What is the damage done by doing this?
it was more a matter of my 'royal assistants' stirring and i lacked a positive and progressive way of asking them to knock it off...
If you are batch sparging, stirring won't make much difference (as long as you don't stir too deep).
If fly sparging, the you do not want to stir. When fly sparging you are pushing the sugary water out with clean water. Think of a black and tan in a pint glass that has a valve on the bottom. If there is no mixing, the tan (your wort) is pushed out more quickly by the black (sparge water)
jbaysurfer said:I'm not contradicting, but asking for clarification purposes because I have always stirred my mash when batch sparging.
My process (in a cooler):
Dough In
Mash
Vorlauf (with pump)
Drain Mash Tun
Add 1st sparge addition
Stir
Wait 15-20
Vorlauf again with pump
Drain
Add 2nd sparge addition
Wait
Drain.
The OP was fly sparging. With batch sparging, your process is fine. You MUST stir in batch sparging to have good mixing between the grain and the sparge water. Otherwise you will have pockets of high concentration of sugars and low concentration and lots of sugar will be left in the mash.
jbaysurfer said:OK, great. Thanks for the reassurance. I think my efficiency issues ARE because of the crush. I won't say where I got those particular grains...but lets just say I'm not the first to get grains from them and be unhappy with the grind ;-)
OK, great. Thanks for the reassurance. I think my efficiency issues ARE because of the crush. I won't say where I got those particular grains...but lets just say I'm not the first to get grains from them and be unhappy with the grind ;-)
I usually brew IPAs and IIPAs and I like a clean, dry finish on them so the hops can shine ;-)
Well with the bigger grainbills that come with those styles efficient sometimes suffers as well. I can hit mid-80s with a 1.040 beer but below 70 with something like 1.065.
Well with the bigger grainbills that come with those styles efficient sometimes suffers as well. I can hit mid-80s with a 1.040 beer but below 70 with something like 1.065.
Ryush806 said:Well with the bigger grainbills that come with those styles efficient sometimes suffers as well. I can hit mid-80s with a 1.040 beer but below 70 with something like 1.065.
In my experience, you're wasting time letting it settle. Do your vorlauf slowly and it will settle then. I simply stir in the sparge water, vorlauf, and drain.
Crush til you're scared. Check your water composition and adjust if necessary. Mash with 1.6-2 qt./lb. Use 190-200 F water for sparging to make sure starches are solubulized and converted.
I suggest one more rule of thumb:
High efficiency and quality are not necessarily friends -- predictable efficiency is more important than high efficiency.
Denny said:Wow, I'm at 85% well into the mid 80s OG.
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