First brew upcoming - sparging question

[Lukethebrewer]

I know this question probably sounds naive, but the only remaining uncertain area for me coming up to my first brew day (collating equipment in lockdown quite a challenge!) is the sparging. So far I have (from Home Brew Shop) got a boiler, mash tun, sparge arm etc but there was one thing I couldn't figure out with sparging because of the logistics of running the water. Then from videos online it seems I made a bit of a mistake. Am I right in thinking for the sparge you actually need THREE vessels, elevated to different levels with the water heated to 77 degrees in a separate brew kettle with a tap (not in the actual boiler) at the top, running into the mash tun, running into the boiler at the bottom? Is there anyone on here that uses just a boiler and a mash tun or does this make the whole thing unnecessarily complicated? Cheers all! Luke

 

[Drunkula]

I mash in a fermenter with insulation round it, run off into another fermenter and then put water into the fermenter I'm mashing in as the sparge. Sometimes I heat the sparge water, sometimes I don't. The second fermenter is actually my boiler so running off into your boiler is fine.#

Sometimes I just sling in all the water and run it off, other times I do it a jug at a time more like a fly sparge.

 

[Lukethebrewer]

Thanks, Drunkula, so the third vessel is a help but not essential, right? Coz prices of HLT's with taps on are quite a lot...

 

[cerbera84]

the third vessel is a help but not essential, right?

That's right, I use a 50 litre boil kettle and a mash tun, with a fermenter as a makeshift HLT. Heat your strike water in boiler, mash in, then heat water for sparge in boiler, transfer to fermenter/hlt.

 

[nixhaz]

I have one boiler, a mash tun (made out of a cooler or ice chest as they call them over the pond), an empty fermenter (read big plastic bucket) and a large saucepan.
I heat the strike water in the boiler, pour into the mash tun, dough in and let it sit to mash. Then I heat up the sparge water in the boiler. I slowly run the water from the boiler over the grain bed and collect a few litres of wort in the large pot (it's a 17 L stock pot). I get that going on the stove while I collect the rest of the wort into an empty fermenter. Once the sparge is finished, I drain any remaining water out of the boiler (usually forget to close the tap) and pour in the now hot/boiling wort from the large pot carefully so as not to aerate it. Then I gently add the rest of the wort, a litre or so at a time with a jug. It's a bit of a faff but means I don't have to have another boiler/HLT.
In an ideal world you have a 3 vessel system I guess but it's more than I wanted to spend at first. Now I'm used to it I don't know that I'd bother with upgrading.

 

[cerbera84]

This photo shows it in action, if it's too much to lift the fermenter that high (27 litres in there) put about 15/20 litres in then jug in the rest

 

[cushyno]

I have one boiler, a mash tun (made out of a cooler or ice chest as they call them over the pond), an empty fermenter (read big plastic bucket) and a large saucepan.
I heat the strike water in the boiler, pour into the mash tun, dough in and let it sit to mash. Then I heat up the sparge water in the boiler. I slowly run the water from the boiler over the grain bed and collect a few litres of wort in the large pot (it's a 17 L stock pot). I get that going on the stove while I collect the rest of the wort into an empty fermenter. Once the sparge is finished, I drain any remaining water out of the boiler (usually forget to close the tap) and pour in the now hot/boiling wort from the large pot carefully so as not to aerate it. Then I gently add the rest of the wort, a litre or so at a time with a jug. It's a bit of a faff but means I don't have to have another boiler/HLT.
In an ideal world you have a 3 vessel system I guess but it's more than I wanted to spend at first. Now I'm used to it I don't know that I'd bother with upgrading.

+1 for this. This is pretty much my method too, except I do batch sparge and I'm not fussy about hot side aeration. I tip the lot from the stock pot straight into the boiler, dial the power back to about 70% and keep stirring while heating first wort up to near boiling so as to avoid scorching. 20 minutes later the batch sparge second runnings get added.

 

[Clint]

I have two 32l pots,one with a tap which is the kettle.
I heat the mash water and dough in,into the Igloo cooler.
I then start heating the sparge water. I put the mash tun on the table and drop a tube from the tap into a 5l jug on the floor. When ready I jug the sparge into the tun gradually,at the same time slowly filling the jug. The flow is halted as the jug is emptied into the boiler which is on my hob. As soon as I have 10/15 litres in the boiler I put the gas on. I can fit the two 32l pots on my hob and keep the heat under each,as the sparge kettle emptied I remove it and move the main kettle to the large ring.

 

[Lukethebrewer]

Thank you nixhaz, Cerbera84 and others for these insights. Really interesting and useful, especially with the pic of the process in action - beats almost anything you can find online. I think currently lacking that extra vessel I'm going to go down the route of heating water in boiler then transferring to the elevated fermenter to begin the sparge, guess I'll have some time during boil/chill to sterilise fermenter again. And - again, this prob sounds naive - if I DO go down that route, then because the fermenter has that little hole in the lid for the airlock would you block that up whilst using fermenter for the sparge or is it unnecessary?

 

[peebee]

One day all this nonsense complexity about brewing will evaporate. But for now "no-sparge", no concern about "exact" sparge temperatures, and other useful shortcuts are all techniques for the "experienced" brewers who have learnt what a load of old nonsense some of these long established brewing techniques are.

 

[Clint]

I would add...the reason why I sparge into a jug us simply to save my back as it doesn't like me lifting my full kettle up to the hob...

 

[cerbera84]

because the fermenter has that little hole in the lid for the airlock would you block that up whilst using fermenter for the sparge or is it unnecessary?

I wouldn't bother blocking it Luke, I don't even put the lid on mine.

 

[Lukethebrewer]

Haha, ok - first brew underway - wish me luck!

 

[cerbera84]

Good luck - let us know how you get on!

 

[Lukethebrewer]

So it went ok (ish!) - a couple of issues but I should probably post in the appropriate place with fitting title - will do so now!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Having recently finished my own first all-grain brew, I totally agree: sparging was the bit that I got most tied in a knot over beforehand.

It all went fine in reality though... mind, it didn't help that in my incompetence excitement I misread the gravity of the run-off as 1005 (it was actually 1050 duh)