Quick and dirty sparging questions

[timbudtwo]

So I want to get started brewing with a mashtun instead of a BIAB technique to achieve higher efficiency. However, I am a little confused on sparging. From what I understand, the sparge is an addition of new clean water to extract out the last bits of sugars from the grain. But then there is info on batch sparging and fly sparging. What is the difference? Isn't fly sparging just where water is dripped in?

I was thinking of making a mashtun like this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/budget-false-bottom-182580/

So my question is how would my process go?
I would mash at say 150 for an hour, and I would mash 5 gallons. Then I would drain that off and put it into my brew kettle and start heating it. To the grains I would add another gallon (6 gallons boils off to just about 5 gallons for me) and let that sit for about 15 minutes and drain that off into the brew kettle and go from there.

Is that right?

 

[pkeeler]

I would mash at say 150 for an hour, and I would mash 5 gallons. Then I would drain that off and put it into my brew kettle and start heating it. To the grains I would add another gallon (6 gallons boils off to just about 5 gallons for me) and let that sit for about 15 minutes and drain that off into the brew kettle and go from there.

The grains will absorb about .125 gal. per pound. To batch sparge, simply divide your 6 gal. total to get 3 gal. Add .125 gal. per pound to 3 gal, that is your mash water. Mash for an hour at 150-156. Then vorlauf and drain. Then add 3 gal. of 180-190 deg. water. Stir, vorlauf, and drain. You are done.

Fly sparging is more intensive. I did it for 15 years, but no more. Not worth it. Unless you have the correct set up, you will get equal or better efficiency from batch sparging.

 

[Kahuna]

+1 on batch sparging.

You mash with roughly 1.25 quarts of water for each pound of grain. If you have 12 pounds of grain, you would need (12 x 1.25) = 15 quarts or 3.75 gallons of mash water. Stir it in well, so you have an even temperature across the cooler (150-152 works for a lot of styles).

During the mash, your grain will absorb water at the rate pkeeler mentions. So, 12 pounds of grain can absorb (12 x .125) 1.5 gallons of water. In this example, you would get around 2.25 gallons of wort when you first drain the cooler. If you want 6 gallons in your boil kettle, add 3.75 gallons of 180-190 sparge water to get the temp in the mash tun up to 168 degrees, and stir it up well. Close the cooler for ten minutes, then vorlauf until it runs clear and drain.

 

[pkeeler]

In this example, you would get around 2.25 gallons of wort when you first drain the cooler. If you want 6 gallons in your boil kettle, add 3.75 gallons of 180-190 sparge water to get the temp in the mash tun up to 168 degrees, and stir it up well. Close the cooler for ten minutes, then vorlauf until it runs clear and drain.

Interestingly, your efficiency is greatest when batch sparging when your run-offs are near equal. To me, using Kahuna's scenario, I would mash with another .75 gal, and sparge with only 3 gal. So, mash with 4.5 gal, sparge with 3 gal. Your initial run-off will be 3 gal. and your second run off will be 3 gal.

Now, for years, people settled on a grist ratio and built the recipe from there. Since we mostly brewed English ales, we used English grist ratios. But there is nothing magic about 1.25 qt/lb. In my scenario, your grist ratio will be 1.5 qts/lb. This will not change anything (except your strike temperature LOL), but will raise your efficiency, theoretically.

I hope we haven't confused you! It sounds much more complicated than it is.

 

[timbudtwo]

What does the vorlauf/recirculation help with? Wouldn't I want to introduce unsaturated water? Seems like recirculating water that has already been saturated (wort) wouldn't really pick up any more than what could be picked up from stirring it about in the grain. Or is it to filter out solids?

 

[pkeeler]

You vorlauf the wort, not the water.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Vorlauf

 

[bullinachinashop]

What does the vorlauf/recirculation help with? Wouldn't I want to introduce unsaturated water? Seems like recirculating water that has already been saturated (wort) wouldn't really pick up any more than what could be picked up from stirring it about in the grain. Or is it to filter out solids?

Vorlaufing is done to set the grain bed and clear the wort. Otherwise you'll get alot of hull mmaterial in your boil.

Bull

FWIW I fly sparge and love the process. Last batch I got 91% eff.