Exhaustive Extraction

[StAnthonyB]

Just a thought to toy with....

Let's say I am mashing 10# of pale malt for a 5 gallon final volume.

We do the mash like every other mash, and proceed with a batch sparge. First runnings are drain off at just the right rate. Now the twist...

Let's say that we pull out two pounds or so of the mashed grains, put them in a strainer bag and dip them in the sparge water once, twice, or three times until we are convinced all of the sugars are extracted. Then, take that two pounds or so of grain and put into a another lauter tun. Repeating this process until all of the grained has been rinsed in this manner.

Then we dump this sparge water onto the grains in the new lauter tun. And again, drain off at just the right rate. Perhaps, we perform this step twice, with two sparges, so that the grain is now returned to the original lauter tun.

Anyone willing to give it a whirl?

 

[maskednegator]

Grain is like $2/lb, tops. Oversparging can put all sorts of nasty tannins into your beer.
Cost/benefit just isn't there.

 

[bigin31]

+1. Nasty nasty tannins. You have ruined my beer. Try the BIAB method. Put your grain in a bag in the mash tun. Drain the tun as wanted or simply pull the bag out and run the mash over the bag in the lauter tun. Voila. Pretty much the same thing except you do all 10# instead of 2 at a time.

 

[StAnthonyB]

hahahaha!

It is a pretty ridiculous idea.

 

[bigin31]

If so then I am making really bad beer. If you are going to soak it in the sparge water make sure it is at 170 and not 155. You can seep as long as you aren't running the sparge water over the top of the grain. Its going to be VERY difficult to over sparge by seeping. Try it out and see what you get. I would recommend splitting the batch in two so you have a control to chesk taste. Tannins give off a grassy stingy flavor IMO. DO half regular and half hybrid seep sparge way.

 

[StAnthonyB]

If so then I am making really bad beer. If you are going to soak it in the sparge water make sure it is at 170 and not 155. You can seep as long as you aren't running the sparge water over the top of the grain. Its going to be VERY difficult to over sparge by seeping. Try it out and see what you get. I would recommend splitting the batch in two so you have a control to chesk taste. Tannins give off a grassy stingy flavor IMO. DO half regular and half hybrid seep sparge way.

Well.... It does work for tea bags. I wonder what the extraction rate for tea bags is. I should take a stanard tea cup and fill it half way and soak the tea bag for 15 minutes then take another cup and fill it half way and soak the tea bag again for another 15 minutes. And, combine them. And, take a gravity reading.

Then, for control take a tea cup filled to standard volume and let it steep for 30 minutes. Then, take a gravity reading. And compare the two batches.

It's the same basic idea I would imagine.

 

[maskednegator]

What is your intention from all this extra effort? What do you hope to obtain from this?

 

[StAnthonyB]

What is your intention from all this extra effort? What do you hope to obtain from this?

A bit of fun. And, perhaps a stronger cup of tea before I down my beer.

 

[bigin31]

StAnthony,
You could try it with the coffee or do 2lb grain in 1 gal water and split it in half. However you want its all good. Just recommendations. I do something similar to BIAB and it works just fine for me. I mostly do medium gravity beers though.