Batch sparge - single or double?

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cee3

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I'm going to be brewing a Belgian Strong Golden ale with the following:

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.082 SG
Estimated Color: 4.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 26.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11 lbs 8.0 oz Pilsen (2 Row) US (1.0 SRM) Grain 76.01 %
14.1 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.82 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3.30 %
4.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 1.65 %
1.50 oz Mt. Hood [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 20.1 IBU
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (15 min) Hops 2.9 IBU
0.50 oz Mt. Hood [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 3.3 IBU
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (1 min) Hops 0.3 IBU
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.00 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
2 lbs Candi Sugar, Clear (0.5 SRM) Sugar 13.22 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Strong Ale (Wyeast Labs #1388) Yeast-Ale
-----------------------------------------

My question is would it be better to do a single sparge at 168 with 4.2 gal or 2 sparges of 2.1 gal each, the first a bit hotter?
 
The last time I rushed my process and did one single batch sparge, my efficiency dropped 10 points. I also drained it too quickly and didn't let the bed settle. Definitely do two infusions and take your time.

185 would be my recommendation, 168 before going into the mash is almost certainly not hot enough.
 
Definitely two & sparge hot. Several people have performed experiments using identical grain bills & two hot sparges always wins.
 
Thanks for the advice. Forgive my ignorance, I haven't done it before, but It seems like 2.1 gal (8.4 qt) in 13+ lbs of grain would be awful thick. Maybe with the sparging that's not critical.
 
You're right. .6 quarts/ lb on a sparge is a on the borderline side to make it stirrable but not completely off the wall. This is a relatively big beer with a small preboil volume. I might be prone to do a 1 gallon (boiling water or close) mashout infusion, drain, then a single sparge of 3.25 gallons at 170F on this one.
 
What is the minimum amount of sparge water to grain ratio? I've been trying to stay close to 1qt/lb and do 2 sparges after draining the first runnings. Does thickening the ratio reduce efficiency?
 
I've taken some guesses that efficiency would only really start suffering when it gets so thick that it's hard to adequetely stir. Judging by my experiences with different grain bills, I THINK .5qts/lb is where it goes south.
 
You're right. .6 quarts/ lb on a sparge is a on the borderline side to make it stirrable but not completely off the wall. This is a relatively big beer with a small preboil volume. I might be prone to do a 1 gallon (boiling water or close) mashout infusion, drain, then a single sparge of 3.25 gallons at 170F on this one.

Not to derail the thread, but is there a reason to do a mashout when you're batch sparging? I've come to understand it's really only helpful when fly sparging?
 
Not to derail the thread, but is there a reason to do a mashout when you're batch sparging? I've come to understand it's really only helpful when fly sparging?
That's a common misconception. Mash outs are not as NECESSARY when batch sparging, but they are still very helpful, although not for the same reasons as when fly sparging. The biggest advantage is that increasing the mash temp gets a bit more sugar in solution, and the extra heat and water reduce the viscosity of the mash, making for easier lautering. Overall, it can increase your extract efficiency by a few points or more.
 
In addition to flyguy's comment, the reason you'd maybe want to do this on a batch sparge is if you're grain bill is so big that only a single batch sparge infusion is practical, a small "mash out" infusion gets your first and second runnings as close to the same volume as possible. This is a known method of increasing efficiency.

My caveat is, if the grain bill is NOT large, the Non-mash out with two half sized batch sparges (3 runnings total) has proven to be most effective. YMMV.
 
In addition to flyguy's comment, the reason you'd maybe want to do this on a batch sparge is if you're grain bill is so big that only a single batch sparge infusion is practical, a small "mash out" infusion gets your first and second runnings as close to the same volume as possible. This is a known method of increasing efficiency.
Yes, good point -- I actually missed stating something, but if you are using two batch sparge infusions, then you can achieve the same benefits that I mentioned above by sparging hot. So a mash-out would definitely not be beneficial in that situation.

Regarding the use of a mash-out, I actually disagree with you slightly here Bobby. The only time I split my batch sparge is when I *do* have a large grainbill. The reason is that my tun is full of grain and might not accommodate a large sparge water addition, so I have to split it up. Also, with a large grainbill, your strike-to-sparge water ratio decreases, and those multiple batch sparges really help to keep the extract efficiency up.

When I am doing a small grainbill, I usually don't bother with multiple sparges. I just pull out enough sparge water to balance my runnings, boil that and use it for a mash-out (assuming the temps work out), and sparge once with the remaining water 170F. I found that splitting the sparge infusion took extra time and only increased extract efficiency by a few points, so I often don't bother.
 
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