Second Rinse

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duskb

duskb

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I'm going to pose what would probably be a stupid question but I think my brain tells me there's some logic to it so I'm gonna go with it.

I have been extract brewing for years now and have changed my procedures a bit such that I fill the brew kettle with very little water and instead brew alot of water to rinse through the 'specialty grains' which ultimately goes into the brew pot. At first the logic was I could either add pure water or run the water through the grains getting extra flavor and color. It works fine though I don't think it does much to the gravity.

I did my first all grain yesterday and it occurred to me as we were washing the hot water over the grain bed why one wouldn't run/pump the sparge water back over the grain bed a second time to rinse more sugar out of it. Rather than try it for my first time out I just went with the regular approach but it had occurred to me this might be a way to increase efficiency.

Any thoughts?
 
duskb said:
I'm going to pose what would probably be a stupid question but I think my brain tells me there's some logic to it so I'm gonna go with it.

I have been extract brewing for years now and have changed my procedures a bit such that I fill the brew kettle with very little water and instead brew alot of water to rinse through the 'specialty grains' which ultimately goes into the brew pot. At first the logic was I could either add pure water or run the water through the grains getting extra flavor and color. It works fine though I don't think it does much to the gravity.

I did my first all grain yesterday and it occurred to me as we were washing the hot water over the grain bed why one wouldn't run/pump the sparge water back over the grain bed a second time to rinse more sugar out of it. Rather than try it for my first time out I just went with the regular approach but it had occurred to me this might be a way to increase efficiency.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Sparging works by the process of diffusion- higher sugar content moving to lower sugar content (the water).

If you sparge with wort, this process will not work well, since diffusion works more efficiency with a liquid of a much lower SG. Wort has a higher SG than water, so sparging with wort would be ineffective.

You can do two sparges with water, up to your boil volume, and that may increase the efficiency a little bit (assuming batch sparging).
 
I'm thinking you would start extracting tannins, by the end of a fly sparge the runnings have very little sugar. A second wash isn't going to help. Possibly go a little slower on the sparge to improve efficiency.
 
A laymans look at it (no science behind my opinion): Sparging is rinsing more sugars out of the grain. If you return those sugars to the grain you might even lose sugars back to the grainbed.

Sparge with water, or sparge with about half what you need for preboil. I have done both and see no increase by doing two sparges. I always do two sparges but only to more accurately collect the right amount for preboil. I measure the volume after the first sparge then use enough for a second sparge to get to my preboil amount.

Also assuming a batch sparge technique.
 
kh54s10 said:
A laymans look at it (no science behind my opinion): Sparging is rinsing more sugars out of the grain. If you return those sugars to the grain you might even lose sugars back to the grainbed.
Click to expand...

I suspected that and when I strain water through the specialty grains with extract I make sure not to let the strainer come into contact with the wort out of fear some of the extract might get soaked up into the spent grains. Most of the back and forth happens in separate kettles.

Fwiw I tried this approach on a partial mash (3lbs of two row and some pumpkin). I kept running the rinse water through the gain bag until what came out was mostly clear. My FG ended up being 1.086 where it was supposed to be 1.065. So the technique did work for me in one situation but I hesitate to think it would work in all. Just had to ask before I ruined a batch I put all my time into.
 
duskb said:
I suspected that and when I strain water through the specialty grains with extract I make sure not to let the strainer come into contact with the wort out of fear some of the extract might get soaked up into the spent grains. Most of the back and forth happens in separate kettles.

Fwiw I tried this approach on a partial mash (3lbs of two row and some pumpkin). I kept running the rinse water through the gain bag until what came out was mostly clear. My FG ended up being 1.086 where it was supposed to be 1.065. So the technique did work for me in one situation but I hesitate to think it would work in all. Just had to ask before I ruined a batch I put all my time into.
Click to expand...

Oversparging (which may be what you did if "what came out was mostly clear") can have a real flavor impact, mostly tannin extraction due to pH issues.

You don't want to chase efficiency blindly- you want a great beer. Generally, you don't want to put more than 3 quarts of water through 1 pound of grain without checking pH. Although I believe in checking and maintaining a proper pH throughout the mash and sparge as best practice, a quick and dirty rule of thumb of 3 qts/pound max with low alkalinity water should work.
 

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