Sparging

I'm reading "The Joy of Homebrewing". I want to make the Grand cru but I'm lost on Sparging. Is it when you strain the hops and other stuff out from the wort? Why do you rinse it in cold water after straining? Please pardon my ignorance in advance.

Sparging: http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter17.html

You don't strain the wort. No need.

The grains you used are full of sugars. Sparging is simple the act of running water (usually, say 170F) through the grains to get all the sugary goodness. Sure would be nice if you could just squeeze them like a sponge, but that doesn't work.

Are you using grain? How did you separate the grain from the wort? What's your process?

I'm doing the "Who's in the Garden Grand Cru". It says to boil ingredients into the wort then sparge immediately into cold water and fermenter. Does that mean get a strainer for the solids then run hot water through it into the fermenter? I'm just not getting the Sparging meaning! It uses malt extracts so I assume the hops and coriander and orange peel get sparged.

I don't mean strain but pour the wort through a strainer.

Burksbrew said:

I'm doing the "Who's in the Garden Grand Cru". It says to boil ingredients into the wort then sparge immediately into cold water and fermenter. Does that mean get a strainer for the solids then run hot water through it into the fermenter? I'm just not getting the Sparging meaning! It uses malt extracts so I assume the hops and coriander and orange peel get sparged.

Click to expand...

Are you sure it not an all-grain recipe?

Burksbrew said:

I don't mean strain but pour the wort through a strainer.

Click to expand...

Doesn't a strainer by definition.. ummmm... Strain? Drunk.

No it's not. It's malt extract and hops with the coriander and orange peel. I was under the impression Sparging was for all grain.

You don't sparge if there isn't any grain. Period.

Don't worry about hops getting in your fermentor. You can strain them, that's not a bad idea, but any hops that end up in your fermentor will settle to the bottom. No problem.

Ignore "sparging" until you start brewing with grain.

He covers sparging in the book as well. If you steep your grains in a grain bag like most do, no need for a strainer as all of your grains are contained in the bag. I use paint filter bags from the hardware store. Sometimes I'll rinse 'em and re-use them, but they're so cheap I usually just toss it when done.

Never would have thought of paint filter bags... GENIUS!