Batch Sparging? Have you tried it yet?

[mr.c]

So when fly sparging do you empty the mash liqour from the tun before starting sparging,then close tap and wait until the water gets level with the grain then open the tap or do you just open the tap of the tun and start sparging before the mash liqour emptys from the mash.Hope you know what I mean.

Thankyou DRB that was my next question too

[PieOPah]

Sorry, missed the actual answer - no you do not empty the tun before you sparege. You only do this with batch sparging

[DRB]

So what would you call what i'm doing.Emptying mash tun of wort then closing tap,filling the tun back up using the spiny thing until water is level with grain thhen turn the tap back on ,on the tun as the spiny thing spins.Looks as if i'm doing a bit of both.

[eskimobob]

So when fly sparging do you empty the mash liqour from the tun before starting sparging,then close tap and wait until the water gets level with the grain then open the tap or do you just open the tap of the tun and start sparging before the mash liqour emptys from the mash.Hope you know what I mean.

The idea is to let the mash run off at the same speed as you are adding sparge water therefore the quantity of liquid in the mash tun is neither increasing or reducing.

Some people fly sparge and maintain a small layer of water or the top of the mash while others let the mash drain before sparging (and still others do something in between those extremes). I have mainly used the first method however I have tried the second method for my last two batches and have not noticed much difference - I did achieve over 86% efficiency on my last brew though...

[PieOPah]

So what would you call what i'm doing.Emptying mash tun of wort then closing tap,filling the tun back up using the spiny thing until water is level with grain thhen turn the tap back on ,on the tun as the spiny thing spins.Looks as if i'm doing a bit of both.

What type of efficiencies are you getting in general DRB?

Personally I would suggest altering your method as described in this thread (fly sparging)

[mr.c]

So what would you call what i'm doing.Emptying mash tun of wort then closing tap,filling the tun back up using the spiny thing until water is level with grain thhen turn the tap back on ,on the tun as the spiny thing spins.Looks as if i'm doing a bit of both.

Im with you on the DRB

[PieOPah]

I'm not 100% sure on why you should keep the water above the grain bed raither than draining it but I think it might be related to leeching tanins which are undesirable in your beer.

If however with the method you are using you are getting a good extraction rate and your beer tastes okay then there is no reason why you should change your method!!

Might want to try though and see what difference it makes!

As always all your choice

[mr.c]

my method is working good for me and the beers are tasting very nice but i will look in to the efficiency of both when brewing my next beer.

[Scooby]

Basically you try to maintain 1 - 2 inches of water above the grain bed.

I'm not 100% sure on why you should keep the water above the grain bed raither than draining it

My method of sparging is this: open the tap and collect he wort in a jug, continue untill the wort is below the level of the grain, you may need 2 or 3 jugs.
The grain is now sinking to form a filter bed, and as it packs the wort begins to clear and runs darker the particals being trapped by the grain husks.
I start collecting the wort in the recieving vessel and the jugs of wort are slowly returned to the grain bed.
When all the cloudy wort has been returned to the grain bed I start sparging, balancing the sparge water to the outflow of wort and keeping the liquid just on the level of the grain bed.
If you have 1" - 2" above the grain, the water will take the least line of resistance ie down the sides of the tun, you want all the water to pass through the bed and rinse out the max amount of suger with the least amount of water.

[eskimobob]

[My method of sparging is this: open the .......

Same here. Last two brews though I have let the mash run a bit drier before balancing the sparge input water and the mash runoff. I actually achieved my best effiency of 86% on the last brew doing it this way but that might have been coincidence.

[SteveD]

I sort of do a half way house sparge. Drain down the mash initially then close the tap and gently refill with the rotating sparge arm, just as the water covers the grain, drain down again, repeat, then at some point I switch over to semi fly sparging , balancing the outflow to the sparge water coming in but not letting it get to any depth above the grain. I'll carry on until I've got the required volume in the boiler, about 7 gals, or until the gravity of the runnings drops to about 1006, whichever comes first. I have no problems getting 90% efficiency as an average.

Cheers,

Steve

[moorsd]

I fly sparge (Never tried Batch sparging) and have been going along in ignorant bliss...but after reading all the posts on the subject I'm a little confused now and questioning if I could improve my efficiency or if I'm doing it right???

I get in the region of 65-70% efficiency on average and use the same method as Scooby but I leave 1-2" of water over the grain bed...so am I right in assuming efficiency can be improved if the water level is slightly below the grain bed?

Also I use around 4-5 Gallons of sparge water and have never tested the SG of the run off....I only stop sparging when I get my target volume of wort in the boiler (normally 23 Litres) and top up with fresh water during the boil.

So really my question is am I using "normal" amounts of water for sparging and is anything I'm doing (or not doing! ) effecting my efficiency???

....My head hurts!!!!

[moorsd]

Cheers Daab,

So when you say I'll lose some to the trub does that mean you add the extra (after topping up during the boil) to the fermenter afterwards...or am I missing the point?

Also if hypothetically I sparge until SG is 1006 and end up collecting more wort than I need what do you do with the extra if it doesn't fit in the fermenter, or isn't this senario possible??

[moorsd]

Oh yeh...perhaps I should mention I use a hop strainer so I don't really get much wort left in the boiler after draining it, if that's what you meant??

[SteveD]

You need a bigger boiler, or you already have one, sparge out further. If you boil in a bruheat/electrim bin then the max you can collect after sparging is about 23 liters. Any more and there will be danger of wort on the kitchen floor once you hit boiling point, which will feel like walking on velcro once it dries. Ahh..the memories of furiously batting the boil down with a paddle like Basil Fawlty thrashing his car with a tree branch, wort sloshing everywhere...

You lose quite a bit in evaporation during the course of the boil, plus lose the ullage left in the boiler after running off, plus whatever the hops have soaked up. For me, I need about 7 gals of wort after sparging to avoid having to top up in the fermenter - about 5 and a bit gallons, or 24 litres in foreign, is what I aim to end up with.

I also need about 7 gallons of wort to get my final spargings down to G1006 or less. You can't boil that ammount in a bruheat, ergo, a bigger boiler required. I bought a 14 gal plastic bucket, for 14 quid, installed the element from my Electrim bin, and another element bought new, a barrel tap, made a copper hop strainer, and hey presto! My final spargings went down from about 1014 or more to whatever I wanted, and no danger of boiling over, plus the 2 elements on together get it up to the boil in..er..double quick time.

My extraction efficiency straight away went from the 80%'s to hit into 90%'s. The 'new' coolbox mash tun I got 5 years ago has now kind of fixed it into the 90's.