Stevorino
Well-Known Member
If I have a 5 gallon recipe, do I batch sparge until I get 5 gallons in my brewpot?
How much water to batch sparge with?
- Thread starter Stevorino
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No, batch sparge until you have about 6-6.5 gal total preboil volume in the kettle. You will lose around a gallon during the boil depending on how hard you're boiling.
Evan!
Well-Known Member
wilserbrewer said:
That's assuming a lot.
I'd suggest you get some brewing software like promash or beersmith. Your sparging amounts vary---and are dependent on many factors that can change frequently---like your evaporation rate (dependent on humidity and temp, size of pot, etc.), your deadspace in the MLT and kettle, whether you use a CC chiller...all these things can be adjusted and accounted for with the software. It also depends on your boil time!
That having been said...a good rule of thumb is 1/2 gallon of sparge water per pound of grain. So...10 lbs of grain in the mash = 5 gals of sparge water.
LS_Grimmy
Well-Known Member
I go with Evan! on this one... Mine is usually between5-6 gallons depending on how much grain I use.
On my system I use this to determine my batch sparge water required. I want to get 27 Liters (7 US Gallons into my kettle for my boil). This is the max I can hold in my kettle.
Saying that I take into account losses for:
- Figure my mash volume needed ( lbs grain * mash ratio)
- Then I subtract the Grain absorbtion factor (lbs of grain * 10%)
- Then I also subtract Lauter Tun Deadspace Loss (.5 gallons on my system)
After that is all done it gives me whats left in volume that would get transfered to my kettle. I just make up the difference with the sparge water. So if I have 2 gallons left over and I need 7 for the boil I add 5 gallons of sparge water. I do my batch sparges in 2 steps so I would do one batch sparge with 2.5 gallons of water and the other with 2.5 gallons of water to make up the total 5 gallons.
Now saying all this... if you google this topic you will find endless sites that will confuse the hell out of ya. I choose this way because basically it's easy to figure out and it works for me and my system. Here is the calculation I use for my spreadsheet:
Total Sparge Water required = 7 Gallons - (mash water volume - absorbtion loss - Launter tun deadspaceloss )
Best of luck
Grimmy
On my system I use this to determine my batch sparge water required. I want to get 27 Liters (7 US Gallons into my kettle for my boil). This is the max I can hold in my kettle.
Saying that I take into account losses for:
- Figure my mash volume needed ( lbs grain * mash ratio)
- Then I subtract the Grain absorbtion factor (lbs of grain * 10%)
- Then I also subtract Lauter Tun Deadspace Loss (.5 gallons on my system)
After that is all done it gives me whats left in volume that would get transfered to my kettle. I just make up the difference with the sparge water. So if I have 2 gallons left over and I need 7 for the boil I add 5 gallons of sparge water. I do my batch sparges in 2 steps so I would do one batch sparge with 2.5 gallons of water and the other with 2.5 gallons of water to make up the total 5 gallons.
Now saying all this... if you google this topic you will find endless sites that will confuse the hell out of ya. I choose this way because basically it's easy to figure out and it works for me and my system. Here is the calculation I use for my spreadsheet:
Total Sparge Water required = 7 Gallons - (mash water volume - absorbtion loss - Launter tun deadspaceloss )
Best of luck
Grimmy
You have the right idea about basically sparging until you hit a fixed preboil volume. If you want 5 in the fermenter, you will need at least 6.25 in the kettle preboil and maybe even more in the cold dry air of winter.
It will take you a while to dial in your grain absorbtion and deadspace etc so the easiest way to figure out how much to sparge with is to physically measure your first runnings. If you get 3 gallons out and want 6.5 in the kettle, 6.5 minus 3 is 3.5 gallons. Break that into two separate 1.75 gallon batch sparges and you'll hit your preboil volume. Always heat up more water than you think you'll need.
It will take you a while to dial in your grain absorbtion and deadspace etc so the easiest way to figure out how much to sparge with is to physically measure your first runnings. If you get 3 gallons out and want 6.5 in the kettle, 6.5 minus 3 is 3.5 gallons. Break that into two separate 1.75 gallon batch sparges and you'll hit your preboil volume. Always heat up more water than you think you'll need.
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