mrbugawkagawk
Well-Known Member
should one just let the sparge water out quicly as possible or should one use some finess and let it drain out slowly in to the kettle, i have read many ways on how to batch sparge. How do you do it?
batch sparging
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Schnitzengiggle
Well-Known Member
I have had no problem just letting it rip. I hold the hose higher than the tun, open the valve all the way , and slowly lower the hose till the wort flows.
EDIT: I have a 79% brewhouse efficincey with my equipment, having said that I mill my own grain.
EDIT: I have a 79% brewhouse efficincey with my equipment, having said that I mill my own grain.
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mrbugawkagawk
Well-Known Member
what is your average efficiency on your equipment, i have a round cooler with a s/s false bottom, very simple
jmick
Well-Known Member
I vorlauf until the wort runs clear and then just let er rip.
I have been between 74-77 percent on each of my last dozen brews this way using a rectangular 50qt (?) cooler with stainless braid.
I have been between 74-77 percent on each of my last dozen brews this way using a rectangular 50qt (?) cooler with stainless braid.
dzlater
Well-Known Member
With a false bottom you might want to gradually increase the flow.
I know if I just throw the valve open full bore it almost always leads
to a stuck run off.
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mrbugawkagawk
Well-Known Member
thats what i usually do, i think i am going to try a fly sparge and see if it would increase my efficiency
I vorlauf with a slow runoff, then step it up for collection. I don't let mine rip because some characteristic of my home-made tun produces air bubbles in-line at faster runoff speeds. When all's said and done, i never get less than 70% efficiency.
Bullbythehorns
Well-Known Member
Part of the appeal of batch sparging is the time savings, so I let 'er rip after settling the grain bed.
s1080
Well-Known Member
I actually go really slow and get eff around 82-85%. However, I also do two sparges so that may be were the extra efficiency is coming from.
Schnitzengiggle
Well-Known Member
I dont think the speed of your lautering process makes a difference when batch sparging.
Definitely double or triple batch sparging will increase your efficency due to the fact that you are rinsing more sugars from the grain, but I fail to see the correlation between a slow run-off and increased efficiency.
Some may be concerned about a stuck sparge, but I haven't had any problems with slow or stuck run-offs by opening the valve all the way after allowing the grainbed to settle between spargings.
s1080
Well-Known Member
I don't know why or how it would increase efficiency either however, after looking through some books I found this passage from John Palmer's, How To Brew.
JSomps6
Well-Known Member
Schnitzengiggle
Well-Known Member
More than likely this has to do with fly sparging.
springer
Well-Known Member
Volauf about 3 qts then let her rip. I did a pale ale on Sunday and even putting in 80% efficiency in the calculations I over shot my OG by 4 points ..My second sparge was running at .012 so I am not over sparging.
Palmer is talking about fly sparging. He switches over from batch description without any notice.
I usually just start slow and get a little flow going, then crank it open. As long as it doesn't stick you're golden. I have not had a stuck sparge yet with my copper manifold. I get around 82% or so, depending on how careful I am with measuring.
Schnitzengiggle
Well-Known Member
FWIW, same here. I brewed 10 gallons of a stout this past Sunday and overshot my OG by 5 points. I have Beersmith setup for an 80% efficiency, those 5 points amount to an additional 7% brewhouse efficiency making my BHE 87%.
1st runnings 1.094, 2nd 1.039, 3rd 1.014, so I'm not oversparging either.
Having said all of that, I do mill my own grain, and IMHO that will have the largest impact on your efficiency.
springer
Well-Known Member
^+1 on the crush the efficiency jumped when I got my barley crusher. Nice using less grain. 
Schnitzengiggle
Well-Known Member
^+1 on the crush the efficiency jumped when I got my barley crusher. Nice using less grain.
BTW. I have always loved your Avatar!:rockin:
s1080
Well-Known Member
That's some really good info. It is really hard to tell if he is referring to batch or fly sparging and now I can definitely see that he is referring to fly sparging. I'm smacking myself in the face because it's kind of obvious and ive been doing a process that could have taken me 20 min (doing the double sparge) rather than the 1.5 hours. Ahhhh...the joys of learning. Very useful stuff guys! Thanks! 
You might want to take a look at www.dennybrew.com
Brocster
Well-Known Member
As stated by previous posters, let er rip, barring a stuck sparge. However, prior to this, make sure you stir the grains and let sit for a good 10-15 minutes. I got a nice bump from that, and, from double batch sparging.....
springer
Well-Known Member
Interesting....I've never found either of those to make any difference for me. I average 85% from not stirring and a single batch sparge.
Brocster
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that seemed to help me out. Of course, there could be other things that I am doing better, but those two items seemed to give me the biggest boost.
The only downside of "letting 'er rip" is that all of the wort won't have drained out of the grain before your pump runs dry in my experience. Not a huge difference, but I prefer to drain the last batch sparge a little more slowly to be sure that all of the wort has a chance to gravitate towards the bottom of your mash tun. I definitely always stir & recirculate for a while before dropping out my batch sparge, but I can't say it makes a difference one way or the other. Just nice to loosen up the grain bed...
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