Batch sparge question

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benzy4010

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Ve brewed a couple of beers now but I think I've been sparking wrong. I've made drinkable beer every time but wondering if my sparing may have led to weaker watered down brews. I mash with 1.5 qts per lb go grain. When I'm collecting the first runnings I collect them in large plastic containers that have measurements on them which tells me how much exactly I collected. I then figure out how much water I need to Sparge with. I heat that amount up ( to get 6 gallons pre boil) and pour and stir with my grains then collect until I have six gallons. Sometimes I still have water left in my mash tun. Am I doing this way wrong. A few brews have tasted a bit weak such as my Belgian wit. Also do I need to heat Sparge water?
 
Do I want to make it so I get 3 gallons on mashing and 3 on Sparge? Or the majority on mash?
 
If you want 6 gallons in your kettle for boil, you'll need to also compensate for water absorbed by the grain and dead space in your mash tun. As for "weak", you'll never know unless you measure the gravity of your runnings, etc. Hydrometer or refractometer.
 
benzy4010 said:
Ve brewed a couple of beers now but I think I've been sparking wrong. I've made drinkable beer every time but wondering if my sparing may have led to weaker watered down brews. I mash with 1.5 qts per lb go grain. When I'm collecting the first runnings I collect them in large plastic containers that have measurements on them which tells me how much exactly I collected. I then figure out how much water I need to Sparge with. I heat that amount up ( to get 6 gallons pre boil) and pour and stir with my grains then collect until I have six gallons. Sometimes I still have water left in my mash tun. Am I doing this way wrong. A few brews have tasted a bit weak such as my Belgian wit. Also do I need to heat Sparge water?

Yes! Heat sparge water. I find about 185-190 gets my grain bed to about 170, about where you want it for sparging.
 
Is there any formula for grain absorption?

No. It varies a little depending on your system, but it should be close to 0.5 quarts per lb of grain. Measure your water loss on the first runnings and then measure your deadspace after you sparge. Subtract the deadspace from your water loss and that will give you a better idea of what's happening in your system.
 
How do you calculate dead space?

Put 3 gals of water in your tun and measure what you get back with out tipping the tuns, if you get back 2.5 gals then your dead space is .5 gal. I personally don't measure dead space when i do my mash i tilt the tun to extract all that i can and then batch sparge with 175 degree water to reach 7 gal of total wort. after a 60 min boil I'm usually at or just under 5.5 gal
 
That's what I was kinda doing I guess. I tilted the tun till it was empty.
 
Glynn said:
Put 3 gals of water in your tun and measure what you get back with out tipping the tuns, if you get back 2.5 gals then your dead space is .5 gal. I personally don't measure dead space when i do my mash i tilt the tun to extract all that i can and then batch sparge with 175 degree water to reach 7 gal of total wort. after a 60 min boil I'm usually at or just under 5.5 gal

This is exactly how i do it too. With my system, i have about 4 gallons of sparge water sitting between 172-178 degrees. I batch sparge so ill usually have some left in the mash tun but ill have collected 6.5 to 7 gallons pre boil. I hit around 80% efficiency according to the online calculators i use.

Also, the "weak" tasting beer could be that your crush may be to blame or just not enough grain to start with.
 
I get crushed grains frim brewmaster warehouse I'm not sure how great their grain is. Their customer service is garbage but I live just a few miles down the road so it's really easy. I'd rather use other shops but it's to easy to go to brewmasters
 
benzy4010 said:
I get crushed grains frim brewmaster warehouse I'm not sure how great their grain is. Their customer service is garbage but I live just a few miles down the road so it's really easy. I'd rather use other shops but it's to easy to go to brewmasters

If you have the means, order a mill for yourself. "The barley crusher" works amazing. Or try some different online stores. Homebrewheaven.com has awesome products and ships pretty quick.

Also, what temp have you been mashing and what are you using for a mash tun?
 
When I put three gallons in tun it's empty right don't need any grain or anything?
 
The last recipe was a brown ale at 152 I believe and it's a Coleman 50 qt cooler with bazooka screen and ball value. Only lose about a degree in an hour
 
Like this without the manifold just a bazooka screen


image-961912555.jpg
 
benzy4010 said:
When I put three gallons in tun it's empty right don't need any grain or anything?

Correct. Just tap water. All you are doing is measuring the dead space. Put 3 in and let it drain into a container so you can measure what you get back with the tun sitting level, dont tilt it for this measurment.
 
benzy4010 said:
Here's my brown ale

Do most people cold crash brown ales?

I only cold crash if im gonna keg the beer. If im going to bottle it i just let it sit for another week or so after its done fermenting to help it clear up a bit more.
 
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