Easiest way to sparge

[BritishBelgianTwst]

Hi,

I'm building up my all grain kit and was wondering what the easiest/cheapest way to sparge is?
I've seen people talking about deflectors (icecream tup tops etc) but are they effective?
I've also seen people who drain their mash tun after having given it a good stir and then top up with the sparging liquor followed by another good stir draining it - I thought you needed to try and maintain the 'cake' to act as a filter.
For info I'll be using a hop strainer on my boiler (incidentally it's an H&G so any advice on how to modify it will be most welcome) so I guess that if some of the grist (is that the right terminology) goes into the boil it'll be separated by the hops after I've cooled it.

Thanks again......I'm quickly becoming a JBK Forum addict, lets just hope my boss doesn't see....

Paul

[ade1865]

Totally agree, batch sparging ftw. The biggest obstacle to my entry into AG was the whole sparging thing. It looked so complicated. So after some investigation I went with batch sparging and i've never loked back. its so easy. Basically u add water to your mash tun, add your grains and give it a good stir. leave for 60/90 mins to mash. then u top up with the reqd amount of water, stir again and leve for 10 mins. Run this off and repeat with more water. Done. easy. For calculations of how much water to use when, see: http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/batch_calculator.html. It sunder hints and tips on the top right hand corner of this screen.

[BritishBelgianTwst]

Cheers fellas,

I guess that I was thinking along the right lines then and my kit should be perfect (once it's been built).

Paul

[flytact]

There is that nerdy home brew term that will set you apart from the rest: vorlouf. This is basically recirculating the first several cloudy pints of the run-off. I pour this over a plastic lid so it doesn't disrupt the filter you are establishing.

So it's really just a fancy term for recirculating and clearing, nothing scary.

[BritishBelgianTwst]

Flytact,

First of all Thanks.

I can get really nerdy - it should read Vorlauf and based on my A level German translates as for (Vor) run (from the verb laufen).
The missus will love it when I start shouting that in my sleep!

So I'm going to be sparging with glee come Christmas... first I'll draw off the Vorlauf, re-circulate it in the mash being careful not to disturb the filter I've created by using an ice cream lid (highly technical piece of apparatus), run off the first lot of wort into my boiler and get it heating whilst I dump the rest of the liquor into the mash tun, Vorlauf it (as they say in Bavaria), Mr Whippy it and run it off into the boiler to heat up ready for the boil!

[DarloDave]

how is batch sparging easier than fly sparging? where you just connect a tub of water to the sparging arm and let the water run through the grains and into the boiler? isnt that easier as there is no calculations or anything? do you not just have a big enough tub of sparging water to be able to make up the desired amount in the boiler, or is it more complicated?

[ade1865]

Um, well I think there's a load of stuff about making sure your run off doesn't go below 1006, keeping the bed covered, er having a sparging arm, or in my mate's case using a kettle and 2 cutlery draws with holes in, which means u have to hover over the eqpt til done. I am not saying that when u get the hang of its not easy, but batch sparging seems less complicated and less time consuming to me.

[fraserjaxx]

I agree with the batch spargers above.
Because I use roughly the same amount of grain in each recipe I have drawn markings on my mash tun that I fill to for mashing and batch sparging.I don't bother with the calcs at all -just use my marks and achieve the right amount of wort to boil every time,give or take a litre or so.I have never had a problem with this method and it makes my brew days a little less complicated.

[Flaming Barrel]

I'm a flier, & just a question, how do you know when you are batch sparinging that you are not taking/rinsing any tannins & other undesirables? You cannot measure it as your batch will give you an avarage reading of the whole batch gravity
In a commercial brewery I know they sparge down to 4 or 5, but its easier to monitor the gravity.

[Flaming Barrel]

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh Thanks, youre a genius! great to have yer sage advice again. Couldn't you in theory measure pH of the run off instead of the gravity?
Mind you that'd probably be even more hastle.......Back to the cutlery trays/jugs.......