Fly Sparging

[fishcrazy06]

I am getting ready to do my first all grain batch. I am going to do a fly sparge when doing this as I have all the equipment so why not. The one question I have and the part I am a bit confused on is when I am done with my mash and I get the grain bed set and recycle for the first couple runnings back into the mashtun. Do I start the fly sparge as soon as I am draining into the boil kettle? Or do I drain the mashtun down to 1-2" above the grain bed and then start the sparge to match the amount coming out?


I basically have this setup:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...ntial-all-grain-brewing-starter-kit-10-gallon

Thanks in advance

 

[helterscelter]

I am getting ready to do my first all grain batch. I am going to do a fly sparge when doing this as I have all the equipment so why not. The one question I have and the part I am a bit confused on is when I am done with my mash and I get the grain bed set and recycle for the first couple runnings back into the mashtun. Do I start the fly sparge as soon as I am draining into the boil kettle? Or do I drain the mashtun down to 1-2" above the grain bed and then start the sparge to match the amount coming out?


I basically have this setup:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...ntial-all-grain-brewing-starter-kit-10-gallon

Thanks in advance

I would start the sparge as soon as you are done with your vorlauf. it will take you a little bit of time and tweaking to get your in and out flow rates matched up. the 1 to 2 inch above the grain bed is a recommendation for the minimum depth you want to keep. having 3 or 4 inches above isn't bad. (imho anyway)

 

[fishcrazy06]

Okay thanks. That helps and makes sense.

 

[cooper]

also make sure your sparge water is low in pH, around 5.5 to avoid extracting tannins and stop sparging when the wort is about 1.010. It should also take you at least 45 mins and it's definitly a slow process so dont get in a hurry. Something I'm guilty of when I try to fly sparge.

 

[j1n]

also make sure your sparge water is low in pH, around 5.5 to avoid extracting tannins and stop sparging when the wort is about 1.010. It should also take you at least 45 mins and it's definitly a slow process so dont get in a hurry. Something I'm guilty of when I try to fly sparge.

Shouldn't take that long to sparge and depends on your water if you need to reduce the PH.

I use straight RO water for my sparge so i dont adjust PH at all. Also it only takes me like 20 min to sparge.

 

[fishcrazy06]

Thanks all for the feedback this is exactly what I was looking for!

 

[Ozbrew]

I went from 20 minute sparge to close to an hour. Efficiency increased from 65 ish to 72 ish. So +1 for a long sparge.

 

[kh54s10]

I don't fly sparge but I have always read that you want a long slow sparge. 45 minutes to an hour....

I haven't done it for a couple of reasons. My setup is designed to batch sparge, I don't have what is necessary to measure PH and I like that I don't have to fiddle with sparge flow rates and the long time it takes.

 

[j1n]

I went from 20 minute sparge to close to an hour. Efficiency increased from 65 ish to 72 ish. So +1 for a long sparge.

i get 80%+ efficiency all the time and i dont take that long. I think the way you crush your grains matters way more than sparge length.

I don't fly sparge but I have always read that you want a long slow sparge. 45 minutes to an hour....

I haven't done it for a couple of reasons. My setup is designed to batch sparge, I don't have what is necessary to measure PH and I like that I don't have to fiddle with sparge flow rates and the long time it takes.

Why? The point is you dont want to create channels in the grain bed and get the most eff. As long as you don't rush it in the beginning and don't get channels it shouldn't take so long.

 

[kh54s10]

i get 80%+ efficiency all the time and i dont take that long. I think the way you crush your grains matters way more than sparge length.




Why? The point is you dont want to create channels in the grain bed and get the most eff. As long as you don't rush it in the beginning and don't get channels it shouldn't take so long.

I don't know but almost everything I have ever read on fly sparging it to make it take 45 minutes or longer????

 

[Dave_K]

... The point is you dont want to create channels in the grain bed and get the most eff...

I beleive this is exactly the reason a slow sparge (45+ minutes) is always recommended.

Rushing the sparge greatly increases the chances of channelling in the grain bed. Channelling = loss in mash efficiency so taking your time is good practice.

You may be able to get really good mash efficiency with a 20 minute sparge if you have your method/system dialed in, but I don't think that is typical.

 

[fishcrazy06]

Awesome discussion guys thank you. I will come back here when I am done with the first batch I do. I think I have a good enough understanding to feel some what comfy doing it now.

 

[Ozbrew]

i get 80%+ efficiency all the time and i dont take that long. I think the way you crush your grains matters way more than sparge length.

Thing I learnt real quick is that no matter what amount of advice you get as long as you keep in the guide lines you're best to experiment a little yourself. Everyone does things slightly different with different conditions and variables and the result is a slightly different outcome. Yes grain mill matters for efficiency as does sparging. Best to do a few brews, record results and make tweaks to your method or system as required. You'll work out pretty quickly what works best for you.

 

[RM-MN]

I don't know but almost everything I have ever read on fly sparging it to make it take 45 minutes or longer????

Maybe the first person to write that just happened to use 45 minutes so they wrote it that way and everyone else simply copied. Not everything your read is correct. :rockin:

 

[kh54s10]

Maybe the first person to write that just happened to use 45 minutes so they wrote it that way and everyone else simply copied. Not everything your read is correct. :rockin:

Maybe not, but why does almost everything written say it takes longer. Probably because it usually does......

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

My personal experience is that I typically shoot for 1 hour for fly sparging... But what I typically do is once I hit the 45 minute mark. I check my pre-boil gravity and see if I'm on target or close to it. If its looking good, I speed up my sparge rate a bit, since I don't like to waste too much time. If its looking like its lagging, I slow it down.

Advantage is that at this point its a judgement call and you should be 80% done with your sparge and the grain bed should be completely set. If you are seeing some serious low efficiency numbers you can adjust from that point if you need to.

 

[funnelweb]

I couldn't be bothered using 45 - 60 minutes fly sparging to increase my eff. with 5-7% I just add for 2$ more grains. Time's money, right?