Sparging when biab?

[kohalajohn]

Hello all

I have ordered my first biab machine, the Brewzilla gen 4.

I have heard that although this is biab, some will still sparge at the end. Will lift up the grain basket, let it drain, and pour fresh hot water over the grains to extract more wort.

Do people do that? Or are we content with the extraction just from the reciculationg wort?

And if we sparge, what tools are used? Just pour over the top? Or put in a three way valve for the pump so you can pump up fresh hot water?

 

[Broken Crow]

Good call! That machine will serve you well in the long run or even if it's just to get back in the game. It has many many users on here so while you're waiting for it to arrive, you find many answers to the questions you haven't thought of yet in the dedicated Brewzilla thread here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/brewzilla-gen4-discussion-tips-talk.702436/
..As to you're specific question about sparging, I don't have one myself but here's a shortcut to the sparging in a brewzilla bits:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/search/9604234/?q=sparge&t=post&c[thread]=702436&o=relevance

 

[IslandLizard]

A dunk sparge would be much more productive than a pour-over.

For that you'd need a separate vessel containing the balance of your pre-boil brewing water to drop the already dripped-out basket (or squeezed-out bag) into, rinsing out the (high gravity) wort it has trapped.

 

[Broken Crow]

I've had a few more thoughts:
In all your posts you haven't mentioned beer-preferences or asked about ingredients...Once the unit arrives you'll want to unpack it, learn it (in case you haven't already downloaded and read it: https://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/assets/pdf/BrewZilla-Gen4-Instruction-Manual.pdf), clean it and use it.
There's a few items that haven't been addressed in your posts and I know you're eager to go so:
Make sure and have your cleaning and sanitizing products:
https://www.brewhardware.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=pbw&Submit=
https://www.brewhardware.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=star+san&Submit=
https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/bkf.htm
And; If you haven't yet ordered ingredients, here's some kits that many on here love:
https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1900.htm
Will you be bottling or kegging? Have you yet chosen a fermenter? Heck...you probably already have it planned out so tell us about it... I am vicariously excited for you.

 

[doug293cz]

Hello all

I have ordered my first biab machine, the Brewzilla gen 4.

I have heard that although this is biab, some will still sparge at the end. Will lift up the grain basket, let it drain, and pour fresh hot water over the grains to extract more wort.

Do people do that? Or are we content with the extraction just from the reciculationg wort?

And if we sparge, what tools are used? Just pour over the top? Or put in a three way valve for the pump so you can pump up fresh hot water?

Depending on the volume of your system, it may not be big enough to do a full volume mash. If this is the case, then mashing with less than the full amount of water, and then removing the grain basket/pipe to drain will free up volume so you can add water to get up to your desired pre-boil volume. Pouring the make up water over the grains will rinse some of the retained extract from the spent grains, thus increasing your lauter efficiency. (Lauter efficiency = amount of extract in the BK / amount of extract created in the mash.) Rinsing the spent grains is sparging.

The best way to do a pour over sparge is to try to distribute the water uniformly over the exposed surface of the grain bed. A spray nozzle or shower head type water distributor will prevent channeling. Channeling results in most of the grain mass being bypassed by the water as it flows from the top to the bottom. Also, add the water slowly to allow time for diffusion to draw the concentrated wort clinging to the grits into the sparged wort.

A pour over sparge will increase your lauter efficiency, but can be quite variable unless you take great care with your procedures. A dunk sparge is more easily controlled, to get consistent results, but does require an extra vessel. With a malt pipe/basket, the geometry of the sparge vessel is important. The sparge water level, with the desired sparge water volume, needs to be high enough to cover the grain mass.

Brew on

 

[redrocker652002]

Hmmmm, I have the Grainfather and did a pour over sparge last time I used it. Never thought about taking the basket out and dunking it in a pot full of water. I might try that next time and see what happens. To answer the question, I have done the pour over but have only used the unit once so far. I like the ease of use and ease of cleanup.

