grainfather Sparge water / full volume mash

[Secla]

I have been considering buying an additional sparge water heater but kind of takes away from the 1 pot nature of the grainfather !
Does anyone do a full volume mash with no sparging in the grainfather, If so what kind of drop in efficiency or any other adverse affects have you noticed ? Im assuming volumes would have to be dropped slightly to get the grain and full volume in all at once

[Dave S]

I have been considering buying an additional sparge water heater but kind of takes away from the 1 pot nature of the grainfather !
Does anyone do a full volume mash with no sparging in the grainfather, If so what kind of drop in efficiency or any other adverse affects have you noticed ? Im assuming volumes would have to be dropped slightly to get the grain and full volume in all at once

You can always liquor back during or after the boil. But no, I've never done full volume mash in mine, I still like to Sparge. For my Sparge water heater, (HLT) I use my Buffalo 40L which used to be my boiler with the old system. I don't think it detracts from the benefits offered by the GF at all. I still find the whole setup a heck of a lot wieldier than my old system. Plus there is the huge advantage of having the RIMS.

[Hairybiker]

You can always do a COLD WATER sparge.
I've been doing this all year with no real difference.

Just take cold water direct from the cold tap in your kitchen. I just use a 2L jug and pour it directly on the mash, keeping a water head above the grain.

You only need to use a larger container if you want to treat your sparge water.

[Dave S]

You can always do a COLD WATER sparge.
I've been doing this all year with no real difference.

Just take cold water direct from the cold tap in your kitchen. I just use a 2L jug and pour it directly on the mash, keeping a water head above the grain.

You only need to use a larger container if you want to treat your sparge water.

Which you really should do unless you have low alkalinity tap water.

[Hairybiker]

I have been brewing with untreated water (other than the addition of a campden tablet in past few years) for over 20 years now.
We have good soft water so unless I really want to emulate something I don't bother.

Otherwise nowt to stop you using your FV as a temp holding pen for the COLD water sparge, you can treat it there.

[Clobber]

I just put a big pot of water onto boil on the hob in the kitchen during the boil, turn it off when it's boiling and by the sparge time comes it's about the right temp and jug it on as above...

Big stainless from pot from ebay is cheap enough.