Sparging - Am I doing it wrong???

[andy6026]

This thread took an interesting turn.

I have one pot (looking now into getting a second) and cooler for a mashtun. I usually do 2 batches back to back. The first batch I heat the sparge water shortly before the mash is done. After I drain everything (into buckets) I heat my strike water for the second batch, and start the second mash. Then my kettle is free to boil the first batch. The mash is done on the second batch usually before the first batch finished boiling, so I sparge my second batch with cold water.

I'm looking forward to getting a second kettle (and burner) so I can speed things along better. If I'm not right on the ball with having things ready at the right time then it can add more than an hour to a 2-batch brew day. ****, if I made another mash-tun as well then I could be doing 2 batches simultaneously! Well, I'd have to still stagger it a bit given I have one chiller, but you get the idea.

I heat my sparge water when the kettle is available because it gets my brew day going faster. If my kettle isn't available then I sparge with unheated water because it too gets my brew day going along faster.

 

[Denny]

This is pretty much all of my equipment....

 

[madscientist451]

I don't see any Ukuleles in the picture.....

 

[Denny]

I don't see any Ukuleles in the picture.....

I did ya a favor!

 

[Kent88]

I think I see Windows XP running on that computer.

I find ways to make brewing more complicated than it needs to be, and one of my biggest issues with how batch sparging is explained is that many equations indicate that the brewer needs to sparge until a certain pre-boil volume is attained. I see this as being a huge problem if the beer is supposed to have a very low OG or a very high OG, it could lead to over or under sparging. Many experienced batch spargers would probably say that I'm making more work for myself, but usually after I collect wort from sparging once (draining the tun twice), I get out my refractometer and I start taking samples to make sure I'm not over/under sparging.

As far as the debate on how hot sparge water should be, I usually try to keep it around mash temperature and it seems to work ok.

 

[Denny]

I think I see Windows XP running on that computer.

I find ways to make brewing more complicated than it needs to be, and one of my biggest issues with how batch sparging is explained is that many equations indicate that the brewer needs to sparge until a certain pre-boil volume is attained. I see this as being a huge problem if the beer is supposed to have a very low OG or a very high OG, it could lead to over or under sparging. Many experienced batch spargers would probably say that I'm making more work for myself, but usually after I collect wort from sparging once (draining the tun twice), I get out my refractometer and I start taking samples to make sure I'm not over/under sparging.

As far as the debate on how hot sparge water should be, I usually try to keep it around mash temperature and it seems to work ok.

Indeed it is! It's a $25 Goodwill special! It's very difficult to under or over sparge in batch sparging. If a grist bill is very large or very small, though, it becomes a candidate for no sparge.

 

[Kent88]

@Denny so you recommend if someone wants to brew a high-gravity beer like a doppelbock or a barleywine that the brewer just goes with no-sparge and while designing the recipe just anticipate something like 50% efficiency?

If I am looking at the anticipated OG of a beer I want to make what are those thresholds where I should be thinking "You know, maybe no-sparge is the way to go here"? I assume some of it depends on the system so maybe it would be better to ask what numbers you use.

 

[doug293cz]

@Denny so you recommend if someone wants to brew a high-gravity beer like a doppelbock or a barleywine that the brewer just goes with no-sparge and while designing the recipe just anticipate something like 50% efficiency?

If I am looking at the anticipated OG of a beer I want to make what are those thresholds where I should be thinking "You know, maybe no-sparge is the way to go here"? I assume some of it depends on the system so maybe it would be better to ask what numbers you use.

The maximum possible pre-boil SG is obtained with a no-sparge process. In this case the pre-boil SG equals the SG of the wort in the mash. Turns out that the max SG of the wort in the mash is just a function of the mash thickness (water to grain ratio), for most reasonable grain bills. Braukaiser gives a table of max SG vs. mash thickness here: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Understanding_Efficiency#Measuring_conversion_efficiency. If your target pre-boil SG is about the same as the max possible mash SG, then you are pretty much forced into a no-sparge process.

If the thought of leaving behind a bunch of sugar in the mash offends you, then consider doing a partigyle. This is just separating your second runnings, and making a second, smaller beer with them.

Brew on

 

[MaryB]

I fly sparge and in the 38 years I have been brewing (on and off, used to share a huge system with a friend, we brewed for 4 families) I have never ran into a tannin situation using the amount of water I need to reach my kettle volume for the boil. Could I maybe sparge the grain bed for a smaller beer or a starter? Probably but with a 6 hour brew day that is just more work I don't need! I sparge to reach the 13 gallons I need(11 gallon batch) to compensate for boil off.

 

[Denny]

@Denny so you recommend if someone wants to brew a high-gravity beer like a doppelbock or a barleywine that the brewer just goes with no-sparge and while designing the recipe just anticipate something like 50% efficiency?

If I am looking at the anticipated OG of a beer I want to make what are those thresholds where I should be thinking "You know, maybe no-sparge is the way to go here"? I assume some of it depends on the system so maybe it would be better to ask what numbers you use.

My experience with those 2 styles in particular...doppelbock isn't so high in OG that I'd do a no sparge. BW is. It's a judgement call that everyone has to make for themselves. After years of doing so sparge BW, I got a bigger mashtun so now I can sparge when I do it. So it's gonna depend on your particular equipment setup. My no sparge efficiency typically runs around 65%.

 

[Pappers_]

This thread represents so much of what I love about HBT and the people here - it never occurred to me that you could batch sparge with room temperature, non-heated water. It makes perfect sense, but I just never thought about it. Mind officially blown. Thanks RM-MN and Denny! I'm not sure I'm going to do it, heating sparge water isn't an issue for me, but it just never occurred to me that it was an option.