Beginners All Grain Equipment Question

[MustGoFast]

So I'm thinking of jumping to all grain brewing and wanted to ensure I had the right stuff. I only care to make 5gal batches and I do occasionally like to make high gravity brews.

I'm thinking I buy 2 Igloo coolers.
Convert a 10 gallon one into the mash tank with the false bottom, appropriate valve, & thermometer.

Then the 2nd is just for holding strike water for the sparge step. So this just needs to be a cooler to hold hot water with a valve to release it into the mash tank. This could easily be just a 5gal if it's cheaper and would take up less space.

Am I missing anything here?
Edit.. probably need a "sparge arm" thing as well.. yeah I'm now over my head a bit.

 

[progmac]

everyone's setup is different. i don't see the advantage of the second cooler in most cases.

 

[SEndorf]

That's the set up I have.
10 G mash tun and 5 G HLT.
Rather than a fancy overpriced sparge arm, you could just make one yourself with a diffuser found here.
With a bit of PVC and tubing, you can make the same sparge arm as advertised here..
I've read that rotating sparge arms do not work very well with gravity fed tubing.

 

[TheSquid]

Not to steer you away from fly sparging if you're dead set, but batch sparging is another option....and GENERALLY requires less equipment. I will not go into the merits of one over the other as there are plenty of posts on that topic. I sparge in about 20 - 30 minutes and have made some excellent beers.

 

[Clonefan94]

Not to steer you away from fly sparging if you're dead set, but batch sparging is another option....and GENERALLY requires less equipment. I will not go into the merits of one over the other as there are plenty of posts on that topic. I sparge in about 20 - 30 minutes and have made some excellent beers.

I don't know if my beers are excellent, but I like them and my friends call me to come over and drink more of them, so I'd say mine are at least good. And I'm the same, I batch sparge as well. I never have fly sparged, so I can't really comment much on the advantages one over another except for cost. You could always just start off batch sparging, get a handle on that, then move into fly sparging later down the road, to spread out the cost factor a little bit.

 

[MustGoFast]

Squid, I'm so far from set on it, it's not even funny. Just have the chance to upgrade my gear and want to give all grain a try. Needed to identify the equipment required. Steer me in the direction of this batch sparging if you have more info please. Less gear / less $$ is always a benefit, but simplicity of getting high quality results is my preference.

 

[Clonefan94]

Basically, you are adding all your sparge water at once, stirring, then draining that again.

Your initial mash in happens as you would, heat strike water, mix in grist, stir, and let it sit for an hour, or whatever your recipe calls for. Then, instead of draining at the same rate you are adding your sparge water as you do in fly sparging, you drain all the initial wort out completely. Then you add the entire amount of sparge water to the cooler that you will need to reach your boil volume. Stir that up, vorlauf, and then drain the rest of the water out. So basically, you only need the one cooler for a mash tun, something to drain the wort into and use your boil pot for heating up water.

It's not really anymore simple, as much as it's a little less time consuming and a little less equipment, in most cases.

That's the simplified version. there are a ton of resources out there, just do a google of batch sparging. The hardest part is just calculating your water volumes, but there are plenty of calculators out there for that as well.

 

[tacks]

If you're not dead set on fly sparging, start with a setup for batch sparging first, if you decide to go to fly sparging, you will use all the equipment you already have, but you can't unspend the money on the equipment for fly sparging if you decide you don't like it. I will say that the equipment will eventually pay for itself ( it's a generally agreed upon fact that batch sparging is less efficient than fly sparging). Happy brewing!

 

[MustGoFast]

So I'm going to continue my newb questions on the Vorlauf process... How does this differ in the 2 methods of sparging.

I thought this was something done at the beginning pouring the outbound liquid back into the grain bed until the large participate had settled into the grain bed causing it to act like a filter.

Am I correct in process that I started out doing this on the initial drain, then poured in the strike water for the sparge step and then move to boil in the batch sparge method. And in the fly sparge I do this then let the strike water for the sparge come in at the same rate I'm draining out.

Yes/No?

FYI.. got a great deal on a stainless false bottom and 10gal igloo cooler today 61 bucks shipped for them. Going to pick up the rest of the smaller parts as Xmas presents from the family I think.

 

[Bobby_M]

If you use a false bottom, I'd recommend moving forward with your fly sparge plans. A cooler as a hot water tank is fine. It has the advantage of freeing up your boil kettle so that you can apply flame as soon as you have a gallon of runoff in it. The alternative way is to continue using your burner/kettle as the hot water tank while you collect all the runoff wort in a bucket. The downside is that you have to wait until your sparge HLT is fully out of water before you can transfer the wort into it and start heating.

