Batch Sparge count

[tberry]

Been brewing All Grain for about 6 months or less. Ive been using a converted Keg for strike / sparge water and then a Boil keg once finished with the mash. Mashing in a round 10 gal cooler. My question is, most of the recipes I have brewed have a mash schedule something similar to this: 4.5gal @ 152 for 60min, 1 gal @ 152 for 10 min and then 3.5 gal @ 152 for 10 mins. No need to comment on the temps or quantities. My question is related to the benefit of the 1 gal step in the middle. Ive read some material and watched some videos where a 2 step sparge or even a single infusion was used. Is there any benefit to one or the other, what has been some of your experience and experiment with the schedule?

Thanks in advance for your advice

 

[surffisher2a]

potentially higher efficiency with using two batch sparges. You rinse more sugars out of the grains that way. How much more is highly debatable.

I usually don't let them sit for 10 min either when sparging. I just dump in the water mix really well, vourlaf then drain into the boil kettle. Add the next sparge amount, do the same thing.

 

[tberry]

Interesting... I appreciate the feedback. I found some more "technical" information over the past couple days and also watched video interview with Denny Conn that was helpful. Had a good brew day last Friday and another on Sunday. Hitting good numbers, but just like everyone else, always looking to improve on practices

 

[acidrain]

You mentioned Denny Conn. I follow his batch sparge techniques too, and think he has it dialed in.
Did you really understand what he meant when batch sparging? It's hard to pick up and understand at first, and I've gotten into more than one or two internet arguments over it, but...

Taken from his website:
Assume a recipe with 10 lb. of grain, and that you need to collect 7 gal. of pre boil wort. A mash ration of 1.25 qt./lb. would require 12.5 qt. or 3.125 gal. of strike water. Based on an absorption of .1 gal./lb., the mash would absorb 1 gal. of water so we’d get 2.125 gal. of water from the mash. Since we want to collect 3.5 gal. (or 50% of the boil volume), after the mash is complete we’d add 1.375 gal. (5.5 qt.) of water to mash tun before the first runoff. Stir the additional water in, let it sit for a few minutes, then vorlauf until clear and start your runoff. After the runoff, we add 3.5 gal. of batch sparge water. Stir it in well, then vorlauf and runoff as before. These two runoffs will give us our pre boil volume of 7 gal. of sweet wort.

In your recipe example, you would add the one gallon after the mash, but before the first draining. Mix it in, vorlauf, and then drain. This would be your first running.
Then the second addition of 3.5 gallons would be added and drained. This is the second running.

Did you get that part when you first studied his method?

 

[Wolfbrau]

I batch sparge once, hitting 70%, and am starting to think that that might be too much. Consider that Gordon Strong, the winningest homebrewer in history, advocates "no sparge" brewing.

Time is precious and every step adds complexity that may lead to failure (or at least sub-obtimal results).

Only reason I haven't switched is because I have super consistent brews. I can dial stuff in fast. Switching would mess that up for a few months.

 

[acidrain]

I batch sparge once, hitting 70%, and am starting to think that that might be too much. Consider that Gordon Strong, the winningest homebrewer in history, advocates "no sparge" brewing.

Time is precious and every step adds complexity that may lead to failure (or at least sub-obtimal results).

Only reason I haven't switched is because I have super consistent brews. I can dial stuff in fast. Switching would mess that up for a few months.

Good point. I'm considering the same. I haven't brewed in two months, and I feel like I will have to learn my system all over again lol.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I consistently get 70% efficiency with a single batch sparge, 75% with a double batch sparge. That works out to about 90cents worth of grain difference!


*mash in an cooler, stir thoroughly, leave 10mins, vorlauf, drain.

 

[RonPopeil]

I average 74% on LHBS crush and batch sparging. I really don't wish to bother going for higher. For the headaches involved (stuck mashes, off flavors, extra equipment for fly sparging, etc) it's not worth the $20 a year I'd save on grain.

 

[zwiller]

Been brewing a long time and do not understand that small sparge thing you are talking about. I suspect it is a mashout infusion from boiling water but stated at the wrong temp...

70% efficiency is the bar. Most guys have a tough time hitting that with LHBS crush and if you are hitting that, great! I agree, if things are working, don't f with it. That said, I am really trying to dialing in a shorter brew session and am closing in on 2 hours... I have successfully moved from a 60m mash to 30m. I now get the runoffs in the kettle ASAP. Both of these saved me an hour and was a game changer. I get 80% from a single batch sparge or 85% with a double. I heat the sparge liquor to 190ish to get the grain bed to 170F. If anyone is having issues or concerns with sparging, you should try and acidify the sparge liquor. No sparging only masks sense to me with huge beers.

 

[RonPopeil]

I'm the complete opposite. I'm perfectly content if brewing a batch or two is the only thing I have to do that day. I take it easy and even crack a few once my mash temps are solid. Sometimes I light a cigar during sach rest. 6 hour brew days are typical. I used to try to get it done as fast as possible. What it came down to was a bunch of work that left me tired and achey the next day. It wasn't fun anymore. So I went the other way and put my feet up. From dough in to ramping up my boil can take 2 hours. I just don't care.