 

[Whisky River]

When I use the Brewzilla or the Grainfather I always do a pour over sparge, but consistency is always tough to maintain depending on mash thickness etc. You can use whatever method you want to deliver the water, some people use a pump, some people gravity feed. A lot depends on what vessel you are heating your sparge water in (if you heat it at all). I often heat mine in a pot on the stove so I just ladle it out of the pot with a big Pyrex cup and pour it over the grains. I always use the top plate to try and distribute the sparge water as evenly as possible and try to keep a half an inch or so of water above the plate. It’s pretty simple in concept but a bit of a balancing act in practice.
All part of the fun. Congrats on the new system.

 

[redrocker652002]

When I use the Brewzilla or the Grainfather I always do a pour over sparge, but consistency is always tough to maintain depending on mash thickness etc. You can use whatever method you want to deliver the water, some people use a pump, some people gravity feed. A lot depends on what vessel you are heating your sparge water in (if you heat it at all). I often heat mine in a pot on the stove so I just ladle it out of the pot with a big Pyrex cup and pour it over the grains. I always use the top plate to try and distribute the sparge water as evenly as possible and try to keep a half an inch or so of water above the plate. It’s pretty simple in concept but a bit of a balancing act in practice.
All part of the fun. Congrats on the new system.

That is what I did for my first brew with the Grainfather. Mine has the earlier basket where the holes are just on the bottom so it wasn't too tough to keep the grain bed wet with the pour over. I would imagine those with the newer basket that has the holes on the sides as well it might be a bit tougher. But, the sparge took quite a while as it took longer for the water to run thru the grain.

 

[Bobby_M]

Reserve a small sparge for batches where all the water won't fit. That would be higher gravity batches with like 16+ pounds of grain. No harm in just tossing a gallon immediately into the mash pipe as soon as you lift it into draining position. This doesn't need to be complicated.

 

[Willy]

I use the Brewzilla Gen 4 (w/ or w/out extender piece depending on batch size. )

Often times there's not enough room to no sparge, but that is the easiest. Just bump up your grain bill a little because it is less efficient.

Have done the pour over ... Very hard to be consistent in how much efficiency happens. Does the water mostly pour thru or is it getting more wort?

I settled on a dunk sparge for most batches given my AIO systems, Brewzilla Gen 4. I use an old boil kettle with the temp probe removed so it won't tear the bag. I pull the bag out of the Brewzilla and let it drain. Move the bag to the big kettle and pour warm sparge water over it... Usually about a gallon at at time. Let it soak a bit and then dunk it like a giant tea bag. Lift out bag, Squeeze .... I put the bag on a big SS lid and dump the wort into the kettle. Repeat... Slowly and carefully... Until the pre-boil volume is achieved.

You not only get a lot of the sugars out... But this method also transfers a lot of the malt flavors I love.

 

[Yooper]

I use the Brewzilla Gen 4 (w/ or w/out extender piece depending on batch size. )

Often times there's not enough room to no sparge, but that is the easiest. Just bump up your grain bill a little because it is less efficient.

I settled on a dunk sparge for most batches given my AIO systems, Brewzilla Gen 4. I use an old boil kettle with the temp probe removed so it won't tear the bag. I pull the bag out of the Brewzilla and let it drain. Move the bag to the big kettle and pour warm sparge water over it... Usually about a gallon at at time. Let it soak a bit and then dunk it like a giant tea bag. Lift out bag, Squeeze .... I put the bag on a big SS lid and dump the wort into the kettle. Repeat... Slowly and carefully... Until the pre-boil volume is achieved.

You not only get a lot of the sugars out... But this method also transfers a lot of the malt flavors I love.

I do something similar, but entirely different……

I brew mostly IPAs these days, and the entire grainbill and full volume don’t fit in the smaller Brewzilla Gen 4. I’ve tried sparging by pouring over, and honestly, it was a bit of a mess with the malt pipe pulled up. I also get way more wort out of a BIAB because I can press/squeeze the bag.

