Damn Sudster. That Belgian must have been potent. Thank God for your guardian angel, (as intoxicated as he/she might have been.) Good story.
Sorry if it seems like we've hijacked the thread, but someone asked for people to share their mistakes so that others could avoid them.
As far as sparging goes, I've read recipies that say "sparge with 3 gallons @180 degrees. Do not oversparge" or whatever. Here's what I do.
Drink a homebrew
While the mash is "mashing", I bring 5 gallons of water to around 190-200 degrees. (by the time the mash is over, it will drop down to 170-180 degrees, which is perfect for sparging.) 20-30 minutes before the end of the mash I start to recirculate the mash by drawing a quart or so off the bottom of the mash tun and sprinkling it over the top through a slotted spoon, strainer, or foil with holes in it (This way you don't disturb the grain bed too much and stir up all those astringent tannins and dust.)
When the full 90 minutes of mashing is done, I transfer all 5 gal of hot sparge water to the sparge tank, I open the spigot on the mash tun a little bit and open the sparge tank spigot all the way. The Listerman sparge arm works pretty well. I monitor closely for the first 5-10 minutes to make sure that the water level in the mash tun doesn't drop too low. I like to keep about an inch of water on top of the grain bed so it can "float" and avoid compressing/clogging the false bottom. I will usually sparge with at least 4 gallons. Then I take a hydrometer reading.
I usually fill the vial with the runnings, then set the vial in a glass of ice water, taking temp readings occasionallly until the temp reads 70-80 degrees. Then I take a hydrometer reading and adjust for temp. If the runoff reads somewhere around 1.008-1.012, I stop sparging and top up the brew kettle with water from the sparge tank. If the runoff reads higher, I'll make a guess as to how much longer it will take to reach my target. (There's always room for guessing.)
Pop open another homebrew to drink during the "I must watch the brewpot every second so it doesn't boil over" step.
Granted, that's just my way of doing it, that doesn't mean it's the best way, and I learn something new each time I brew. Others on this board will have different techniques and equipment. My technique is an adaptation of the brewmaster's at a local brewpub. It works well for me. I also found that if I drink enough during the brewing process, I either don't forget the steps, or I forget that I forgot a step. Either way, it makes the process more enjoyable.
