Yes, as a matter of fact he did. He and I have discussed this.
- At what flow do you sparge?
CidahMastah says that he wide opens his valve.. but Palmer mentions rule of thumb of 1 quart per minute. If we lauter this slow it will take 20-30 mins to get 5-6 gall.. I though that the point of batch sparge is to save time (not to get hasty and sloppy but do it quicker than with fly sparge) .. or 20-30 minutes are normal?
- Also, what crush size would you suggest for batch sparge?
My first AG batch I got about 68% efficiency doing one sparge and using 1.25 qts./lb. in my mash. The next one I used 1.5 qts./lb. and did 2 batch sparges and got 78%. I now get around 80% or higher. I don't know which gave me better percentages but I am going to do my next batch at 1.25 qts./lb and 2 batch sparges and after that do 1.5 qts./lb. and 1 batch sparge and see where I get better results. I suspect it is a combination of both though.
Dont be offended, that hasty or sloppy thing wasn't pointed to you, but for overall process of mashing and saving time with batch sparging.
I was thinking about covering grain bed with sparge water, not strike (I"ll edit post).. I think I"ll do double sparge just to get feeling, and after experimenting with few batches I"ll clearly know what suits best to me.
I can tell you from my own experience that a higher mash ratio and a single sparge not only increased my efficiency more than multiple sparges, I think it made better beer due to getting more out of the initial runoff.
Dont be offended, that hasty or sloppy thing wasn't pointed to you, but for overall process of mashing and saving time with batch sparging.
I was thinking about covering grain bed with sparge water, not strike (I"ll edit post).. I think I"ll do double sparge just to get feeling, and after experimenting with few batches I"ll clearly know what suits best to me.
John is talking about fly sparging. Batch sparging uses a different technique. Apples and oranges. It takes me no more than 15 min. from the time I start my mash runoff til the time I end my sparge runoff to collect 7-7.5 gal. of wort. That includes vorlaufing the mash, running it off, stirring in the sparge water, vorlaufing that, and running off the sparge.
CidahMastah said:Valve wide open is a batch sparge in process!
I crank mine wide open and drain the first runnings from the mash. Close valve, add sparge water to make up my preboil volume needs, stir, crank open the valve full bore and them it is time to boil the collected 1st and 2nd runnings.
I get 76-78% on regular days. Sometimes up into 80% land.
I can tell you from my own experience that a higher mash ratio and a single sparge not only increased my efficiency more than multiple sparges, I think it made better beer due to getting more out of the initial runoff.
Palmer gives the illusion that he's covering both fly and batch sparge methods equally but what happened was that his own preference for fly sparging caused enough bias that he forgot to insert caveats such as "when fly sparging" when he talks about manifold design, runoff speed, and sparge temps. Simple mistake, but it does cause a lot of confusion for people trying to batch sparge.
There are some graphs on Kaiser's web page that show that multiple (2) sparges give you about 4% more efficiency than a single sparge. This matches my own data exactly.
So I think your increased efficiency is due to the mash ratio. How thin of a mash do you wind up with?
Rich
One thing is still is my mind but I have felling that I"ll have to figure it out on my own- crush size that works best for batch sparge. I set my mill on .040, but it tackles me is it still coarse since I"ve read some posts where people set their gaps in .030 and .035 range..
And then you discover wet milling and the damn gap argument goes out the window.
And then you discover wet milling and the damn gap argument goes out the window.
Denny, your page suggests an infusion of water before first runoff to reach the desired half of the pre-boiled volume, making up for whats lost in the mash, so your sparge and mash are equal, or something like that... For your example recipe, why not just mash with a gallon more instead of infusing. Would the mash be too thin? Is there such a thing as a mash that's too thin.
The first part is specific to Denny's recipe, but anyone can have a go at both questions.
I've tried wet milling and for me it made no difference whatsoever. Needless to say, I mill dry these days.
I've tried wet milling and for me it made no difference whatsoever. Needless to say, I mill dry these days.
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