Anybody else batch sparge with room temp water?

[dsaavedra]

So after a few system changes (built a cooler mash tun for batch sparging and water adjustments) I'm finally starting to brew all grain batches that I am consistently happy with ban. The first time I brewed on my new system I heated my sparge water up to like 180°F or so while I was draining the first runnings, hoping to achieve a bit of a mash out when it was time to sparge. Collecting the first runnings took way longer than I antcipated and my sparge water had cooled to like 160°F and by the time I added that to my mash tun who knows what temp it dropped to, probably in the low 150s. Efficiency was around 75% if I remember correctly and that beer turned out great, first AG batch I was really happy with!

Then I read an article about sparging with cold water and how it didn't really make a difference. So on my next batch I decided to save time and propane by just using room temperature sparge water. Efficiency was was between 75-77% and the beer turned out great too!

I have used room temp sparge water for my last 4 brews and I have been happy with all of them, and since getting my own mill I am seeing efficiencies in the 78-82% range.

Just wondering if anyone else was lazy like me and just batch sparges with room temp water and how it works out for you?

 

[Owly055]

So after a few system changes (built a cooler mash tun for batch sparging and water adjustments) I'm finally starting to brew all grain batches that I am consistently happy with ban. The first time I brewed on my new system I heated my sparge water up to like 180°F or so while I was draining the first runnings, hoping to achieve a bit of a mash out when it was time to sparge. Collecting the first runnings took way longer than I antcipated and my sparge water had cooled to like 160°F and by the time I added that to my mash tun who knows what temp it dropped to, probably in the low 150s. Efficiency was around 75% if I remember correctly and that beer turned out great, first AG batch I was really happy with!

Then I read an article about sparging with cold water and how it didn't really make a difference. So on my next batch I decided to save time and propane by just using room temperature sparge water. Efficiency was was between 75-77% and the beer turned out great too!

I have used room temp sparge water for my last 4 brews and I have been happy with all of them, and since getting my own mill I am seeing efficiencies in the 78-82% range.

Just wondering if anyone else was lazy like me and just batch sparges with room temp water and how it works out for you?

I've never tried it.......but I'm going to.................

 

[dsaavedra]

I've never tried it.......but I'm going to.................

Cool! Report back to this thread with your results

 

[chickypad]

I do it not uncommonly, mainly because I have a habit of forgetting to heat the sparge water while the mash is finishing. I've batch sparged with water temps anywhere from about 65 to 160, seems to make no difference I can tell in efficiency or otherwise.

 

[Yooper]

I've never used "cold" water, but I've definitely used water that wasn't very hot!

Kai Troester posted his results on his experiments with cold batch sparging, and found no loss of efficiency as well (can't find the link at the moment!).

 

[AndytheBeave]

You guys are turning my world upside here! Gotta try this.

 

[Gavin C]

Here's a nice quick summary of Kai's cold water sparge experiment for anyone interested.

Braukaiser's Cold water Sparge experiment

 

[dsaavedra]

Here's a nice quick summary of Kai's cold water sparge experiment for anyone interested.

Braukaiser's Cold water Sparge experiment

Yes! This is the "article" I referenced in my original post. Like Yooper, I don't sparge with "cold" water, but room temperature, so probably around 65-70°F.

Just skimmed over Kai's article and noticed one of the drawbacks he lists is that it doesn't save any time because your sweet wort is cooler so it takes longer to boil. To minimize this I usually fire up the burner once all my first runnings are in the kettle (I could probably start heating as soon as wort starts flowing into the kettle but I have a concern about caramelization when there is only a small amount of wort right on direct heat - not sure if this is a legitimate concern).

I also keep the lid on the kettle while heating up my sweet wort until it comes to a boil, this seems to help speed it up. I think the savings on propane outweighs the slightly longer time it may take to reach a boil - though it would be interesting to actually quantify the difference... but I won't because I'm lazy

It is also nice to not have another kettle floating around cluttering up my work space on brew day. Only vessels I have out are my mash tun, boil kettle (used to heat strike water and then collect wort), and a carboy full of RO water for the sparge.

