Can You Sparge Twice?

[Trent]

Gday all
Probably a very silly question, but my current set up for 23L batches uses the "no sparge" method covered in How to Brew. I am thinking about upping my batches to double, and henceforth wont be able to do the no sparge bit due to the size of my mash tun. I will be able to fit in enough mash water for most double size batches, but if I batch sparge, wont be able to fit all the sparge water in at once. If I drain my first runnings, then batch sparge, drain that, and then add the remainder of my sparge water then drain that, do I run the risk of tannin extraction, or do other people do it this way? If it is too risky (in regards to PH and all that stuff) then I will have to go to fly sparging I guess. Just wondering if anybody could shed some light on this for me, cause for my regular beers, it means just having to do one brew day, rather than 2 for the same amout of beer.
All the best
Trent

 

[AndrewQLD]

Trent, a lot of people batch sparge using 2 additions, generally because of mash tun size limits. Nothing wrong with it apart from it will take longer to complete, and it is possible you might see a slight increase in efficiency, or not.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Murray]

No problems with an extra sparge or two, as long as the residual sugar is high enough. Check the gravity while sparging and follow the usual rules to ensure you don't over-sparge.

 

[Trent]

Thanks alot guys
Looking forward to being able to make alot more beer for not TOO much extra effort, and cant wait to see the effect different yeast has on the same beer. And an increase in efficiency would be a nice surprise, though I wont hold my breath. Nows just the matter of re-arranging my brew room to get it all to work...
Trent

 

[peas_and_corn]

how can you tell if you have over sparged??

 

[dickTed]

'Cause you can start to rinse tannins out of the husks. Never noticed it myself.

 

[Trough Lolly]

how can you tell if you have over sparged??

[post="84323"][/post]​

Experience will tell you...Essentially you'll get to know what the wort looks like in the lines enroute to the kettle - oh, and having a hydrometer / refractometer nearby is bloody handy too so you can keep an eye on the gravity of the sweet liquor extract! Oversparging when batch sparging is not really an issue - unless you do multiple sparges (eg 3+ sparges). A couple of batch sparges is quite normal - have a look at Denny Conn's site on batch sparging for a reasonable intro to it...

Click here for Denny's batch sparging article...

The HBD Digest recently had a huge $hitfight / debate on efficiency where two digest contributors (Steve Alexander and Dave Burley) went to task on which method was more efficient - fly / continuous versus batch sparging...I felt that the batch sparge argument presented by Steve won, based on mathematical facts, but that's another topic altogether! Check out the HBD Digest when you get time if you want to read some interesting insights into sparging, as well as this forum, of course!

Here's the starting article to the efficiency $hitfight / debate!

Cheers,
TL

 

[Ziggy-san]

Yes, you can sparge several times. I use it to get multiple beers out of one mash -- a big, 1st runnings beer and a smaller 2nd or even 3rd runnings brew.

Kaz (a brewer in Oregon) does something where he makes a small "kicker mash" which he'll mix in with the 2nd or third sparge. Particularly useful to make color additions or if you want to use the 1st mash as a the base for a 2nd beer that will have a different grain bill.

I'm planning on trying this method tonight.

Cheers!

Ziggy

 

[bindi]

Kaz (a brewer in Oregon) does something where he makes a small "kicker mash"

[post="84345"][/post]​

[/quote]
Ziggy-san, do you have a link to this Kaz guy? love to have a read about this process.