Batch Sparging Question

[losp]

Hi All,

I feel silly for asking these questions after knocking out many a brew so far but i wouldnt mind alleviating my mind!

I have a 3V system, Mash in a 40L esky, have a hand held immersion heater.
I intend to mash & batch sparge with only 2 runnings. Is this possible?

Lets just say on a ratio of 3 litres to every kg grain, I have a mash water amount of 15 litres and a sparge amount of 20 litres (assuming a pre boil volume of say 35 litres). Now i know i am going to lose 5 litres to grain and 2 litres in the bottom (7L total), do i add that to the sparge volume or the mash volume?

Can I,
1st Running: Mash for the desired length of time, at the desired temp.Use the immersion heater to get the temp up to say 76 degrees (stiring the whole time to not burn the grains), let it sit for 20 then recirculate/drain

2nd Running: Add remaining Water at 76 degrees, stir, let it sit for 20 minutes then recirculate/drain.

Is there much wrong with this process? How would should I improve it?
I started using the immersion heater instead of splitting the sparging process into 2 runnings as i thought it saves time and i can be pretty accurate with my temps.

Thanks in advance guys

 

[Truman42]

Nothing wrong with that at all. Raising the mash to 76 is just a mash out step but you don't need to leave it for 20 mins. 5-10 mins is fine.

Them your second step is just doing a single batch sparge which is very common. But same again 5-10 mins is fine.

 

[WarmBeer]

Adding 76 degree water to 5kg of grain + 5kg of wort at mash temps isn't going to raise it up to anywhere near mash-out temperatures, but I'm not convinced you need to worry about mash-out when doing a single infusion beer, anyway. As soon as I start draining my first runnings, I'm heating it up in the kettle, so the enzymes in the wort are denatured within 5 minutes anyway.

As for your process, I've been doing exactly that, without the immersion element, for years. I only started splitting my batch sparge into 2 distinct batches in order to attempt to improve my efficiency. It did.

 

[losp]

Nothing wrong with that at all. Raising the mash to 76 is just a mash out step but you don't need to leave it for 20 mins. 5-10 mins is fine.

Them your second step is just doing a single batch sparge which is very common. But same again 5-10 mins is fine.

Good to hear!