Fly Sparging with Autosparge

Hey guys before I get into my questions I would like to thank everyone on this forum for all the info I have gotten over the past few weeks to figure out how I am setting my all grain equipment up. I decided to have a two tier brew stand that I designed and had welded up at the local community college(free welding and school prices on steel). Anyways to my question.

I have a 10 gal. Rubbermaid cooler that I am considering putting a Blichmann AutoSparge in. Now I get how batch sparging works but I am confused as to what process I would follow with fly sparging. Would I need to mash out with a 180 degree water to raise the temp of the mash before I started using the AutoSparge? Or would I just run a predetermined temperature of water through for the whole sparge process? Also for the vorlauf could I just run the runnings through my pump into the AutoSparge until it runs clear then transfer over to my brew kettle? Hopefully I worded this all correct cause I am still pretty new to the process and the terms for everything. Thanks again.

What is your reason for not wanting to batch sparge in the cooler?

I don't really have a reason just looking at the different techniques I can use right now and trying to decide what I want.

Batch sparging will save you time FWIW.

Fwiw, batch sparging is 12 times better than fly sparging.

egaberik said:

Hey guys before I get into my questions I would like to thank everyone on this forum for all the info I have gotten over the past few weeks to figure out how I am setting my all grain equipment up. I decided to have a two tier brew stand that I designed and had welded up at the local community college(free welding and school prices on steel). Anyways to my question.

I have a 10 gal. Rubbermaid cooler that I am considering putting a Blichmann AutoSparge in. Now I get how batch sparging works but I am confused as to what process I would follow with fly sparging. Would I need to mash out with a 180 degree water to raise the temp of the mash before I started using the AutoSparge? Or would I just run a predetermined temperature of water through for the whole sparge process? Also for the vorlauf could I just run the runnings through my pump into the AutoSparge until it runs clear then transfer over to my brew kettle? Hopefully I worded this all correct cause I am still pretty new to the process and the terms for everything. Thanks again.

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Don't let the batch spargers get ya down.

The autosparge essentially saves you the "hassle" of adjusting your sparge flow. In general, I have to do this 4 times per batch or so.

The fly sparging technique is not difficult. Just like batch sparging, the mash out is optional, but also optimal most of the time. If you are using infusions in a cooler, I would skip it.

To start sparging, just start emptying your cooler into the boil kettle SLOWLY. The slower the better, but most people target about 1qt/min since your efficiency doesnt improve much beyond that point. When the mash water gets about 1inch above the grainbed, start the 168F sparge water entering into your cooler at the same rate as you are emptying it.

Then, just wait until you have your preboil volume in the boil kettle and make some beer! Feel free to heat the water while it drains in to cut down on the time lost to the method.

There are MANY batch vs fly sparge arguments that you can search on, but the general consensus is that fly sparging CAN net you a pts in efficiency if done well, but batch sparging takes much less time.

EDIT: Yes, you can just recirculate into the autosparger OR just into the MLT to vorlauf, but I think the autosparger would not release your recirculation until you drained enough of the grain bed, unless you poked it with something.

When the mash is done let the sparge water run through the Autosparge and begin the sparging process. I don't worry about mashing out with a cooler mash system as it would take a lot of hot water to get the system temperature to the 165-168 degrees needed to denature the enzymes. This is bad since water above 170 can extract tannins from the grains depending on contact time. If I'm concerned about the need to mashout I do titration tests with iodine to check for full conversion and then begin the sparge. As soon as I have a few gallons collected I turn on the burner and get it heating to denature the enzymes.

Should be no problem verlaufing through the autosparge so long as it is set correctly...wouldn't go so well if the ball valve closed.

So because I would be draining so slow during the sparge process I would not want to use my pump and just gravity drain it into the boil kettle correct? Also I would need to be measuring the runnings constantly to make sure the gravity is above around a 1.010 correct?

egaberik said:

So because I would be draining so slow during the sparge process I would not want to use my pump and just gravity drain it into the boil kettle correct? Also I would need to be measuring the runnings constantly to make sure the gravity is above around a 1.010 correct?

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I use a pump and cut the flow on the back side of it to make sure it is slow enough.

You don't want to run anything below 1.008 or else you risk some tannins. For very low gravity beers, you can run a little lower though. If you ever run into runnings below 1.008 you are either oversparging (which means you have too much pre-boil volume) or something is probably wrong with your crush.

Got it. I think I am finally starting to get a good understanding of how to do fly sparging and figuring out how to incorporate it into my system. Thanks

egaberik said:

Got it. I think I am finally starting to get a good understanding of how to do fly sparging and figuring out how to incorporate it into my system. Thanks

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John calls it 'continuous sparging' fi you haven't read it yet.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter17.html