I am 5/5” tall and about 125 pounds. I cannot lift the malt pipe evenly, as it’s up over my shoulders when I have to lift to the top for it to sit on the ‘feet’ and very very heavy. I’m stubborn and I will NOT admit that being a smaller 61 year old female is why! A hoist just isn’t practical in my laundry room. I brew indoors, in that laundry room, and with a drop ceiling and a half way decently clean laundry room, it just isn’t something that I can do.

So instead of an AIO, I now have a two vessel system. After several different attempts, I’ve decided on pulling out my oldest MLT, which is a 10 gallon cooler with a false bottom. Some of my earlier attempts involved using just the traditional malt pipe and lifting up. Then I tried BIAB and sparging. Then I tried mashing in the malt pipe, pumping the wort to a keg, sparging, then pumping the wort back into the Brewzilla. None of those were very successful. Very messy, heavy, and a real pain.

I thought about making smaller batches so I could do a full volume mash, but it’s just as much work for 5.5 gallons as it is for 4 and I didn’t want to do that unless I had to.

Now I’ve brought out the old MLT. I heat all of my brewing water in the Brewzilla. Then, I pump the mash water into the MLT, and BIAB in that MLT. It mostly fits, unless I’m doing a higher ABV beer. I can then either just drain the wort into the Brewzilla if it’s full volume, and then squeeze the bag and get all of the wort out, or if I want to sparge I can lift the bag and dunk sparge in the Brewzilla (but haven’t needed to yet). So right now, the Brewzilla is only the HLT and the boil kettle.

Had I know of the limitations of the Brewzilla without those middle ‘feet’ on the malt pipe, I wouldn’t have bought it. I already had an HLT/boil kettle. Still, with the Brewzilla on my little plant stand with casters, it’s lighter to roll around and clean than my old keggle HLT and boil kettle. Instead of an AIO, I now have a two vessel system but it’s easy to clean the MLT and it’s so light that I can easily handle it without a mess or straining myself.

The only beer I could do full volume mash was a German pilsner as it was lower ABV and the grainbill was probably only about 10 pounds. Step mashing was a disaster- even with 240, it didn’t raise the temperature as fast as I was used to on my old 3 vessel system. The Brewzilla has a lot of limitations, and even with careful lautering and using a hops spider, the pump clogged on me more than once. But that’s probably because I brew so many highly hopped beers, and crush pretty fine. Overall, I would not buy it again but I’m making it work.

 

[kurds_2408]

On my old BIAB system I didn't have any recirculation and needed to sparge to get any efficiency above the 60s. I only had one pot/heating element so I would heat sparge water first and put it into an igloo water cooler to stay warm. Then at the end of the mash I would dunk sparge in the igloo. This got me consistent 80-82%. I know have a diy build that is much nicer and I get 78% without any sparge. The pot is also big enough for full mash double digit ABV. And I'm happy there to not deal with the sparge. Every setup is different but I would definitely recommend a dunk sparge if you aren't getting the efficiency you want or don't have room for all the water.

 

[Willy]

On my old BIAB system I didn't have any recirculation and needed to sparge to get any efficiency above the 60s. I only had one pot/heating element so I would heat sparge water first and put it into an igloo water cooler to stay warm. Then at the end of the mash I would dunk sparge in the igloo. This got me consistent 80-82%. I know have a diy build that is much nicer and I get 78% without any sparge. The pot is also big enough for full mash double digit ABV. And I'm happy there to not deal with the sparge. Every setup is different but I would definitely recommend a dunk sparge if you aren't getting the efficiency you want or don't have room for all the water.

Nice pivot!!! Pictures?

 

[SFC Rudy]

I use two Mash & Boil units, mash in one and batch sparge in the other. Works great

 

[kurds_2408]

Nice pivot!!! Pictures?

Sorry it took a bit. Broke my phone last month and lost all my photos. Had to get some more. It is an upside down keg with easy cleaning bottom drain through the table.

 

[odie]

A dunk sparge would be much more productive than a pour-over.

