Anti-channeling mash tun design for fly sparging

[masamunexc]

Hi, I'm going to give fly sparging a try for the first time in a couple weeks and have heard that water channeling between the grain and the smooth mash tun walls can decrease efficiency. Was thinking what if I was to attach some square edged strips of something to the walls in a horizontal pattern around the perimeter and space them out a couple inches apart starting from the top of the grain bed down to the bottom. Seems that would break up the flow of any water trickling down the sides of the tun and reduce channeling. Haven't seen this done before and wanted to get peoples opinions.

 

[philosofool]

Seems like you would get no extraction from grain right below the foils if you did that. I wouldn't worry about it. As a guy who has sparged one way (fly) for ten years, I am starting to think it's all a matter of personal preference.

 

[masamunexc]

Yeah that's true, I was thinking they would have to be fairly thin, no more than 1/4" thick or so. I'm going to try it without and see how my extraction goes but its always fun to tinker with the equipment

 

[eric19312]

I'd not want to make a mash tun harder to clean for a likely small efficiency gain.

 

[Bellybuster]

I fly sparged for many years and have never experienced this much talked about channeling. Work out your efficiency over a few brews and go with it. Anything below 65% I'd start wondering about, starting with crush, not chanelling.

 

[dwhite60]

I've done the "hybrid" fly sparge for 20 years. Always good efficiency. No fancy equipment necessary. I love simple. There is a post here about it. Do a search.

I'm with BellyBuster on the channeling. Never had a problem.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[lhommedieu]

I use a Blichmann pot with a false bottom - but any pot with a good fitting false bottom will do.

My method includes the following:

After mashing, add some water and stir; let the mash settle.
When you start to sparge (I use one of those spinning rods, but even a tube on the top of the water will do) maintain about an inch of water on top and sparge as slowly as possible; my sparge is generally 60-90 minutes.

 

[tootal]

We're using kegs to brew in and have always fly sparged. The hose comes in the top and lays along the outer edge so the flow causes a whirlpool, although a real slow one! We match the speed of the drain valve with the flow of the sparge water to maintain about an inch above the grain bed to keep it floating. We are consistantly at 76 percent efficiency in the kettle and 86 in the fermenter. There's really no need to over think it.