Partial Mash Technique with Only 1 kettle

New to partial mashing, and really brewing in general. So I was wondering if this technique for sparging(?) would yield ~OK~ results, because this is what I did yesterday:

I only have 1 large kettle (no big cooler). So I brought my water up to 158-160 before adding 4lbs of grain, dropping the temperature to 155/154F. Removed from heat and covered with towels to insulate. At the end of the 60min mash, I remove & drip grain bag, and then placed the grains in a bowl for 10min while I heated the wort up to 172. Then I put grains in 172 wort for 5-10min, removed & dripped grains and washed grains with 1 quart of hot water from a smaller pot in order to get the most out of grains.

Without a second kettle or large cooler, is this ok? I realize that since I'm putting it in 172* wort that I'm probably not getting as much out of it because the wort is already concentrated compared to clean water, but that's why I figured a wash would get similar results.

I realize I won't get the best efficiency, I was more just hoping for better than just steeping. The grain was Caramel 40L, Munich, Biscuit, and small amount of Aromatic.

Thanks for thoughts - don't want to do it again if it's bad practice, or any suggestions would be nice.

Nevermind, found my answer! Did the right thing, just need more sparge water next time.

Hey dude, originally from Clemson myself.

Yeah, what you did is technically "no-sparge." Some people do it and tend to get somewhere between 50% and 70% efficiency, and that's fine if you're ok with it. I really don't think you gained anything by trying to do a mash-out at 172F. If I were you and didn't have another kettle, I'd just remove my grains and start the boil.

Having said that, you will thank me if you go out and buy a 5 gallon gatorade cooler. They are only $20 (less than the price of a batch of beer), and it is a really simple upgrade. Just put your grains and grain bag in the cooler, heat your water in the kettle and dump in. You can then use the kettle again while the mash is going on to heat up your sparge water. You pull the grains out of the mash and pour the mash wort into a smaller vessel, put the grain bag back in the cooler and pour the sparge water in, stir and wait 10 minutes. Pull the grains out, and mix all the wort together in the kettle and start the boil.

I gotcha, eventually I will. I graduate in May and will be moving to phoenix. Once there, then I'll work on getting better equipment. But I just started and I'm living in a smaller apartment, no room for more stuff. When I do smaller batches (1-2lb), I've got a little spaghetti pot that I do my sparge in @ 172, but this recipe called for a lot more. I hit my target gravity regardless though - so I didn't hurt anything. Thanks for the advice though.