Question about Sparging

[Byrdbrewer]

Question about Sparging,
I batch sparge and I continue to read posts from brewers who stir up the grain bed after laughtering the first runnings. This seems kind of counter intuitive to me and I am hoping that someone can educate me. It seems like stirring the grain bed would negate the tedious task of laughtering until a clear wort is achieved. Wouldn’t stirring the grain bed result in disrupting the settled grain bed and make it impossible to get a clean runoff while sparging?

After my first runnings, I batch sparge (about 3 gallons) 4-5 cups at a time, slowly pouring over the grain bed, disrupting the grain bed as little as possible. I sparge with the valve full open (I have also sparged at different valve positions but it seems to make no difference on my efficiency) to flush out any remaining sugars and seem to get a pretty clear wort.

Now that being said, my efficiency is a little low, but I always assumed that (because this is only my 5th batch of all-grain) it was an issue in my mash process, or rough measuring of water (sometimes my final volume as a bit over 5 gallons due to all the fractional measurements and I am using 1 gallon jugs) . My grain bill averages about 18 Lbs and my brewing software shows 9%-10% and my hydrometer shows me (after calculating OG and FG) about 8%. I measure via hydrometer at pitching temps, so about 60-65 degrees.

As a side note my OG of my last batch was 1.075 and FG was 1.012 and I believe my grain bill was 18-19lbs.

I know I have put a lot of veriables out there, and my real question here is to stir or not to stir, but I wanted to put as many facts out there as possible so the gurus out there could understand my process and the nature of my question.

 

[cantrell00]

Question about Sparging,
I batch sparge and I continue to read posts from brewers who stir up the grain bed after laughtering the first runnings. This seems kind of counter intuitive to me and I am hoping that someone can educate me. It seems like stirring the grain bed would negate the tedious task of laughtering until a clear wort is achieved. Wouldn’t stirring the grain bed result in disrupting the settled grain bed and make it impossible to get a clean runoff while sparging?

After my first runnings, I batch sparge (about 3 gallons) 4-5 cups at a time, slowly pouring over the grain bed, disrupting the grain bed as little as possible. I sparge with the valve full open (I have also sparged at different valve positions but it seems to make no difference on my efficiency) to flush out any remaining sugars and seem to get a pretty clear wort.

Now that being said, my efficiency is a little low, but I always assumed that (because this is only my 5th batch of all-grain) it was an issue in my mash process, or rough measuring of water (sometimes my final volume as a bit over 5 gallons due to all the fractional measurements and I am using 1 gallon jugs) . My grain bill averages about 18 Lbs and my brewing software shows 9%-10% and my hydrometer shows me (after calculating OG and FG) about 8%. I measure via hydrometer at pitching temps, so about 60-65 degrees.

As a side note my OG of my last batch was 1.075 and FG was 1.012 and I believe my grain bill was 18-19lbs.

I know I have put a lot of veriables out there, and my real question here is to stir or not to stir, but I wanted to put as many facts out there as possible so the gurus out there could understand my process and the nature of my question.

The intent of mixing everything after draining the MLT is to separate bound sugars from the grain husks...

You could look at no sparge lautering as an alternative assuming you don't want to try continuous fly sparging...

 

[MX1]

From http://www.brew365.com/technique_batch_sparge.php

see step 4

hope it helps

The Basic Batch Sparging Technique

Using the Batch Sparging method, your goal is to collect two equal volumes of the total wort to be boiled in two mash tun runnings. The first running will be the wort collected from your initial mash. The second will be the wort collected from your sparge.
To achieve this, you will first need to know how much water each step requires. There are lots of formulas that you may have seen that help you figure this out. The water calculation process is a whole article to itself. For now, let me just recommend that you use one of the spreadsheets available on the internet or, better yet, use an inexpensive program like BeerSmith that will help you figure out these exact volumes.

So let's say you have used your BeerSmith program and it says that you need to mash with 4.5 gallons, and sparge with 3.6 gallons in order to achieve two batches of 3.5 gallon wort. Here is how you would procede:

Step 1 - Add your 4.5 gallons and grain together in your mash tun at the correct strike temperature (also calculated in your handy BeerSmith program.) Let it sit for an hour or so.

Step 2 - Open the valve on your mash tun and drain 1 - 2 quarts into a pitcher. Take this and slowly pour it back into the mash tun so as to not disturb the grain bed. Repeat three or four times or until there is no particulate matter coming out and the wort is as clear as it is going to get. This is called the vorlauf and is used to help set the grain bed to be used as a filter when you are draining.

Step 3 - Drain your mash tun completely. Measure the volume for future reference.

Step 4 - Fill your mash tun with the amount of sparge water your calculated earlier. The temperature should be somewhere around 175 degrees. Stir the grain bed to get all those sugars back into solution, and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

Step 5 - Repeat Step 2 by draining and replacing 1 - 2 Quarts at a time until it is relatively clear. You will notice that, this time, your wort has less color than the last step.

