First All Grain

[Milesteg]

I finally took the plunge and did my first all grain yesterday and had a blast! I came across a few questions through out the brewing process though and sadly my internet was down so I couldn't get the answers when I needed them. First is that I was fly sparging and before I hit my pre boil volume the run off wort seemed really clear. So I did what any all grain noob would do I panicked and stopped sparging before I hit my volume out of fear of getting tannins. My question was how do you know when to stop sparging is solely on volume or is the another way. Still on the sparging question how long should it take for a 5 gallon batch everything that I could remember at the time was to do it slow and I def. went slow as the pile of beers stacked up while I was waiting. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Buffman]

I fly sparge until I get to preboil volume and have never had any issues, tannin or other. Toward the end of the sparge, the wort will be very thin and much less sweet than at the beginning.

What did you do with the wort?

 

[JoMarky]

You can get a refractometer and take samples every now and then once you get towards the end, I batch sparge so I don't remember the numbers exactly but I think you're supposed to stop sparging once the refractometer reads 2 Brix or you get to you're pre-boil volume.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

I believe Tannin extraction starts to happen after your runnings get to 1.010. So you just need to get a sample and check it every now and then, either with a refrac or hydro. I batch sparge, but I imagine you would have to do it rather quickly when fly sparging. I think in time you will learn what your volume of sparge water needs to be to avoid oversparging.

 

[Catt22]

The easiest and quickest way to check the runnings is to simply taste a sample. When the sample no longer tastes sweet you are about there. There isn't much to be gained by continuing the sparge at this point anyway as there is little sugar remaining in the runoff. The one thing that should be mentioned is that the gravity drop near the end happens rather quickly. When fly sparging you should be able to collect your pre-boil volume before you reach the minimum 1.010 suggested cut off. If not, don't worry about it and simply top up with additional water. Before you top off though, it pays to check the gravity of what you have collected at that point. The reason is that you may decide to settle for less than the planned batch size if adding water would reduce the gravity too much. That's a call only you can make.

 

[Milesteg]

Sorry it took a while to reply my internet is down at the house good thing I have beer! Well in the running around of my first AG I didn't even think to take SG reading or even an OG. I know shame on me! But I had about 5 gal of pre- boil wort and ended up with a little over 4 gal wort. I cant wait to taste it when I rack it to the seconday I'm curious. The color seems to be a little off it alot lighter in color than I would have thought but I'll wait to see after everything settles out of it. Thanks to everyone who replied!