For that you'd need a separate vessel containing the balance of your pre-boil brewing water to drop the already dripped-out basket (or squeezed-out bag) into, rinsing out the (high gravity) wort it has trapped.

why? A simple pour over, yes. but there are many methods

 

[odie]

That is what I did for my first brew with the Grainfather. Mine has the earlier basket where the holes are just on the bottom so it wasn't too tough to keep the grain bed wet with the pour over. I would imagine those with the newer basket that has the holes on the sides as well it might be a bit tougher. But, the sparge took quite a while as it took longer for the water to run thru the grain.

you should NEVER have hole on the side of your basket. You want the water to flow down thru the grain bed. Water always takes the path of least resistance. side holes just let it bypass the grain bed.

get a roll of flashing (home depot) to place inside the basket if it has side holes. will solve that problem.

 

[redrocker652002]

you should NEVER have hole on the side of your basket. You want the water to flow down thru the grain bed. Water always takes the path of least resistance. side holes just let it bypass the grain bed.

get a roll of flashing (home depot) to place inside the basket if it has side holes. will solve that problem.

Mine has only holes on the bottom. The newer version has 4 rows of perforations going up the sides at 12, 3, 6 and 9 oclock. I figured that would be better, but your post makes sense. Thank you

 

[kohalajohn]

Thanks, all. Very helpful info. This week I've just been learning the Brewzilla using hot water.

I know there's a place for Brewzilla talk, but we're chatting here....so two questions. They are both about sparging with out a separate sparge water heating tank. I would like to be able to do everything with this brewzilla. My kitchen stove is upstairs and far away and I don't want to carry heavy containers down stairs.

First. Just use hot tap water. Is 140F tap water enough heat for sparging? My sink is right beside the brewzilla and it eventually comes out, hot, at 140F. It would be super simple to fill up a container and do a Pour Over with 140F. A container something like this:

I suspect it should be fine. The mash water will already be 170F, so when my sparge water hits it, it will instantly bump up to say 160F. And it's not like I need to dissolve sugars or unglue them from the husks. If I've done the mash right, the sugars are already fully dissolved, not stuck to the husks at all.

Now, they just need a rinsing, right? A simple pour over at 140F?

Second. How about temporarily removing the mash wort so you have the bz available to heat clean water as a sparge tank?

At end of mash, lift up the mash tun. Pump out all the mash wort into a plain 5 gallon bucket. Pour hot tap water into the bz. You can leave the mash tun in place for this, or remove it.

I"ve just tried it with the mash tun in place (hanging up high of course) and it's easy to pour hot water down along the side of the mash tun and into the bz.

Turn the bz up to 170F. I have a 35 liter 220V so it heats up very fast. When at 170F, dunk the mash tun down, then lift it up, hopefully draining out virtually all of the residual sugars. Turn heat up to boiling, remove the mash tun and pour in the mash wort.

You're kind of doing the old fashioned way of brewing, taking off the mash wort for a strong beer and then making a light sparge wort for light beer. I'm just adding them back together.

 

[kohalajohn]

And I suppose a version of the second method, would be to fly sparge it. remove the mash wort, add fresh water, heat it up, then use the pump and a sargeant sparge head to fly sparge it.

You'd need an arm extension to reach up to the mash tun, as the mash tun would be elevated. But Brewzilla sells arm extensions. So maybe lots of people are already doing this.

It's not technically a real fly sparge, as you're just recirculating the sparge water. Therefore you may as well just dunk.

Of the three methods mentioned above, I'm feeling that hot tap water fly sparge is attracting me.

 

[kohalajohn]

I suppose the question I am asking is which of the two methods is preferred?

First, fly sparge using 140F tap water.

Second, batch sparge using 170F water.

