gonna try a no sparge tonight any tips?

Very small grain bill ( 5.5 pounds) so I thought I would give it a try...7.25 gallons of strike water will be weird. Any tips?

oh yeah.. a 90 minute mash..will the large water volume affect that at all?

well that got shot in the butt...water is froze up outside.

just mashed in , gonna brew on the kitchen stove...looks weird having a mash that thin.

OHIOSTEVE said:

just mashed in , gonna brew on the kitchen stove...looks weird having a mash that thin.

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I often mash with 1.75 - 2.0 qts/lb - no problems as far as I can tell. Hope it goes/went well.

EDIT: I just reread your post - you're up over 5 qts/lb - I've never been that thin. Why so little grain? Even with a regular sparge, this would be a small beer. With no sparge I suspect you'll end up with something in the 1.020s. Is this what you were going for?

JLem said:

I often mash with 1.75 - 2.0 qts/lb - no problems as far as I can tell. Hope it goes/went well.

EDIT: I just reread your post - you're up over 5 qts/lb - I've never been that thin. Why so little grain? Even with a regular sparge, this would be a small beer. With no sparge I suspect you'll end up with something in the 1.020s. Is this what you were going for?

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yes,starting gravity 1.030.. I hit 1.032 with the no sparge and a 90 mimute mash. Everything went fine.. I think I may use this method for any really small beers I make from now on.. two kettles to heat the strike water and it went really fast I think.

According to the time line here a shade under 4 hours total from mash in and that only took 20-30 mins to heat up.That includes cleaning up and carrying the carboy across the yard to the brew shed /ferment room. Plus a 90 min mash so...I liked it. I don't think I would do it with bigger beers but I like a very easy drinker on occasion so this makes it easier IMO.

You can do it up to 1050 without much trouble at all. I go up to 1065ish with my single kettle setup and use four 5 gallon paint strainer bags. It just makes things so much easier and cleanup is a snap. I drop the bags in as I am heating to mash temp. Do a mash out and then let the bags drain. It is so simple and easy, I love it.

What I did today using no-sparge was proposed by a fellow HBTer.

Do a 2 qt/lb mash, a big mash out to get your volume, mix, let it settle for 10 and run 'er out. Worked perfectly and I increased my efficiency by about 6 points over the whole volume at once method. Plus it's easier to stir my mash, as I'm not maxing out my tun and them stirring. Still lower efficiency than batch sparging by 7-10 points, but a touch more grain is cheap.

Am noticing an improvement in the malt flavour, which works great for me since I'm all about balance.