Another reason batch sparge is more better gooder

[Joe Camel]

Last batch I made was a Belgian Wit, 50% wheat malt, 10% oats and 40% 2-row for the mash, I've set Beersmith at about 2.6 L/kg (1.25 qt/lb) so the mash was a bit thick.

Steamed to mashout temp and vorlaufed 3x to try to get the wort clear, no luck but the flow rate slowed after each recirc.

I do 10-gallon batches and collect 12 into the boil so I was expecting about 3.5 gallons of first runnings. Took about half an hour to collect 2 gallons and then... nothing, stuck. The grain bed was cooling and solidifying before my eyes.

What to do? Dump in the next round of batch water at 185F, mix and wait. I put in 18.4L (4.8 gallons) and collected back 22 (5.7 gallons). for batch round 2, I put in 18.4L and collected 19.3.

I ended up hitting my target gravity into the boil but with an extra gallon of wort, finished the day with an extra half gallon in the fermenters and slightly higher than target gravity, calculated brewhouse efficiency at 84%.

Take home message- if you have the space in your tun and have stuck your batch sparge, just add more hot water, mix and go.

 

[Warped04]

Rice hulls would be your friend

 

[Joe Camel]

They don't sell rice hulls at any store I've visited locally and I won't pay shipping on essentially a bag of air

Didn't really need them, the only time lost was on the stuck first runnings, after the bed got good and hot, the 1st and 2nd sparges came flying out, 10 minutes to collect each.

 

[ajf]

came flying out

I thought you said batch sparging was more better gooder, and now you say the wort was flying.

-a.

 

[menschmaschine]

Better, gooder than what?

I've fly-sparged in as little as 30 minutes from opening the valves to closing and still got efficiency in the 90s.

 

[boo boo]

They don't sell rice hulls at any store I've visited locally and I won't pay shipping on essentially a bag of air

Didn't really need them, the only time lost was on the stuck first runnings, after the bed got good and hot, the 1st and 2nd sparges came flying out, 10 minutes to collect each.

Same here, no rice hulls.

I rarely get a stuck sparge, but when I do I just stir a vorlauf again adding more hot water if needed.

 

[Brew-boy]

I disagree Batch is better than Fly, where is your side by side tests on Your system. Try this next your your sparge is stuck, cut the grain bed with your paddle make slits a few inches down. I learned this from the BN and only had to use it once ever and it worked like a charm.

 

[Joe Camel]

I knew I'd be wading into a minefield by posting, but that wasn't necessarily the intent, just the predicted outcome.

You don't gotta be more better gooder than something else to simply be more better gooder. It's like saying batch sparging rocks, that doesn't imply that fly sparging sucks, far from it. Each to their own and wishes of success.

This was my tale of a stuck sparge and how I got around it quite nicely. I've read threads on here of disaster brewdays with 4 hour sparges because the mash was stuck and thought I'd post what worked for me. Any tun built for flysparging will also work for batch if there is room to hold the extra water. I had hoped the message was that if one has a stuck mash and nothing is working, try switching to batch, or if batch sparging, press on and it might shorten the brew day.

 

[sigmund]

I disagree Batch is better than Fly, where is your side by side tests on Your system.

"Better" is a relative term. If I use batch sparging and I get the wort I need and I'm happy with the end result without going through the effort to fly sparge, it's better for me. Better doesn't have to mean getting the highest effiency regardless of how much effort you expend.