Stirring your mash?

How much or how often do your stir or agitate your mash while mashing? What about while sparging? Are there any risks or other considerations to take into count?

I stir mine about every 15 minutes. And after adding water for (batch) sparging.

I never stir.

With a cooler, you risk losing too much heat.

If I had a recirculating system, I might stir, but right now I don't see a need to honestly.

I stir thoroughly while doughing in.
I stir thoroughly while mashing out.
Apart from that, I never stir while mashing, or while fly sparging.
If I batch sparge, I stir after each batch of sparge water.

-a.

I stir at strike and with each sparge. Put the lid on and let sit for 10 minutes. I also vorlauf (sp) each sparge to correct for the stirring up I do.

I stir every 15 minutes or so or whenever I remember to do it, and at dough in and before vorlaufing and draining the mash tun.

I stir when I'm changing the mash temperature or when it makes me feel better about what's going on. Once the (fly) sparge has begun, I quit stirring.

I, too, only stir while heating (I mash in a keg, not a cooler) and for just a couple of minutes after I hit my target temp. I did not always do this; for awhile in the beginning, I was too nervous about, well, just about everything, to let the mash just sit.

Age and much beer have mellowed me, although my friends would blow homebrew out their noses if they heard me say that.

cheers, -p

Obviously, I was referring to batch sparging. Though, if anybody does stir while fly sparging, I'd love to hear how that's working out...

So it sounds to me like stirring can't really be a bad thing unless, I suppose, you are aerating as you stir. Is that about correct?

Shouldn't agitation (stirring) increase your efficiency?

When you're batch sparging, you want to stir when you add your sparge water to make sure all the sugars are put into solution. But, every time you stir, you've got to vorlauf again, so once you start draining, you want to leave it be.

I batch sparge and stir every 15 minutes during my hour mash and after I add my batch sparge additions. I've come to the conclusion that hot side aeration is rather hard to achieve because I've progressively went from being super cautious to semi-reckless since starting AG and none of my beers have exhibited any signs of oxidation, so I wouldn't worry about it

I generally stir rather vigorously before I drain to help bring more sugar in solution which should, theoretically, improve efficiency. Does that make sense?

When batch sparging, how long, if at all, do you wait after string and before vorlauf? I usually let things settle for 10 min or so, but I don't know if that is even necessary.

I usually go 5-10 minutes between re-circulation and draining. On my batch today, I waited 10 minutes before I collected my first runnings and then 5 minutes when I collected my second runnings, so I guess it just depends on how I feel, but I've never gone less than 5 minutes.

stir while heating and usually just before sparge ( letting settle etc first).