Yep, ive been doing everything from kits in a pot on the stove up till this point. Ive been looking around on youtube and in the forums for some mashing procedure instructions and thought I had a good Idea of what I was doing. I think im supposed to mash at the specified temp for an hour and drain it off to the brew pot, then sparge through the grain bed until I reach my total quantity, but then I saw a guy do two complete mashes, and yet another guy just run a few quarts through his grain for sparge, then top off with tap water before the boil. Now im confused. Which method is right for me??? And how do I know?
I haven't done this yet either, but I've read and watched a lot of videos. I think the confusion comes from the fact that there are a number of different methods one could use. There's batch sparging vs. fly sparging for instance.
I think the method you use depends on equipment and your recipe.
The basic method I've seen for people using a cooler MLT is something like this:
Preheat the cooler.
Heat strike water.
Add water to cooler, then dough in your grain.
Once you regulate your temp, let it sit for 1 hour.
"Settle" the grain bed by draining a quart or two of the wort until it runs clear (called vorlof?)
Pour those first runnings back into the MLT.
Then drain the rest of the wort into your pot.
Add the preheated sparge water, and drain that.
Those last steps involve some other things I think, but like I said, I've never done this yet. I'm sure someone will come by and set me straight about a few of the things I said.