 

[Whisky River]

I think generally brewers in the US who predominantly use tank style hot water heaters shy away from using hot water for any consumable part of the brewing process. The health department also recommends against using hot tap water for any kind of cooking. I think the official reason has to do with leaching chemicals or heavy metals out of pipes but the other reason is this…

 

[odie]

I have a perforated pizza pan on top of the grain bed. It does a pretty good job of spreading out the sparge water for an even rinse. Not perfect but pretty damn good. I do need to add some extra holes.

 

[odie]

Mine has only holes on the bottom. The newer version has 4 rows of perforations going up the sides at 12, 3, 6 and 9 oclock. I figured that would be better, but your post makes sense. Thank you

 

[kurds_2408]

I second not using hot tap water. I know it’s convenient, but on top of the safety based on chemicals and metals mentioned above it also throws of your water chemistry. Water from your hot water tank potentially has a different chemistry than your cold water.

 

[hungupdown]

I suppose the question I am asking is which of the two methods is preferred?

First, fly sparge using 140F tap water.

Second, batch sparge using 170F water.

The third method, floating sparge (which is used in many breweries) is more efficient.

I've done a floating sparge once in my BZ G4. After I'd forgotten to put in the malt pipe, before adding grain. It gave good results, but meant the process took longer.
A floating sparge, is where wort is removed at the same rate, as sparge water is being added. This means the grain bed continues to 'float', until after the last of the sparge water is added. That also reduces grain bed compaction, and the chances of a 'stuck' sparge.

The slower the flows, the greater the overall efficiency.

Following my mistake. At end of mashing, I slowly pumped the wort into a bucket (via recirculation arm at trickle flow), while adding the occasional jug of sparge water.
Most of the extra time then needed, was in emptying and rinsing out the BZ. Before tipping the wort back in for the boil.

But with malt pipe in place, the additional time taken is minimal.
And as I now have a long hose on the BZ (pumped) tap outlet, I can now pump out into a bucket on the counter top. Then use a hose from the bucket tap to refill the BZ.

 

[hungupdown]

Depending on the volume of your system, it may not be big enough to do a full volume mash. If this is the case, then mashing with less than the full amount of water, and then removing the grain basket/pipe to drain will free up volume so you can add water to get up to your desired pre-boil volume.
Brew on

I have the BZ G4 35L, with extension.
I prefer a thin mash, and typically my mash water volume = batch volume = 23L, for typically 6% ABV brews. I only very occasionally need the extension for boiling, or for stopping splashes while oxygenating (with a drill whisk).

When doing a 16% imperial stout, I'll use a 3kg LME addition, towards end of boil, rather than struggeling witha huge grain amount.

 

[kohalajohn]

Good points. I'll stay away from hot tap water.

I think I need a small electric kettle to heat up and hold my sparge water. Any suggestions?

 

[Beekeeper]

Good points. I'll stay away from hot tap water.

I think I need a small electric kettle to heat up and hold my sparge water. Any suggestions?

A coffee urn from a second hand store.

 

[RM-MN]

Good points. I'll stay away from hot tap water.

I think I need a small electric kettle to heat up and hold my sparge water. Any suggestions?

I'd suggest you use cold water from the tap instead of heating it. As you sparge the pH tends to increase. If you get the sparge pH higher than 6.0 and the temperature over 170 (approximately) you extract excess tannins. By using cold water you don't have to worry about tannin extraction. The only downside is that it takes a few minutes more to bring the wort to a boil. The other upside is you don't need another heating source.

 

[SFC Rudy]

I suppose the question I am asking is which of the two methods is preferred?

First, fly sparge using 140F tap water.

Second, batch sparge using 170F water.

I batch sparge with 200F water. No issues and I get to a boil faster.

 

[kohalajohn]

I keep hearing this cold water sparge idea. I think I need to examine it rather than dismissing it. A lot of folk use it, apparently with success.

I think I've dismissed it because I'm coming from the older tradition, long before biab existed. Back in the eighties , homebrewing and microbreweries were new. We were all trying to copy how the big breweries did it, because we thought they were the best. So we did it their way, with floating sparges, slowly spraying hot water over the mash as the wort slowly drained out the bottom. And it worked great.

