"Pulling in the grain bed" with single vessel systems

[JonBrew]

Wondering if anyone can help/offer views on this.

I'm a BIAB brewer and have never sparged. I'm in the process of building a single vessel recirculating system based on BrewPi. Although I've never sparged, I've often heard that a stuck sparge or problems sparging can be caused by running off to fast after recirculation causing the grain bed to compact and become unspargable (is that a word?). I believe this is referred to as "pulling in the grain bed".

It got me thinking that, as I do BIAB, I must be effectively must be doing this every time I lift the grain bag out of my brew kettle. Then that thought led me to thinking that this must surely be an issue in any single vessel system that's based on BIAB, i.e. the Grainfather, where a grain basket is lifted out of the kettle and generally rested on top before sparging begins.

I've had a look at the instruction manual for the Grainfather and cant see that they suggest doing anything special when lifting out the basket, such as doing it really slowly, to prevent the grain bed from compacting.

Anyone able to offer any insight into whether or not this is a problem with single vessel systems and/or how these systems combat it? I've always heard people rave about the efficiency they reach with the Grainfather so I'm assuming it cant be that big a deal, that or there's something about the Grainfather that stops the grain bed from being pulled in?

Cheers

 

[thehaze]

I have been using the Grainfather for around 45 batches and never really had a stuck sparge. Granted, I had like 2 slower sparges, but otherwise is pretty quick and never really had efficiency problems ( efficiency, based on grain amount, crush and the grains used, varies from 74 to 84%, so no complaints there ). I mash out and sparge so that I never let the bed dry out for water, so a slow-ish continous pour is OK. I recently did a Pale ale with 50% Rye and added some oat hulls and did not encounter any issues. This was an infusion mash at 65C/149F.

If you get a stuck sparge, you can stop and slowly " fluff " up the grains once and continue the sparge. It should not pose any real problems.

Similar systems would also work as well.

 

[kh54s10]

I think that "pulling the grain bed" requires a lot more than lifting the basket out of the kettle. It would be if you turned on the pump full blast and sucked everything down. I have sparged BIAB by pulling the bag, setting it in a colander and pouring water over the bag. It was not compacted enough to stop the flow. Just lifting out the basket will not compact the grain enough to cause any problems.

I'm not familiar with the Grainfather's procedure so I don't know any procedures that apply.

A stuck sparge is more of a standard brewing problem. It is usually caused by the recipe. Too much fine material that makes a dense layer that the water won't drain through. Rice hulls help this problem. They keep the mash less dense allowing better flow.

 

[JonBrew]

Thanks for the input guys, both very helpful. Cheers