Do You Stir In Your Sparge Water?

[Steve]

Two quick questions:

Do you pour your sparge water into your mashtun gently so as not to disturb the grain bed (maybe using a plastic lid)....or do you just pour in and stir the buggery out of it.

Do you leave the mash to sit for a period of time after you have done the above?

I currently gently pour into mashtun onto a plastic lid so as not to disturb the grain bed, leave for 15 mins and then drain off worth.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Gough]

Two quick questions:

Do you pour your sparge water into your mashtun gently so as not to disturb the grain bed (maybe using a plastic lid)....or do you just pour in and stir the buggery out of it.

Do you leave the mash to sit for a period of time after you have done the above?

I currently gently pour into mashtun onto a plastic lid so as not to disturb the grain bed, leave for 15 mins and then drain off worth.

Cheers
Steve

I batch sparge and I stir my water addition(s) in, and generally let sit for a few minutes before recirculating and running off.

Shawn.

 

[Samwise Gamgee]

I think you are refering to batch sparging.

I've never batch sparged but I believe you fill up the mash tun with the sparge water, stir it up, let it sit for 10 or 20 mins then run off. Then repeat again.

Hope this helps.

I fly sparge, and don't stir it up.

 

[Jazzafish]

From http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter17.html

In the English method of sparging, the wort is completely drained from the grain bed before more water is added for a second mash and drained again. These worts are then combined. Alternatively, the first and second runnings are often used to make separate beers. The second running is lighter in gravity and was traditionally used for making a Small Beer, a lighter bodied, low alcohol beer suitable for high volume quaffing at mealtimes.

Batch Sparging is a U.S. homebrewing practice where the full volume of sparge water is mixed into the mash. The grain bed is allowed to settle, and then the wort is drained off. The re-circulation step in this process takes place in the first minutes of the sparge. You can use more than one batch of water if you need to. This method differs from the English method in that the mash is not held for any significant time at the saccharification temperature before draining.

Continuous Sparging usually results in better extractions. The wort is re-circulated and drained until about an inch of wort remains above the grain bed. The sparge water is gently added, as necessary, to keep the fluid at least at that level. The goal is to gradually replace the wort with the water, stopping the sparge when the gravity is 1.008 or when enough wort has been collected, whichever comes first. This method demands more attention by the brewer, but can produce a higher yield.

Continuous sparging is also known/kinda the same as fly sparging.

I have done a "bastard" sparge wich combines most of these methods!

However, I normally continuous sparge and don't touch the grain bed, so it can settle and prevent the water channeling and missing parts of the grain during the sparge. I use a small hose to gravity feed the slow running sparge water.

However If you batch sparge or english sparge... a pour to disturb the grain bed shouldn't be an issue if your going to stir it and let it settle before collecting runnings. It will work.

 

[DrewCarey82]

I stir well, then leave for 15-20 mins or so.

 

[Stuster]

With batch sparging, the water is dissolving the sugars out of the grain. IMO there is really no need to wait, but 10-15 minutes is fine. Just pour in the water and stir it up really well. You can start recirculating as soon as you want. Recirculate until fairly clear. Then drain, slower for a bit, then as fast as you want.

Have a look at Denny's page if you haven't already.

 

[The Scientist]

I batch sparge with upto 80C water and let sit for 10min.

What is the concensus of the temp of sparge water to use?

 

[pint of lager]

I do a mix of both. The mash is usually 10 kg with grain bed depth of 25-30cm and a false bottom for 56-58 litres into the kettle.

Recirculate about 20 litres until the wort is not cloudy. Even if I recirculate 40 litres it never clears bright like some photos of runoff.

Then runoff about half the wort in about 15 minutes, fly sparging and adding more water gently with a jug on top of the grain bed so that the grain bed is always covered. If runoff is too quick, the wort turns cloudy. By about 10 litres runoff, the wort turns bright.

The first half goes to the kettle and lit.

Then I go back and slowly run off with fly sparging the rest of the wort. At this stage, I will stir gently the top half of the grainbed leaving the bottom 5cm or so undisturbed.

So it is stop and start fly sparging with some gentle stirring of the top 1/2 to 2/3 of the grainbed. I always aim to have the grainbed totally covered with water at all times. Efficiency to the boiler is 90%+.

 

[Steve]

Thanks all. Looks like everyone does their own thing....at least what im doing is ok. I might give it a stir next time - live on the edge

Cheers
Steve

P.S. Scientist ive read that as long as its above 78 it doesnt really matter.

 

[Stuster]

Scientist, from what I have read, you can go as hot as you like if you batch sparge. I use 90C water.

 

[warrenlw63]

Search key.

The AHB's most redundant feature.

Warren -

 

[big d]

Batch sparge so as answers below.Also maybe worth a look at Chillers article on the grain and grape site.Its a good read.

Cheers
Big D

 

[BottleBitch]

From http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter17.html

In the English method of sparging, the wort is completely drained from the grain bed before more water is added for a second mash and drained again. These worts are then combined. Alternatively, the first and second runnings are often used to make separate beers. The second running is lighter in gravity and was traditionally used for making a Small Beer, a lighter bodied, low alcohol beer suitable for high volume quaffing at mealtimes.

Batch Sparging is a U.S. homebrewing practice where the full volume of sparge water is mixed into the mash. The grain bed is allowed to settle, and then the wort is drained off. The re-circulation step in this process takes place in the first minutes of the sparge. You can use more than one batch of water if you need to. This method differs from the English method in that the mash is not held for any significant time at the saccharification temperature before draining.

Continuous Sparging usually results in better extractions. The wort is re-circulated and drained until about an inch of wort remains above the grain bed. The sparge water is gently added, as necessary, to keep the fluid at least at that level. The goal is to gradually replace the wort with the water, stopping the sparge when the gravity is 1.008 or when enough wort has been collected, whichever comes first. This method demands more attention by the brewer, but can produce a higher yield.

Continuous sparging is also known/kinda the same as fly sparging.

I have done a "bastard" sparge wich combines most of these methods!

However, I normally continuous sparge and don't touch the grain bed, so it can settle and prevent the water channeling and missing parts of the grain during the sparge. I use a small hose to gravity feed the slow running sparge water.

However If you batch sparge or english sparge... a pour to disturb the grain bed shouldn't be an issue if your going to stir it and let it settle before collecting runnings. It will work.

That type of English Mashing or brewing system is called partigyle brewing, weird name but look it up on the net its pretty cool, they make 2-4 beers out of the one wort stream, just as you said just collect different parts of the runnings and send them to different kettles and fermenters, can be a nice challenge for a brewer to hit all the gravs for 4 different brews from one mash tun.

Cheers
Brettt

 

[The Scientist]

Cheers all,

I'm keen to try a couple of different ways and see what the difference in efficiency will be.

I'll post my results.

TS

 

[BottleBitch]

Cheers all,

I'm keen to try a couple of different ways and see what the difference in efficiency will be.

I'll post my results.

TS

Hi Scientist, at our scale of brewing you wont really make a lot of difference when it comes to efficiency, a big gain in efficiency can mean that you save 200grams of malt, which if you buy it by the 25kg bag is not a great deal, i would just go for the one that you find easier, ie the one you can do while holding a beer in the other hand :beer:


Cheers

Brett :blink:

 

[The Scientist]

Thanks for saving me on that one, I have enough on the brewing "To do list". :lol: