don't want (tannins) from the grains if you do that...

Runyank said:

1. That is one way to do it. Another way is to heat a seperate pot with 170 degree water and steep the grain bag in that to release any extra wort.

2. No, you will be squeezing out tannins, yuck!

Click to expand...

1. I just did my first PM and I did it this way. I just took the grain out of my mash tun (in a grain bag) and dropped it in my brew kettle. In the end it left me with the perfect boil size (about 3.5 gallons) when the other wort was added.

2. Like others have stated, it releases tannins, but I still squeeze it a bit... (it just seems like a waste not to do it a little)

The idea of sparging is to "rinse" off the remaining sugars - without having to squeeze the grains.