I made my second all grain batch (Patrick's Powerful Pomegranate Saison) and I have a few questions:
Sparge technique - I viewed youtube video recommended on the forum and he sparged by pouring 170 degree water in the mashed grains, mixing them up a bit, then letting them rest for 10 minutes. He then drained into the boiling pot. This is what I did both the first time and the second. After a bit more reading, it seems that other people gently pour the sparge water over the grain bed using a strainer or other device so they don't disturb the grain bed, once the water level is a few inches over the grain bed, they start draining the wort slowly so the water level stays a few inches over the grain bed for as long as possible. I am sure there are many ways of doing this, are these just two of the techniques available or did I do it wrong somehow?
Vorlauf/Filtering - I think next time I will drain through a cheesecloth so I don't have to worry about chunks of stuff getting in the wort. I did the vorlauf procedure this time and as I start the boil and stirred the pot, I notice lots of chunks of stuff. Anything wrong with using cheesecloth like this?
Efficiency - I did not measure the gravity pre boil - is there any way to measure efficiency? I measured after the boil and it came out to 1.064. The grain bill is:
8 lbs Pilsner 2 row Belgian
2 lbs Vienna Malt
1.5 lbs Caravienne
1 lbs Carapils
.5 lbs Acid Malt
Boil off - The recipe called for pre boil volume of 7 gallons boiling down to 5 gallons - I thought 7 was way too much so I started with 5.75. I ended up with 4.1 after the boil. I know I can just add water but I decided against it since I plan on adding about 1.5 gallons of pomegranate juice after fermentation stops. I am planning on pouring this in the primary after about 5 days of fermenting - should I rack this in a different bucket?
Sparge technique - I viewed youtube video recommended on the forum and he sparged by pouring 170 degree water in the mashed grains, mixing them up a bit, then letting them rest for 10 minutes. He then drained into the boiling pot. This is what I did both the first time and the second. After a bit more reading, it seems that other people gently pour the sparge water over the grain bed using a strainer or other device so they don't disturb the grain bed, once the water level is a few inches over the grain bed, they start draining the wort slowly so the water level stays a few inches over the grain bed for as long as possible. I am sure there are many ways of doing this, are these just two of the techniques available or did I do it wrong somehow?
Vorlauf/Filtering - I think next time I will drain through a cheesecloth so I don't have to worry about chunks of stuff getting in the wort. I did the vorlauf procedure this time and as I start the boil and stirred the pot, I notice lots of chunks of stuff. Anything wrong with using cheesecloth like this?
Efficiency - I did not measure the gravity pre boil - is there any way to measure efficiency? I measured after the boil and it came out to 1.064. The grain bill is:
8 lbs Pilsner 2 row Belgian
2 lbs Vienna Malt
1.5 lbs Caravienne
1 lbs Carapils
.5 lbs Acid Malt
Boil off - The recipe called for pre boil volume of 7 gallons boiling down to 5 gallons - I thought 7 was way too much so I started with 5.75. I ended up with 4.1 after the boil. I know I can just add water but I decided against it since I plan on adding about 1.5 gallons of pomegranate juice after fermentation stops. I am planning on pouring this in the primary after about 5 days of fermenting - should I rack this in a different bucket?