Fly sparging question

[Laszlo]

When you guys are fly sparging do you care how much water is left in your mashtun?

Is there a benefit to calculate the water volumes or just sparge until the boil kettle has the desired level or the gravity reaches 1.010.

Is there a difference in efficiency if we use just enough water or leave gallons of extra wort in the mashtun because the volume has been reached?

What is your experience?Thanks!

 

[MalFet]

In a typical fly sparge, you'll add water to your tun at the same rate you draw it in, which means that you'll have roughly the same volume of water in the tun at the end of sparging as at the beginning. Depending on how much volume you're trying to pull, however, the remaining volume should have relatively little sugar in it.

You could alternately fly sparge for a bit and then drain the rest of the tun. This would save some water and some heating energy, but it would leave a bit more sugar behind. Ultimately it just comes down to what your goals are.

 

[Black]

I usually fly sparge until I reach my volume. That being said, I sparge VERY slowly (45 minutes for 32 liters pre-boil)

I don't usually care about the volumes, I keep 1 inch of water over the grainbed at all times.

I don't take gravity readings while I sparge, though. Maybe I should. I achieve a consistent 72% brewhouse eff. with all my brews, from the simple centennial blonde to the 1.106 barleywine.

I follow Kal's instruction as my kit is a (cheap) DIY copy of his, but for 6 gals.


Cheers !

 

[gkeusch]

I usually have a 10 or 11 # grain bill and use the usual cooler set-up with a false bottom. I have a four gallon HLT (elevated, with discharge spigot) that I fill full and heat to 170 F or so. When I start my sparge I let gravity feed the contents of the HLT through a shower head onto the goods in the mash tun. I adjust the flow rate (manual valve on aforementioned HLT discharge spigot) to keep the goods covered with water but no more than an inch or two. Invariably I run out of sparge water (seems like it's usually at about the four gallon mark in the boiler) so then I just let 'er drain until I get my 6 gallons, then stop the flow. Works like a charm for me. I typically get 80%+ efficiency and do not leave a lot of extra water in the spent grains (making disposal easier). I do not worry about low gravity in the final runnings. I keep hearing about how this can leach the tannins and all that but none of my beers have ever been "astringent".

 

[Bobby_M]

I calculated it out so that when I hit my volumes, about the top 2-3" of grain is running dry. I wouldn't let it get much worse than that because you do need the grain bed to remain fluid for an efficient sparge, but I don't like heating up more water than I need.