To sparge or not to sparge? - that is the question

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Marcale

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Folks
Following on from the discussion - New brewers - stop worrying about gravity readings.
Notwithstanding the discussion on the merits of using an (or is it a) hydrometer Janx makes a very good point about mashing which I have considered, but not implemented - Not enough extraction? Add more grain. It's cheap!
I use about 3.5kg per 25L brew – that works out at $3.30 per brew. (I buy 25kg at a time from a local mill.) I have thought about omitting the mucking about with sparging and just using another ½ kg (50c worth) of malt. (Note: I say this as a home brewer not a commercial brewer, where costs are critical.)
I would think (guess) that there is not more than about 10% of sugars left in a well drained mash before sparging. However, it would be useful to know what the gravity of the mash liquor was to determine the amount of extra malt.
Does anyone take this approach, or have any comment on it?
Take care,
Marcale
 
Marcale said:
Folks
Following on from the discussion - New brewers - stop worrying about gravity readings.
Notwithstanding the discussion on the merits of using an (or is it a) hydrometer Janx makes a very good point about mashing which I have considered, but not implemented - Not enough extraction? Add more grain. It's cheap!
I use about 3.5kg per 25L brew – that works out at $3.30 per brew. (I buy 25kg at a time from a local mill.) I have thought about omitting the mucking about with sparging and just using another ½ kg (50c worth) of malt. (Note: I say this as a home brewer not a commercial brewer, where costs are critical.)
I would think (guess) that there is not more than about 10% of sugars left in a well drained mash before sparging. However, it would be useful to know what the gravity of the mash liquor was to determine the amount of extra malt.
Does anyone take this approach, or have any comment on it?
Take care,
Marcale

Your right grain is cheap, and if you sparge it will be even cheaper. Why waste perfectly good wort. How about every time you make a batch of beer, send me the grains and i will keep whatever is left. for the 3.5kg your looking at 1.042 og with a potential of 4% alcohol, but in reality about 3.2% alcohol is a guess, but i think close enough. You want to up the grain to about 9 to 10 pounds for a decent 5 gallon batch for a 4.8 to 5.2% alcohol. I think any all-grain brewer would tie you to a tree and feed you nasty commercial beer if they saw you dump those grains without sparging. Come on how hard is it to sprinkle some hot water on top of the grain. Oh and i hate measuring in kg's. Other than that cheers
 
I batch sparge, typically twice. Based on the checks I've done, less than 1/2 of the sugars are in the first run. First run will be at about double strength, but only 1/4 the volume. The second run is around target strength and 3/8 the volume. The third run is down around 1/2 to 1/3 target SG and 3/8ths the volume.

I made barley wine once using first runnings (2 1/2 gallons at 1.096) and a "small beer" from the second and third. The small beer was 5 gallons at 1.042.

Janx's approach works fine, if you have a big enough mash tun and don't mind wasting half of your ingredients. If you use a lot of specialty grains, the cost adds up fast.
 
I agree with David. Sounds wasteful to me no matter the cost.

As fas as "a" and "an" is concerned the general rule is if the following word starts with a vowel (aeiouy) then you use "an"; e.g., a hydrometer, an ice cream cone.
 
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