2 Vessel no Sparge Brewing

[Klassy66]

From what I gather with brewing on a no sparge system the process has to be tweaked somewhat to make up for efficiency loss. Any advice, links or recipes to share would be greatly appreciated! Brew on! Prost!

 

[McKnuckle]

There are many threads about this topic, especially as related to brew in a bag (BIAB) which often excludes a sparge.

The single most important thing is the fineness of your grain crush compared to traditional lautering. Make it very fine, 0.025" or so. Also, while many will tell you that a mash-out is not needed, and of course it's not needed, doing one will almost invariably eke out a couple more gravity points. So there's that.

Otherwise it's an extremely simple and reliable way to brew, no issues in the least.

 

[Klassy66]

There are many threads about this topic, especially as related to brew in a bag (BIAB) which often excludes a sparge.

The single most important thing is the fineness of your grain crush compared to traditional lautering. Make it very fine, 0.025" or so. Also, while many will tell you that a mash-out is not needed, and of course it's not needed, doing one will almost invariably eke out a couple more gravity points. So there's that.

Otherwise it's an extremely simple and reliable way to brew, no issues in the least.

Thanks for the reply! I planned on adding a mash out to my next brew but never thought about how fine the grain should be. I'll add this to my notes!

 

[BobBailey]

I use a brew bag in my mash tun. Suspending the bag off of the bottom after the initial draining allows for more complete drainage and reduces grain absorption to that of BIAB. Once I remove the bag, I pour the remaining wort into the boiler. Using a bag also allows you to mill the grains finer for better extraction.

You're going to leave some sugars behind. The way to minimize the loss is to maximize extraction from the grains and liquid from the mash. By doing these two things you're also reducing the starting volume and thus the amount of grist needed for a given batch size.

Take a lesson from BIAB brewers. It's pretty much the same process.

 

[Klassy66]

I use a brew bag in my mash tun. Suspending the bag off of the bottom after the initial draining allows for more complete drainage and reduces grain absorption to that of BIAB. Once I remove the bag, I pour the remaining wort into the boiler. Using a bag also allows you to mill the grains finer for better extraction.

You're going to leave some sugars behind. The way to minimize the loss is to maximize extraction from the grains and liquid from the mash. By doing these two things you're also reducing the starting volume and thus the amount of grist needed for a given batch size.

Take a lesson from BIAB brewers. It's pretty much the same process.

BIAB may be where I end up although I was hoping to avoid the hassle of handling that heavy brew bag! I guess that's the trade off for brewing on a 2 vessel setup. There's Pros and Cons to all sides! Thanks!

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

BIAB may be where I end up although I was hoping to avoid the hassle of handling that heavy brew bag! I guess that's the trade off for brewing on a 2 vessel setup. There's Pros and Cons to all sides! Thanks!

If you've got a way to mount it, a ratcheting pulley system works great and costs less than $20. I mounted a lag eye in my garage ceiling with a short rope down to where I can reach it. That has a loop that I just hook my pulley to. Simple and easy.