Sparging speed

[dustinolsen84]

How fast should the Sparge go? I'm new to AG and did a brew and it sparged fast and I hit my gravity. Should it be a slow drain?

 

[Gameface]

depends on a number of factors.

First and foremost, if you are batch sparging then there is no need at all to go slow.

If you are fly sparging then you should limit the speed of runoff, but by how much depends.

 

[dustinolsen84]

Do you think I would get higher efficiency with batch or fly?

 

[beskone]

Depends, you can get good numbers for both.

I fly sparge and to get 6.5 gallons into my boil kettle it takes between 60-75 minutes. My efficiency seems to be right about 80% with a 10 gal. Igloo with false bottom.

 

[Natdavis777]

Like stated, good numbers can be had from both types of sparging. Pick the one that best suits your brewing setup and timeframe.

I typically flysparge over the course of 30-45 min for a pre-boil volume of 13 gal and usually net 80% efficiency. I will slow this rate down to an hour or so for higher gravity beers, as I notice lower % when fly sparging at the same rate.

 

[AndyRN]

I try to let it go for 1 hour.

 

[Hillsbrew79]

If you hit your gravity the first time AG brewing, then you did much better than I did (I was WAY under). If you're batch sparging, draining speed is a non-issue, but fly sparging is a different story. Personally, I just stick with batch sparging since it's quicker and I get good enough efficiency with it.

Grain crush size will also affect efficiency, but that's another topic altogether.

 

[beskone]

Yup, the higher the OG the lower your efficiency will be as you're sparging with less volume to a bigger mash.

Like stated, good numbers can be had from both types of sparging. Pick the one that best suits your brewing setup and timeframe.

I typically flysparge over the course of 30-45 min for a pre-boil volume of 13 gal and usually net 80% efficiency. I will slow this rate down to an hour or so for higher gravity beers, as I notice lower % when fly sparging at the same rate.

 

[Smellyglove]

Like stated, good numbers can be had from both types of sparging. Pick the one that best suits your brewing setup and timeframe.

I typically flysparge over the course of 30-45 min for a pre-boil volume of 13 gal and usually net 80% efficiency. I will slow this rate down to an hour or so for higher gravity beers, as I notice lower % when fly sparging at the same rate.

Like the guy above me said, it's more about the sparge/mash water ratio. You can compensate with a longer boil, so you'll use more sparge water. I did a 6hr boil on a imp stout and it got me pretty close to normal efficiency with an og of 1.104.

 

[cmoewes]

When you are talking about 30-60 minutes to fly sparge, is that strictly using gravity to drain the mash tun? I use a pump to recirculate and have a hard time running it slow enough to sparge that long. I usually get 75% eff (which is fine by me).

There's a lot of advice of "what works best for you" which is what I've done but I always wonder how, using my setup with a pump, I could drag out sparging beyond 30+ minutes.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Do you think I would get higher efficiency with batch or fly?

Fly sparging usually results in better mash efficiency, but takes more time. I usually get 75% brewhouse efficiency with batch sparging and around 90% brewhouse efficiency with fly sparging, but the brew day can take an extra hour or so when I fly sparge.

When I do batch sparging, I just drain as fast as I can without worrying about compacting the grain bed too much.

When I fly sparge, I try to drain about 1 quart per minute.