Improving Effiency

[justsomeguy]

Darren, On my system it's the small/fine/flour particles settling on top of the grainbed that create a somewhat impervious layer which results in channeling around the sides of the grainbed and lower efficiency. The more I stir the mash the worse this muddy layer seems to be. Guess it's the stirring that brings the fine particles into solution and naturally they settle last on top of the grainbed forming a sticky covering and preventing sparge water from filtering down through the surface of the grainbed evenly.

Cheers,

Screwy

I find the same particles sit on the top of my grain bed when batch sparging as well.

Screwy, when fly sparging on your system all of those small particles are probably distributed throughout the grain bed. When batch sparging the particles are probably moving to the top of the bed as Darren described above. I think that may be why there is a recommendation NOT to disturb the grain bed when fly sparging, otherwise the small particles will start to congregate to the top of the bed.

I'd definitely stir, and do, when refilling the mash tun when batch sparging though to help release more sugars. I also cut the top of the grain bed to help the water move through the bed rather than down the sides of the mash tun. Dunno if it makes any difference though.

Consider this scenario...

You put dirty cloths in a bucket, fill it with water and give it a stir. Drain the water to get rid of some of the dirt. Refill it again but don't stir it up. Drain again and you will have removed some more of the dirt. If you had filled the bucket and given it a bit of a stir before the second draining then you will have removed even more dirt. I think the same principle applies to sparging. I think that washing machines work in the same way. When they get to a rinse cycle they don't just sit there do they. They stir all the clothes around to try to remove as much soap as possible. Same thing should apply to batch sparging.

Maybe we should all sparge in our washing machines to get better efficiency.

gary

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Screwtop - I didn't argue with the results you get on your system. But you are the only one brewing on your system - if I disagree about the speed of draining in a batch sparge system making a difference, then I am talking about what I think will be the general case, not what results you get.

You did I notice insert an extra "on my system" in your self quote. That addition changes the sentence it is inserted into and makes it an observation rather than leaving it open to be interpreted as a general statement... which is what I did, and what I disagreed with.

Maxt, Devo etc - the stirring and fast draining I referred to, only counts when you are talking about batch sparging, when the speed of draining and channeling make no difference. You still circulate and get a grain bed in precisely the way you do in a fly sparge, its just that channeling doesn't matter because the sugar is homogenously distributed in the tun rather than vertically layered as in a fly sparge.

If you are talking about fly sparging, then of course everything that you say is spot on.

Sorry for not being more clear in my post.

Thirsty