Idiot's guide to batch sparging?

[Belter]

There's also a guide on this site:

Batch Sparging

Jim, I reckon you need to add a few links to the Technique and All-Grain sections that point to the Knowledge Base. I thought I had seen a decent thing on Batch Sparging but I failed to find it. The All-Grain link has a section on sparging but nothing on batch.

I still have an upgrade to the navigation system for the whole site on my things to do list, but it's finding the time.

You mean there's more to life than JBK?

[techtone]

As always with home-brewing it seems there are 101 different ways that all result in making great beer. I don't bother with the top-up anymore so I just mash, recycle, runoff. Add 2nd quantity of water, stir, leave 10 minutes, recycle and runoff. It seems not to affect efficiency. Might be a struggle with a smaller mash tun though?

When recycling, I use the tin foil trick with lots of holes punched out to not "disturb the bed".

I always run-off very slowly as I read it helps efficiency (although again, I think a lot of these theories are just that - theories and don't make any significant difference?) It is also supposed to help prevent a stuck mash, which isn't a huge problem if it happens - just stir leave 10 minutes, recycle and start runoff again.

My 2nd quantity of water is usually around 85C but I heard people do anything up to 100C with good affect.

I also tip the mash tun and boiler to get the last couple of pints out of both. Some say not too but I do it gently enough not to de-settle anything and it never causes a problem and my beers are always crystal clear.

[Monkeybrew]

Many thanks for all of your input and idea's on this subject

My ultimate aim is to save time on my brewday without compromising my beer.

Talking of saving time, I'm thinking of lining my mash tun with a piece of voile, to try and reduce the time spent cleaning my MT and copper manifold. Any reason why this could be a bad idea?



Cheers again.

MB

[Capped]

Talking of saving time, I'm thinking of lining my mash tun with a piece of voile, to try and reduce the time spent cleaning my MT and copper manifold. Any reason why this could be a bad idea?

Looks like a neat idea to me - I don't have an outside tap nor a hosepipe to run from the kitchen so I have to lug my mash tun upstairs to clean out in the goddamn bath, and that's before starting on the manifold. Where can I get some of that voile stuff from?

[Monkeybrew]

Talking of saving time, I'm thinking of lining my mash tun with a piece of voile, to try and reduce the time spent cleaning my MT and copper manifold. Any reason why this could be a bad idea?

Looks like a neat idea to me - I don't have an outside tap nor a hosepipe to run from the kitchen so I have to lug my mash tun upstairs to clean out in the goddamn bath, and that's before starting on the manifold. Where can I get some of that voile stuff from?

I get mine from a high street remnant shop that sells it by the metre.

I also use small pieces of it for straining hop tea's through, when making kit adaptations. It's great stuff!

MB

[DaveJNeal]

I think it's Youngs that make it but I bought a mash bag from my LHBS for doing this exact thing. The owner uses one every brew, if it's good enough for him brewing a couple of times a week, etc, etc.

Cheers

Dave

[Capped]

Great - gonna get me one before next brewday !

[Monkeybrew]

Well my trusty piece of voile has done the trick. My MT and manifold was so easy to clean.



Think that I'm definitely a batch sparger too, I enjoyed the process alot more.

With a pre-boil gravity of 1.039 with 30L of wort, I think that means that I've got a mash efficiency of 84%?

I'm aiming for 23L @1.046, using 4.7kg of grain based on a 75% mash efficiency.

MB

[Capped]

Well my trusty piece of voile has done the trick. My MT and manifold was so easy to clean.

How was the run-off? I ask because my last two brews fell victim to stuck mashes - something I've never encountered with batch sparging before. Hopefully the voile will address that. Now I'm gonna rifle the missus' 'fabric/curtain' cupboard and if that fails it looks like a trip to Dunelm Mill today...

[Monkeybrew]

The run off was just fine

I ended up with just over 23L of wort @1.046.

MB

[greenxpaddy]

...It's clarity of wort OUT of the boiler you should worry about and that needs a decent boil, a decent hot break and a decent hop filter bed...

Yeah, that's important too, I definitely agree with that. But too much grain matter in the boil can lead to some harsh astringency, and even with a strong boil and decent break, can produce some hazy proteins, starches, etc, which take longer to clear from the finished beer than would otherwise be the case with a little more care coming out of the mash tun. Especially when you're using a poor-flocculating yeast strain to begin with, no sense making things even harder on it.

It's not a deal-breaker--obviously you can make good beer without vorlaufing--but it's a quick and easy technique to produce slightly better beer. By the way, I'm not talking about time-consuming, labor-intensive recirculation. I'm talking about letting the tap drain into a beer mug which I then gently pour back in the mash tun, repeat a couple times, then attach the tube to my boil kettle and let it rip. No big deal.

I agree with Seymour, maximise clarity into boiler too, though recently that has been harder than normal. Is that down to the barley crop?

[Capped]

I agree with Seymour, maximise clarity into boiler too, though recently that has been harder than normal. Is that down to the barley crop?

Dunno, but with my last sack of malt it has been impossible to get anything remotely like a clear mash run-off. Final outcome hasn't suffered though.

[greenxpaddy]

I agree with Seymour, maximise clarity into boiler too, though recently that has been harder than normal. Is that down to the barley crop?

Dunno, but with my last sack of malt it has been impossible to get anything remotely like a clear mash run-off. Final outcome hasn't suffered though.

Glad it's not just me! I am wondering if a protein rest might be in order with this crappy harvest

[darkonnis]

What malt are we talking about here? I've used most over the last few months but the sack I have atm is pretty solid, i just recirculate for 15minutes per batch sparge. Only tried this the once mind but that solved the problem.

[Capped]

Muntons. Having switched to batch sparging a coupla years back I reluctantly fly-sparged a recent brew to see if that made a difference to clarity of run-off. Nope - but the ale from this sack turns out as good as the previous one, which gave a pretty clear run-off. No problems then except that I can't shake off the idea that something is wrong... like the feeling you get when you can't remember for the life of you if you added the protafloc or not and wondering/hoping that it'll be alright anyway.