Moving to 1bbl system - sparge time question

[MikeyM]

Hi all,

I currently brew on a 15 gallon system and get about an 11 gallon yield at about 82-85% efficiency. It usually takes me about 45 mins to 1 hour to sparge and collect between 13.5 and 14 gallons. My question is when I go to 1bbl will it take 3 times as long - up to 3 hours to sparge? Or more like 2? Or less? Is there a magic number or rule of thumb when moving to a larger system?

Thanks very much. Cheers!

Mikey

 

[Demon]

You're sparge time will not multiply. On my 10 gallon system I sparge in 90 minutes. On my 7bbl system I sparge in 90 minutes.

As you scale up, so does your runoff speed.

 

[Exportjo]

+1 with Demon. Another suggestion it's to start your run off slowly and increase your rate throughout your sparge. The first running can be as high up as 25* Plato, and very viscous. By allowing your sparge water to heat the mash you drop your SG and the increased heat in sparging lowers viscosity.

 

[gbarker121]

I asked a similar question here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/affect-volume-fly-sparge-times-508229/

I thought the input was pretty good. Your mash tun diameter/grain bed depth are the main things at work.

Edit: Oooops. Not sure how I missed that last post date. Sorry to wake an old thread.