aggiejay06
Well-Known Member
Hey folks, I've done a bunch of forum searches and even read up on the Wiki on batch sparging, but I haven't found enough detail to make me 100% confident I'm going to batch sparge properly.
Based on my recipe, I should use 5 gallons of sparge water. I am going to mash in my brew kettle (no false bottom/spigot) due to budgetary constraints. After mashing, I'm planning to scoop the mash with a clean saucer and gently pour it into my 2-bucket system lauter tun (with 1/8" holes drilled in the upper bucket, and the lower bucket having a spigot with hose attached). I'll have foundation water coming about 2" above the bottom of the top bucket (and I will take that amount of water out of my total 5 gallon sparge water amount). Once the grain bed settles, I'll drain back into my boil kettle, save for collecting the initial cloudy runoff and putting it into the HLT with the sparge water (or do I put it back in LT?)
Once drained, I will dump the remainder of the first 2.5 gallons of sparge water (lacking the foundation water) into the lauter tun, and stir it real well, and let the grain bed settle. I will vorlauf again. Now that the wort is running clear again, I'll drain the remainder into the brew kettle...and then repeat this whole paragraph with the second 2.5 gallons of water, draining into boil kettle.
Does this sound right (I hope )? My biggest points of confusion are:
1. If I'm batch sparging, can I just dump the sparge water into the LT (sparging arm is just for fly sparging, right?).
2. Do I vorlauf back into the top of the lauter tun, or does it go into the HLT with the sparge water?
3. The procedure otherwise look good?
Thanks!
Based on my recipe, I should use 5 gallons of sparge water. I am going to mash in my brew kettle (no false bottom/spigot) due to budgetary constraints. After mashing, I'm planning to scoop the mash with a clean saucer and gently pour it into my 2-bucket system lauter tun (with 1/8" holes drilled in the upper bucket, and the lower bucket having a spigot with hose attached). I'll have foundation water coming about 2" above the bottom of the top bucket (and I will take that amount of water out of my total 5 gallon sparge water amount). Once the grain bed settles, I'll drain back into my boil kettle, save for collecting the initial cloudy runoff and putting it into the HLT with the sparge water (or do I put it back in LT?)
Once drained, I will dump the remainder of the first 2.5 gallons of sparge water (lacking the foundation water) into the lauter tun, and stir it real well, and let the grain bed settle. I will vorlauf again. Now that the wort is running clear again, I'll drain the remainder into the brew kettle...and then repeat this whole paragraph with the second 2.5 gallons of water, draining into boil kettle.
Does this sound right (I hope )? My biggest points of confusion are:
1. If I'm batch sparging, can I just dump the sparge water into the LT (sparging arm is just for fly sparging, right?).
2. Do I vorlauf back into the top of the lauter tun, or does it go into the HLT with the sparge water?
3. The procedure otherwise look good?
Thanks!