Batch Sparging: How Long do you Stir?

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inhousebrew

inhousebrew

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Just curious how long people usually stir their sparge water when batch sparging. I usually dump the water in, mix it up just a bit, let it sit and then vourlof (sp?) and drain. However, just out of curiousity, last night I stirred for an extra long period of time, about a minute or two, and my overall efficiency spiked. So far as I can tell everything else was pretty normal so I'm attributing it to the extra stirring making me wonder how long and aggressively people do theirs.
 
Hmm, I'd guess I stir for about 15 seconds, maybe 20 at most. I think that's enough, I typically get 81% efficiency pretty consistently since I got my own mill. I also double batch sparge.


Rev.
 
It's not the length of time you stir- it's just that you stir "thoroughly". If you stir like you mean it, it could be a minute or less. It's the stirring that gets the sugars loose in the liquid.

There isn't any reason to let it sit. I just stir thoroughly, vorlauf and drain.
 
@Yooper - don't we need to let it sit a little while to let the grain bed settle? I've been typically waiting 10 minutes after stirring to let it all settle down before vorlaufing again and draining. Do you just go right from stirring to vorlaufing?


Rev.
 
Rev2010 said:
@Yooper - don't we need to let it sit a little while to let the grain bed settle? I've been typically waiting 10 minutes after stirring to let it all settle down before vorlaufing again and draining. Do you just go right from stirring to vorlaufing?


Rev.
Click to expand...

The process of vorleuf is actually what sets the grain bed, not letting it sit for any period of time. I stir for about a minute or two vigorously. the idea is to knock all those sugars loose so they rinse out completely.
 
Interesting, thanks. Next brew day I'm going to skip the 10 minutes settle time and go straight to vorlaufing and see how it goes. Would save me 20 minutes off my sparging time :)


Rev.
 
I stir like mad... for maybe.. 5 minutes. I beat that grain/water up like I'm mad. I've found that stirring it halfway through the mash also helps me in my efficiency as well.. I don't lose hardly any temp when I do it too.

But when I sparge, I beat the grain like it owes me money, and it pays me back with good sugars. ;)
 
My 3 year old daughter thinks that stirring super fun, so we usually stir for 5 minutes. That is 5 minutes at 3 yr old speed. I then "stir like I mean it" for another minute or 2.
 
I think you all might be right. I used to stir just enough to mix the water in, I'm talking maybe fifteen seconds of a light clockwise motion which I assumed was good. These last two I stirred for a few minutes but also stirred more aggressively and mixed it up going back and forth.
 
I just mix it until I'm confident the sparge water has integrated well with the grains. I've never timed it. There could be something useful about stirring for several minutes in that is may help press some of the sugars out of the grain, but I can't imagine it's enough to measure.
 
Pouring in batch sparge water, stirring vigorously for 2-3 minutes, letting the grain settle for a couple minutes, then vorlauf & run off gave me several (7?) additional mash efficiency points over doing the same with minimal / lazy stirring.
 
jwitt said:
Pouring in batch sparge water, stirring vigorously for 2-3 minutes, letting the grain settle for a couple minutes, then vorlauf & run off gave me several (7?) additional mash efficiency points over doing the same with minimal / lazy stirring.
Click to expand...

That's about the difference I noticed.
 
I whirlpool the sh*t out of it for a minute or 2 with a long paint-stir bit attached to my corded drill. Works like a champion.

I start with a slightly high temp and then vortex it into submission until it hits my target temp.
 
+1 for stirring hard for 5 minutes, with a water temp high enough to raise my mash to 160F. Double sparge this way with a good vorlauf each time and I consistently hit 85%. I like that it's very predictable and repeatable batch after batch.
 
Nubruer82 has a good idea. Stirring gets tiring- usually my victim...err...apprentice...and I trade off on the stirring each minute. A drill would be easier, and likely be more effective? Gotta try this out! Especially since my last batch of grain I came close to a stuck sparge- tinkered with the crusher gap at the LHBS and ran the grain through twice- better efficiency, but could have used a few rice hulls to fluff things up. If I could back the rollers off a bit, crush twice, and use the drill to make up the efficiency, that would be great.
 
inhousebrew said:
Just curious how long people usually stir their sparge water when batch sparging. I usually dump the water in, mix it up just a bit, let it sit and then vourlof (sp?) and drain. However, just out of curiousity, last night I stirred for an extra long period of time, about a minute or two, and my overall efficiency spiked. So far as I can tell everything else was pretty normal so I'm attributing it to the extra stirring making me wonder how long and aggressively people do theirs.
Click to expand...


I stir it in for 30-60 sec. There's no need to let it sit afterwards. Just vorlauf and run off.

Here's a video so you can see what I do....

 
jwitt said:
Nubruer82 has a good idea. Stirring gets tiring- usually my victim...err...apprentice...and I trade off on the stirring each minute. A drill would be easier, and likely be more effective? Gotta try this out! Especially since my last batch of grain I came close to a stuck sparge- tinkered with the crusher gap at the LHBS and ran the grain through twice- better efficiency, but could have used a few rice hulls to fluff things up. If I could back the rollers off a bit, crush twice, and use the drill to make up the efficiency, that would be great.
Click to expand...

So far I'm hitting 80% using my drill stir with my mill set to around .040

It also prevents me from mangling my SS braid filter and wacking the probe on the thermometer mounted in my MLT, since I can hold it right in the middle of my tun and have it stir the whole mess.

Easily one of the best returns on investment in my whole rig.
 
I have a sneaking suspicion that

courser crush = larger efficiency pickup from stirring.
 

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