But we now see that the techniques of the big breweries were necessitated by their huge size. A 2,000 kilo mash can't be lifted up, so you have to sparge in place.

But we can do anything we want.

Maybe we're not even "sparging" at all. Maybe we're just rinsing. Lifting up the mash tun to drain, means most of the wort falls out and many folk just do that and call it good.

Maybe just pushing some cold water down will push out the last of the hot dissolved sugars. There is a benefit to not being too hot and extracting tannins. The commercial brewers would hate this, as it would take much longer to heat up their massive boils. But I'm only making four gallons and I have a 220V heater to do it, so a longer boil time doesn't matter much to me.

Enough theory. I"ll just try it and see.

 

[odie]

Maybe we're not even "sparging" at all. Maybe we're just rinsing. Lifting up the mash tun to drain, means most of the wort falls out and many folk just do that and call it good.

Maybe just pushing some cold water down will push out the last of the hot dissolved sugars. There is a benefit to not being too hot and extracting tannins. The commercial brewers would hate this, as it would take much longer to heat up their massive boils. But I'm only making four gallons and I have a 220V heater to do it, so a longer boil time doesn't matter much to me.

Enough theory. I"ll just try it and see.

basically what you do with a BIAB basket...Lift the basket and drain it., then add water to the top of the grain bed to rinse the residual sugars...just make sure the water is distributed evenly over the top. I've even used just a hose sprayer on the "mist" setting and misted the top of the grain until it trickled thru and I collected my target wort volume.

 

[kohalajohn]

Odie, did you use hot water or cold water?

 

[odie]

usually it's room temps. filtered water that was already pulled for brewing. the mash is already converted so just rinsing grain. obviously hot will be slightly more efficient at rinsing out the sugars...

 

[Whisky River]

I keep hearing this cold water sparge idea. I think I need to examine it rather than dismissing it. A lot of folk use it, apparently with success.

I think I've dismissed it because I'm coming from the older tradition, long before biab existed. Back in the eighties , homebrewing and microbreweries were new. We were all trying to copy how the big breweries did it, because we thought they were the best. So we did it their way, with floating sparges, slowly spraying hot water over the mash as the wort slowly drained out the bottom. And it worked great.

But we now see that the techniques of the big breweries were necessitated by their huge size. A 2,000 kilo mash can't be lifted up, so you have to sparge in place.

But we can do anything we want.

Maybe we're not even "sparging" at all. Maybe we're just rinsing. Lifting up the mash tun to drain, means most of the wort falls out and many folk just do that and call it good.

Maybe just pushing some cold water down will push out the last of the hot dissolved sugars. There is a benefit to not being too hot and extracting tannins. The commercial brewers would hate this, as it would take much longer to heat up their massive boils. But I'm only making four gallons and I have a 220V heater to do it, so a longer boil time doesn't matter much to me.

Enough theory. I"ll just try it and see.

These are all great points and I think you’re right on track in seeing how things have changed. Many of these issues have been discussed at length and a “new” consensus has emerged, think cold sparging, skipping secondary, autolysis etc.

I think it’s fascinating to research these issues while taking note of the date of the discussion (in the real world and here on HBT) and see how the conversation or accepted wisdom has changed over time.

Best of luck

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

Good points. I'll stay away from hot tap water.

I think I need a small electric kettle to heat up and hold my sparge water. Any suggestions?

When I use to sparge in my Anvil, I used a $10 hot plate from Walmart and a 3 gallon pot I had around.

Its honestly not worth the time in a AIO BIAB. Make up you efficiencies with grain crush and water profile.

I also "dunk" the grain basket every 10 minutes, I usually only mash for 40 minute maximum.

 

[Bobby_M]

Different thread, but I'll just go ahead and chime in with "just don't".

