First ever brew

[GLish830]

Hello all, I just did my first ever brew. It was on a Grainfather G40. It was a red Irish ale from northern, should be ready just in time for St. Patty's. Very excited. Just a few questions.
1)G40 is an all in one. When I lifted the basket all the water drained out in 30 seconds. Everything I read said to keep the sparge water about an inch above the grains, that was impossible, the sparge water just ran through the grains. Any thoughts? Is that a problem?
2)I used a 10 gallon fermenter for 5 gallons of beer, is that too much head space, if not what is too much head space?
Thanks
G

 

[DBhomebrew]

Everything I read said to keep the sparge water about an inch above the grains, that was impossible, the sparge water just ran through the grains. Any thoughts? Is that a problem?

That applies to fly sparging. Sounds like you were doing a no sparge, full-volume BIAB (your basket taking the place of a bag). Not a problem at all. Did you get close to your intended volumes and gravities? More importantly, did you record all of them so you can adjust for the next brewday?

 

[GLish830]

Is there a benefit to sparging vs no sparge. I put sprge water in an igloo, in hindsight it seems I could have just left all 7.5 gallons of water in the kettle. It would have been easier.

 

[DBhomebrew]

A well executed single batch/dunk sparge will gain ~8% mash efficiency. If you have the kettle volume and don't mind the extra few bucks in grain, no sparge makes the day a little more streamlined. I don't find the sparge to much of a bear, although I do it purely for the volume. If I had the kettle room, I'd skip it.

Well executed: 1st & 2nd runnings roughly equal. Grain bed well drained before the sparge. Grain bed fully broken up so the sparge water has full and free access to each grain particle.

 

[RM-MN]

Hello all, I just did my first ever brew. It was on a Grainfather G40. It was a red Irish ale from northern, should be ready just in time for St. Patty's. Very excited. Just a few questions.
1)G40 is an all in one. When I lifted the basket all the water drained out in 30 seconds. Everything I read said to keep the sparge water about an inch above the grains, that was impossible, the sparge water just ran through the grains. Any thoughts? Is that a problem?
2)I used a 10 gallon fermenter for 5 gallons of beer, is that too much head space, if not what is too much head space?
Thanks
G

I don't see any major problem with your technique. What you read about was for fly sparging and it doesn't apply to your setup. You could have gotten a little more of the sugars out by dunking the basket of grains into a bucket containing the sparge water but then you have one more bucket that needs cleaned. I'd skip that.

I regularly ferment 2 1/2 gallons in a 6 1/2 gallon bucket. That an even worse ratio than your 5 gallons in a 10 gallon fermenter. I have no problems with that. Take a look at the headspace that Sierra Nevada has.

 

[GLish830]

That’s a crazy video, it just overflows

 

[McMullan]

 

[McMullan]