 

[Clonefan94]

In fly sparging, you will only vorlauf once, when you start draining. Because with a fly sparge, you start the sparge with your initial wort still in the Mash. With a batch sparge, you will do it twice. When you start your first runnings from the mash. And then again, after you add your sparge water.

I can't make a lot of comments on fly sparging, although, what Bobby said makes sense. If you've got the false bottom, might as well give fly sparging a shot.

 

[MustGoFast]

Awesome, thanks for the help everyone. I've done pretty well so far with my extract brewing and am excited to get my grain set up and kegging stuff together over the new year! I will not bottle a batch again!

 

[tacks]

So I'm going to continue my newb questions on the Vorlauf process... How does this differ in the 2 methods of sparging.

I thought this was something done at the beginning pouring the outbound liquid back into the grain bed until the large participate had settled into the grain bed causing it to act like a filter.

Am I correct in process that I started out doing this on the initial drain, then poured in the strike water for the sparge step and then move to boil in the batch sparge method. And in the fly sparge I do this then let the strike water for the sparge come in at the same rate I'm draining out.

Yes/No?

FYI.. got a great deal on a stainless false bottom and 10gal igloo cooler today 61 bucks shipped for them. Going to pick up the rest of the smaller parts as Xmas presents from the family I think.

Vorlauf is used to keep small pieces of grain and anything else that may have gotten through your grain bed from getting into your wort. I usually pull the first 2-3 quarts or until it runs clear. I believe that with fly sparging the process is the same but since I don't fly sparge, someone else will have to weigh in. These 2-3 quarts are then put back on top of the grain bed to top off whatever water is in your first runnings. After your first runnings (the water you mashed with) has been drained, you will add your sparge water, stir it like a madman/madwoman, give it a little bit of time to raise the temp of the grains and try to pull out any remaining sugars (I usually do 20-30 minutes depending on what the OG is going to be) and then repeat the process of doing your Vorlauf step, and putting that water back on top as you drain your sparge water. If you are asking for stuff for homebrewing for Christmas, I would also suggest putting at least one book on brewing on the list. Charlie Papazian's "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" and John Palmer's "How to Brew" are pretty much the gold standard of homebrew "textbooks".

 

[GoodDogShelby]

Be careful saying, "I only care to brew 5 gallon batches". The cost difference between being able to do 5 and 10 isn't that much. Today I keg and I want full kegs, but never want to be tempted to pull trub into my kegs so I really brew 7 gallon batches.

Go big.... Only buy once.

 

[SEndorf]

So I'm going to continue my newb questions on the Vorlauf process... How does this differ in the 2 methods of sparging. I thought this was something done at the beginning pouring the outbound liquid back into the grain bed until the large participate had settled into the grain bed causing it to act like a filter. Am I correct in process that I started out doing this on the initial drain, then poured in the strike water for the sparge step and then move to boil in the batch sparge method. And in the fly sparge I do this then let the strike water for the sparge come in at the same rate I'm draining out. Yes/No? FYI.. got a great deal on a stainless false bottom and 10gal igloo cooler today 61 bucks shipped for them. Going to pick up the rest of the smaller parts as Xmas presents from the family I think.

Batch sparge you vorlauf twice; one for draining the mash tun and the other for draining the sparge.
Fly sparge you vorlauf once for the mash, then drain at equal flow rates.

 

[TheSquid]

Correct, the vorlauf step is simply opening the valve and collecting the runnings which are cloudy with bits of husk and grain particles until it runs clear (relatively) then returning it back to the mash tun. The grainbed acts as a filter for these particles and the wort clarifies as it passes through it. Ususally after a quart or so is collected it begins running fairly clear. When you return it to the mash tun be carefull not to disturb the grain bed or you'll be defeating the purpose. I do this by placing a sheet of tin foil on top of the grain / wort and poke a bunch of holes with my thermometer (which so happens to have a sharp point at the end.) Then I slowly pour the "vorlaufed" wort onto the foil. My process is generally:

1) Stir really well once mash is complete
2) Vorlauf - then continue collecting all wort
3) Add 1/2 of the sparge water to mash tun
4) Stir really well
5) Vorlauf - continue collecting all wort
6) Add remaining sparge water to mash tun
7) Stir really well
8) Vorlauf - continue collecting the rest of the wort

Then it's time to boil!