Sparging?

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talleymonster

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Can somebody explain what "Sparging" is to me? From what I have read, you pour hot water through all of the spent hops and grain after the boil to milk out every last bit of sugar? Is that right? Do you do this even when doing extract brewing? Can someone please go into a little more detail for me? Thanks guys.

:drunk:
 
You are partially correct. Sparging is the process of rinsing the sugars out of the grain. This is done at an elevated temperature (roughly 170 degrees) to make the wort less viscous and better able to flow and rinse the sugars.
You can also do this when extract brewing but most folks just steep the grains in a bag until the water comes to a boil then the bag is removed and allowed to drain back into the pot.
You can learn more here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Beer
 
talleymonster said:
Can somebody explain what "Sparging" is to me? From what I have read, you pour hot water through all of the spent hops and grain after the boil to milk out every last bit of sugar? Is that right? Do you do this even when doing extract brewing? Can someone please go into a little more detail for me? Thanks guys.

:drunk:

I think you are getting a little confused on some terminology. Sparging is what is done after mashing (resting the grain with water at a certain temperature for a certain amount of time)the grain. You sparge into your boil kettle to boil and add hops.

Typically, there are three to four vessels used in brewing, sometimes more. It starts with the Hot Liqour Tun (basically a vessel that holds all the hot water you will need to brew). Then you have the Mash Tun (were the crushed grain called Grist is "Mashed" when water is added). Some people have what is called a Lauter Grant (a vessel used to catch mash tun run off called Wort). The Lauter Grant isn't really needed on small scale brewing since you can simply pour into a pitcher and recirculate the "wort" over the grainbed in your "mash Tun" until the wort runs clear. Last you have the Boil Kettle (where the wort goes to to be boiled and hops added on whatever schedule your recipe dictates).

Hope this helps, sometimes it gets confusing since you're learning German while you're learning brewing.

Oh, I see someone answered before I did, sorry.
 
IIRC, in CJOHB pappa Charlie uses the term sparge to describe ladeling the wort through a strainer into a carboy primary.

If you're doing an extract brew you won't be sparging grains as wortmonger describes.
 
I'm not posting this link to John Palmer's book, How To Brew because I don't want to answer your question. I'm posting it because if you have never seen it you are missing out on one of the best, free resources for new brewers available anywhere.

After you read through the free online version it's worth picking the new 3'rd edition.
 
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