Lil' Sparky said:First, let me say, you're not getting an argument from me. I'm just trying to address some of your questions.
I appreciate that.
If you're fly sparging in 30 minutes, then it's not faster.
30 would be the minimum. A few minutes here or there isn't a big deal in the overall process.
But when I fly sparged in 30 minutes, my efficiency sucked. What about if you're doing a 10 gallon batch? Last weekend it took me < 30 minutes to batch sparge 13 gallons into the kettle.
Larger sparges shouldn't take longer. Its all a function of grain bed depth as far as I can figure out. A 12 inch deep 3 gallon sparge should take the same time as a 12" deep 12 gallon sparge.
Try that with fly sparging and let me know what kind of efficiency you get. Another thing - the first addition before the first runoff is essentially a mashout anyway, which a lot of people do regardless of fly/batch, so you can't count that against batch sparging.
OK. There are still an extra stir, settle, recirculate in the process. In a RIMS or HERM system, you don't have to stir to mashout and the recirculate is already done too. You just redirect the wort going back into the the mash vessel to into the boil kettle. And throttle it back, I think.
Is it easier? Debatable. I always felt like I was constantly fiddling with things to match the flows between the HLT and the MLT.
Just set the MLT flow so that it will take 30-40 minutes to drain and then just keep the water level above the bed. If people wanted to, they could use a small float operated valve. $25 and it would be totally automated !
And if you let the grain bed compact while fly sparging, you WILL get a stuck sparge.
I've NEVER had a stuck sparge, save when the plastic braid I accidentally used collapsed. Now how does one "let a grain bed compact" ? Do you mean run dry ?
Very little. Its on the stove if I want to heat it up.How much does the water in your HLT cool during a 45 min sparge?
What about the pH of your sparge towards the end.
Pretreat with gypsum. I think it results in a better beer with either method. I strongly suspect that flooding the MLT with a bunch of untreated water during a batch sparge isn't good either.
Probably the biggest factor: Batch sparging is certainly more forgiving on what kind of equip. you're using. A lot of guys here use manifolds and braids in a cooler - wouldn't work so well with fly sparging.
I think either will work fine as long as they decently cover the floor area of the MLT. My braid seemed to work really well. My last cooler had a combo false bottom/manifold.
All I can say is I can do either with my setup (keg w/ false bottom) and I've tried both. It's very doubtful I'll ever bother fly sparging again. I LIKE batch sparging and it works.
Ales or lagers ? Maybe I'll try it on my next batch.