If the batch you're pulling off can be done full volume, no sparge. Just do that. All the gymnastics and extra BS to make a sparge happen to recover 5% efficiency is a little much. No sparge is better, convince me otherwise:

One water recipe calculation
No pH drift or need for a separate sparge water acidification.
No chance of oversparging isolated areas of mash due to channeling (very real in a makeshift fly sparge that is actually a damp grain pourover rather than an ideal fly sparge mechanic)
Preboil gravity = Mash Gravity which allows for in process testing to see if you're hitting your numbers without having to calculate dilutions.
No extra water heating.
No extra liquid moving.

Cons: $3 more cost per batch.

It would take me a long time to try to illustrate how much better my beer became when I stopped sparging and that alone would be enough for me, but it's also just easier.

 

[doug293cz]

dunk the mash tun down, then lift it up, hopefully draining out virtually all of the residual sugars.

You can never get ALL of the remaining sugar out of the spent grain mass. Even with a good fly sparge, you will leave behind 3% or more of the sugar created in the mash. Other sparge methods will leave behind even more sugar.

And I suppose a version of the second method, would be to fly sparge it. remove the mash wort, add fresh water, heat it up, then use the pump and a sargeant sparge head to fly sparge it.

You'd need an arm extension to reach up to the mash tun, as the mash tun would be elevated. But Brewzilla sells arm extensions. So maybe lots of people are already doing this.

It's not technically a real fly sparge, as you're just recirculating the sparge water. Therefore you may as well just dunk.

This is nothing but a more complicated batch/dunk sparge, and will have the same lauter efficiency, which will be less than a fly sparge. It's like trying to rinse more soap off of a cleaned plate by repeatedly dunking it back in the soapy water.

The third method, floating sparge (which is used in many breweries) is more efficient.

I've done a floating sparge once in my BZ G4. After I'd forgotten to put in the malt pipe, before adding grain. It gave good results, but meant the process took longer.
A floating sparge, is where wort is removed at the same rate, as sparge water is being added. This means the grain bed continues to 'float', until after the last of the sparge water is added. That also reduces grain bed compaction, and the chances of a 'stuck' sparge.

The slower the flows, the greater the overall efficiency.

What you are describing is a traditional fly (or continuous) sparge process. You do no one any favors by making up new terminology to describe something that already has well established terminology. Pouring water over a raised grain basket/bag is not a true fly sparge, and should not be referred to as such.

I think I need a small electric kettle to heat up and hold my sparge water. Any suggestions?

Yes, sparge with unheated water, if you need to sparge at all. Hot water might let you run a true fly sparge a little faster without loss of lauter efficiency, but is unlikely to help with a pour over sparge. Experiments have shown that when batch/dunk sparging, there is no difference in lauter efficiency between sparging with hot or cold water, IF your mash has finished converting completely. If your mash conversion is incomplete, AND you haven't done a mash out prior to sparging, then a hot water sparge can allow more conversion to occur during the sparge, thereby increasing your conversion efficiency and mash efficiency.

Maybe we're not even "sparging" at all. Maybe we're just rinsing. Lifting up the mash tun to drain, means most of the wort falls out and many folk just do that and call it good.

Sparging IS rinsing the spent grains with fresh water.

Brew on

 

[SkyPilot]

Different thread, but I'll just go ahead and chime in with "just don't".

If the batch you're pulling off can be done full volume, no sparge. Just do that. All the gymnastics and extra BS to make a sparge happen to recover 5% efficiency is a little much. No sparge is better, convince me otherwise:

One water recipe calculation
No pH drift or need for a separate sparge water acidification.
No chance of oversparging isolated areas of mash due to channeling (very real in a makeshift fly sparge that is actually a damp grain pourover rather than an ideal fly sparge mechanic)
Preboil gravity = Mash Gravity which allows for in process testing to see if you're hitting your numbers without having to calculate dilutions.
No extra water heating.
No extra liquid moving.

Cons: $3 more cost per batch.

It would take me a long time to try to illustrate how much better my beer became when I stopped sparging and that alone would be enough for me, but it's also just easier.

Bobby do you have a starting rule of thumb on how much additional grain to add to the grain bill on a recipe in order to make up for not sparging?