 

[BroomVikin]

This is fantastic! Anything to simplify my brewday (and save gas) is always good news.

 

[iijakii]

I have also done it without issues. I also stopped mashing out awhile before that, then I saw dougcz's charts on viscosity and it reaffirmed my thoughts as well. He's got some fantastic info detailing how 150-170F the viscosity of a 20% sugar solution just doesn't change. Mashing out does not help your mash drain at all.

 

[bob1852]

This is fantastic! Anything to simplify my brewday (and save gas) is always good news.

Uess you do no-boil, you still have to heat it up eventually; )

(That was one of Kai's conclusions......it doesn't save time or energy because if you cold spare it's just going to take that much longer to bring the wort to a boil...)

 

[Rev2010]

If I recall correctly, Kai's "cold" sparge was closer to 50°F.

Says on his page the cold sparge water was 60F.


Rev.

 

[Rev2010]

Uess you do no-boil, you still have to heat it up eventually; )

(That was one of Kai's conclusions......it doesn't save time or energy because if you cold spare it's just going to take that much longer to bring the wort to a boil...)

Was going to say this as well. Using colder water just means:

1. I'm going to have to wait longer to reach a boil
2. I'm going to use more propane instead of gas from my stove. Maybe I'm wrong but I believe natural gas is cheaper than propane.


Rev.

 

[passedpawn]

When I do back-to-back batches, I usually just sparge STRAIGHT FROM MY GARDEN HOSE! Haha, seriously, pistol nozzle spraying straight in there. No prob. Actually, I do more of a fly sparge when I do that. The only problem with this is that I usually use campden in my sparge water to remove chlorimines. But maybe there's enough in the mash from the strike water.

 

[dsaavedra]

Says on his page the cold sparge water was 60F.


Rev.

You're right, I was thinking of this thread here on HBT where he said the water was 54°F. But based on my experience and that of everyone else replying to this thread, looks like it doesn't make a damn difference

Even if it doesn't save time or propane (I still think it does save a little), I like it just for the simplification alone.

 

[passedpawn]

My issue is that I have an electric system and I can only have one 5500W element going at a time (30A ckt). So, when my boil pot is boiling, I can't be heating water for the next batch. I always have enough hot water for the mash, but not for sparge. I brew outdoors behind my house, so hose it is.

 

[iBrewR]

Pre-heat and store in a cooler.

 

[Rev2010]

I brew outdoors behind my house, so hose it is.

Yeah, all depends on how we brew honestly. I mash indoors and boil outdoors. If I didn't have a specific family member one floor above that whines about the smell of boiling on the stove I would love to have gone electric! But until the situation changes it's mash indoors, take brew kettle outside and boil on my Blichmann. I actually put the kettle on my skateboard to roll it from the side door to the backyard. Works awesome. LOL, the vast differences in the ways we brew

Sorry for the OT!


Rev.

 

[thekraken]

Uess you do no-boil, you still have to heat it up eventually; )

(That was one of Kai's conclusions......it doesn't save time or energy because if you cold spare it's just going to take that much longer to bring the wort to a boil...)

I just did my first split brew day, mashed and collected my runnings in the evening and boiled the next morning. I liked doing it this way, I think I'll be doing a lot more split brew days from now on.

That said, since my wort would be cooling off while I slept anyway sparging cold just makes more since for me now.

 

[ShaLaH]

For my last batch I sparged with unheated water and didn't have any problems. The beer came out delicious. My OG was lower than I was shooting for but I bought pre-crushed grains from a new supplier so I'm pretty sure it had to do with the crush.

As others said, bringing the wort to a boil will take a little longer since you added cooler wort to the kettle.

 

[plankbr]

I have done all with no ill effects. One thing I have noticed though is that sparging with cold water, the wort is very cloudy even after a long vorlauf. It never clears.

Nowadays I use hot tap water to sparge (our city has high quality municipal water) and always maintain high efficiency.