Are you an all-grain brewer; what's your preferred mashing method?

[Valtyr]

I've only done extract with specialty grains so far. I plan on starting AG soon. I plan on just a single infusion mash and batch sparging.

 

[kharper6]

BIAB bro here

I've tried two vessel and three vessel brewing.

I feel the investment made does not yield appropriate benefits.

Bag goes in, grain goes in, manipulate temperature, agitate, bag comes out, bag drips, beer.

 

[In_Vino_Veritas]

Post the poll in the Beginners section, I bet you will get different results. Besides your title kind of limits it to non-extract brewers?

That's a good thought. Thanks!

 

[kal]

Electric HERMS all-grain brewer here - I always fly sparge.

Kal

 

[mblanks2]

I'm surprised at the percentage of batch spargers to fly spargers. I really expected more fly than batch. I know it's just a few more dollars in grain but with brewing being the passion it is for me, It's MY day, MY time and I love to brew. I always want to tweak my process, get every available bit of sugars from my grain, every drop of wort from my process as possible, dial in my PH exactly where I want it and hit my OG exactly. I work with my water chemistry, my grain bill, my hop and fermentation schedule constantly.
I love brewing. I and my friends can't drink it as fast as I like to brew it.
I brew 11 gallon batches but due to the fact I love to brew so much, I'm probably going to cut back to 5.5 gallon batches just so I can brew more often. (Aside from my House IPA, of coarse)
Did I mention, I love to brew?!?

 

[pcdavis1203]

Batch Sparge although I am toying with fly sparging through my RIMS tube

 

[Spartan1979]

I fly sparge, but I do it relatively fast. I try for 20 minutes for 8 gallons of wort for a 5 gallon batch. I've watched people batch sparge and I don't think it's any faster than that.

 

[MKBoitnott]

Batch sparge for life. For my last beer... I forgot to drain first, so I ended up putting my sparge water in right after mashing. Got 65% which is lame, but hopefully next time will be better when I do it right.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[lhommedieu]

Single infusion with fly sparge for the ales that I have made. I mash for 90 minutes and do a slow fly sparge until I've hit my runnings numbers. I've been using an insulated cooler with a bazooka screen but am going to switch to an insulated ss mash tun with a bazooka screen for ales.

I'm going to brew some lagers this year and will be trying some decoction mashing, using direct fire on the mash tun (taking off the bazooka screen) and boil pot for the decoctions; my lauter tun will be a Blichmann 10 gallon BoilerMaker with false bottom. Again - slow fly sparge.

 

[atoughram]

Multi-Step RIMS & Fly Sparging

I might try a decoction some time.

 

[dobe12]

I selected all grain BIAB, but I do also batch sparge. I mash on the thinner side (1.5 - 2.0qt/lb) and batch sparge to get relatively equal runnings. I tried full volume mashing a few times, but went back to batch sparging due to significant loss in efficiency.

With full volume BIAB mashing and no sparge, I was somewhere around 70% give or take 5%.

Going to normal, but slightly thinner mashing and a batch sparge (+ now milling my own grain) has got my up to 80-85% efficiency.

 

[Zepth]

My last attempt yielded a hybrid double infusion single rest fly batch sparge. I'll detail that now.

Limited to my 4.5 gal brew pot (planning on a new / additional one) and my kitchen stove, heating huge quantities of anything is a little challenging. So get 2/3 capacity up to strike temp and add to (first time using) tun. Stir that while slowly adding grains. Lid on cooler, back to the faucet. Add a bunch more water to pot, heat to MASH TEMP - the grain in bucket is already at mash temp, heating water to strike at this point would cause problems. So that's the second infusion single rest. Alternatively use this as a perfect opportunity to do multi rest.

When that's about done start heating water up in a kitchen pot that I prefer to not use for beer although it is quickly being promoted. As long as it's below tannin extraction point I didn't pay too close attention. Begin draining tun into main pot. When it's full, "fly sparge" the contents of the kitchen pot into the (now) thick mash still in tun. Drain tun completely into kitchen pot. Add about 2L of water to the tun to maximize efficiency and boil volume - would have used more but ran out of vessels to hold it in.

This method though time consuming did yield the desired result. I hit my OG and life was much easier with the tun as compared to my previous BIAG attempts. It's also a hit in the wallet, before anyone can point that out. The relatively thin mash compared to previous attempts was a joy to work with. Small amount of sparge water never ran clear, I think perhaps next time my second infusion will be about half of what I used. Thin the mash out, guarantee no dough balls, but leave enough room in my kettle(s) for sparge water. Always learning.