Step 6 - Open the spigot and drain this volume into your boil pot. Again, measure the volume for future reference.

Alternate Technique 1 - The Mashout

If you would like to try to eek out a few more sugars from your batch sparge, you could try a mashout. This involves adding some hot water (185 degrees or so) at the end of your mash to raise the temperature and loosen things up a bit before draining. If you want to try a mashout, hold some of your initial mash water back, and, at the end of your mash, heat it up to about 185, then add it to the mash tun. Vorlauf (recirculate) and drain as described.
This step is not necessary by any means, but sometimes adds a few more sugars to the mix.

Alternate Technique 2 - The Double Sparge

Instead of dumping all of your sparge water in at once, you could split this batch into two parts and repeat step 4 above twice. You might need to do this if your mash tun is too small to hold the entire sparge volume. You might just want to do this in order to try to increase your sugar extraction percentage.
This is purely speculation, but this is something I have always thought. Let's say you have a glass that you are washing out and you dumped a whole lot of soap in it. If you have an equal volume of water to use to rinse it, it seems to me that two equal rinsings of half your rinse water would get more soap out of the glass than one rinse of the whole volume of water. I think the same might hold true for your sparge ... you're just rinsing the sugars off of the grain particles at this point. Some tests are certainly in order some day.

 

[Byrdbrewer]

Would it have and bad effects if I were to let the grain bed re-settle before draining off the (sparge) water?

 

[govner1]

from http://www.brew365.com/technique_batch_sparge.php



see step 4



hope it helps



the basic batch sparging technique



using the batch sparging method, your goal is to collect two equal volumes of the total wort to be boiled in two mash tun runnings. The first running will be the wort collected from your initial mash. The second will be the wort collected from your sparge.

To achieve this, you will first need to know how much water each step requires. There are lots of formulas that you may have seen that help you figure this out. The water calculation process is a whole article to itself. For now, let me just recommend that you use one of the spreadsheets available on the internet or, better yet, use an inexpensive program like beersmith that will help you figure out these exact volumes.



So let's say you have used your beersmith program and it says that you need to mash with 4.5 gallons, and sparge with 3.6 gallons in order to achieve two batches of 3.5 gallon wort. Here is how you would procede:



step 1 - add your 4.5 gallons and grain together in your mash tun at the correct strike temperature (also calculated in your handy beersmith program.) let it sit for an hour or so.



step 2 - open the valve on your mash tun and drain 1 - 2 quarts into a pitcher. Take this and slowly pour it back into the mash tun so as to not disturb the grain bed. Repeat three or four times or until there is no particulate matter coming out and the wort is as clear as it is going to get. This is called the vorlauf and is used to help set the grain bed to be used as a filter when you are draining.



step 3 - drain your mash tun completely. Measure the volume for future reference.



step 4 - fill your mash tun with the amount of sparge water your calculated earlier. The temperature should be somewhere around 175 degrees. Stir the grain bed to get all those sugars back into solution, and let it sit for about 10 minutes.



step 5 - repeat step 2 by draining and replacing 1 - 2 quarts at a time until it is relatively clear. You will notice that, this time, your wort has less color than the last step.



step 6 - open the spigot and drain this volume into your boil pot. Again, measure the volume for future reference.



Alternate technique 1 - the mashout



if you would like to try to eek out a few more sugars from your batch sparge, you could try a mashout. This involves adding some hot water (185 degrees or so) at the end of your mash to raise the temperature and loosen things up a bit before draining. If you want to try a mashout, hold some of your initial mash water back, and, at the end of your mash, heat it up to about 185, then add it to the mash tun. Vorlauf (recirculate) and drain as described.

This step is not necessary by any means, but sometimes adds a few more sugars to the mix.



Alternate technique 2 - the double sparge



instead of dumping all of your sparge water in at once, you could split this batch into two parts and repeat step 4 above twice. You might need to do this if your mash tun is too small to hold the entire sparge volume. You might just want to do this in order to try to increase your sugar extraction percentage.

This is purely speculation, but this is something i have always thought. Let's say you have a glass that you are washing out and you dumped a whole lot of soap in it. If you have an equal volume of water to use to rinse it, it seems to me that two equal rinsings of half your rinse water would get more soap out of the glass than one rinse of the whole volume of water. I think the same might hold true for your sparge ... You're just rinsing the sugars off of the grain particles at this point. Some tests are certainly in order some day.

^^^+11- this!

 

[BrewInspector]

From what I understand there is no need to let the sparged grain sit for the ten minutes suggested.

I have let out sit and settle and I have drained immediately with no discernable difference.

My personal preference is too do the split sparge with two roughly equal amounts of my total sparge volume.