mash out vs. batch sparge

I like to use BeerSMith to craft recipes, but I'm still trying to figure out all the details. I've started doing partial mashes, but I'm always confused by the mash options in BeerSmith. I get that I want to do a simple infusion and that the mash temp affects the body, but what's the difference between "mash out", "batch sparge" and "no mash out"? Are these different techniques for doing different things? or is it simply 3 different ways of doing the same thing?

What I do is mash at the temp recommended in BeerSmith for approx. 60 minutes. THen I strain the mash/grain through a colander and rinse the grain with more hot water (~170 degrees F). Is this a "batch sparge"? a "mash out"? neither? Thanks.

To mash out is to get the mash to 168F for a 10min rest. It's not all that important but may be worth a few efficiency points. What you are saying is more like a fly sparge. A batch sparge would be more like rinsing the grain bag in another pot of 170F watter then adding that watter back in to the brew pot.

Most people batch sparge by draining the tun and adding hot water. Your technique is somewhere in between batch sparging and fly sparging.

Call it batch sparging in the software.

You would do much better to add the stained grains into whatever vessel you heated the "rinse" water in and stirring it well, then restraining it. That would be a batch sparge and much more efficient.

Bobby_M said:

You would do much better to add the stained grains into whatever vessel you heated the "rinse" water in and stirring it well, then restraining it. That would be a batch sparge and much more efficient.

Click to expand...

Would you then rinse the grains after the second straining or just let them "drip dry"?

Not sure I have the right size pots to accommodate this technique (I think the pot I use to heat the "rinse" water would overflow if I dropped the grains in) but it makes sense.

Just let them drain both times without pouring water over them. The reason pouring in a strainer doesn't work well is that a lot of sugar gets missed since the water finds the easiest path through.

When fly sparging you want the grain bed submerged. With a colander the watter would drain too fast. With fly sparging the wort comes out of the mash slow and the hot watter goes in at the same rate. Bobby has you batch sparging the correct way. You should see DeathBrewer's sticky.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/