Stir before draining batch sparge?

[aeviaanah]

I’m a fly sparger and maintain consistent results at 75% efficiency. I’m an effort to minimize brew time I’d like to try batch sparging. I recirculate the entire mash through herms coil. What steps are often missed to ensure a decent batch sparge? I’m thinking something like this

1. Dough in, stir well
2. Mash for 60min+
3. Stir well, recirculate a bit for clarity
4. Drain- slow or fast??
5. Add sparge water
6. Stir well, recirculate a bit for clarity
7. Drain- slow or fast??

 

[robbeh]

I’m a fly sparger and maintain consistent results at 75% efficiency. I’m an effort to minimize brew time I’d like to try batch sparging. I recirculate the entire mash through herms coil. What steps are often missed to ensure a decent batch sparge? I’m thinking something like this

1. Dough in, stir well
2. Mash for 60min+
3. Stir well, recirculate a bit for clarity
4. Drain- slow or fast??
5. Add sparge water
6. Stir well, recirculate a bit for clarity
7. Drain- slow or fast??

That’s pretty much what I do! I don’t stir in the first drain but I see others do it. Drain slowish, I usually have a quarter turn going on my valve. You still can get a stuck sparge if you drain too fast.

I stir well in the second sparge and again drain that same.

After the help from everyone here my system obtained 70% efficiencies on both brews after and sparging is 15-20 minutes.

 

[aeviaanah]

That’s pretty much what I do! I don’t stir in the first drain but I see others do it. Drain slowish, I usually have a quarter turn going on my valve. You still can get a stuck sparge if you drain too fast.

I stir well in the second sparge and again drain that same.

After the help from everyone here my system obtained 70% efficiencies on both brews after and sparging is 15-20 minutes.

Sweet! I usually use a pump for my sparge. Do you use gravity?

 

[doug293cz]

With batch sparge you can drain as fast as your grain bed will allow without getting stuck, as long as you stir the sparge water like it owes you money before you drain. You can vorlauf after stirring and before draining if you wish.

Brew on