Sparge methods

[Sprocker]

I use a plastic pot ( from peanut butter or such ) which I've punctured with many small holes around the circumference the base. Using a jug to pour sparge liquor into it creates a rain effect that can be moved around the top of the mash for even and steady distribution through the grain

I like that idea, and as luck would have it I have a nearly empty 1kg pot of peanut butter right here.

 

[Clint]

I use a cool box mash tun. For sparging I put a piece of foil,which i poke loads of holes in with a pointy thing,on top of the grain bed.

 

[matt.]

I'm a non-squeezer.

The idea of sparging is to dissolve as much of the remaining sugars, without drawing tannins into your wort. Tannin is present in the grain husks and if you sparge at too high a temperature (roughly over 80°C) or continue to sparge after the sugar levels have dropped too low, you risk harsh tannins ending up in you finished beer.

It is recommended to stop sparging when the SG of the sparge flow drops to 1.008, as there is very little sugar left and that risk of tannins becomes significant. If you are worried that you havent collected enough volume in your kettle, it is safer to add more water or any remaining sparge liquor directly into the kettle.

This is an interesting point
I'll watch my sparg temp from now on and go with ' less is more'.

 

[Clint]

I found maintaining sparge temp increased efficiency as did changing the bazooka filter for a copper manifold.

 

[Nicks90]

I 'rinse' sparge, which consists of dumping the biab bag in my spare fv along with 5l of water and give the bag a good wiggle with my plastic paddle, then leave it to soak till the remaining wort is about to boil
Pull the bag out and give it a good squeeze and pour the 5l of sparge water + whatever I squeezed out of the bag in to the kettle and away we go

No idea what effiency I get from doing it this way, over the much more complicated sparge methods, but it's simple and works for me.
I might take a sample next time I brew and take a gravity reading to see what I get, but I usually achieve a 70% efficiency, which is more than acceptable for biab

 

[foxy]

I usually sparge by pouring from a jug straight onto the grain bed, but I'm wondering if I would get more efficiency if I put the top plate onto the grain bed and sparged through that?
Can anyone suggest a reason not to do it that way?
Also, if I were to 'squeeze' the grain after sparging by pressing down on the top plate would that be a good or bad thing to do?

If you are worried about efficiency, don't dilute your wort with sparge water. Try the 'no-sparge' method, a more fluid mash gives better control over mash temperatures and a good squeeze makes for a good lautering efficiency.
I use a 20 litre pail full of water and a full 9 kilo gas bottle so about 38 kg all up, then pushing down on top extracts a substantial amount of wort from the grain bed making up for the small amount of extra grain needed from a 'no- sparge'

 

[MashBag]

I drain mine very well. Never thought of weighting. Well done

 

[MashBag]

15 Litre Shallow trug https://amzn.eu/d/168Iov4

Brilliant size these for draining/emptying / cleaning malt pipes (of 4-6 kg standard size)

 

[Sadfield]

Squeezing shouldn't extract tannins, all it is doing is removing low pH wort at mash temperature, tannins are extracted by high pH and temperature. Mash filter presses are used by many big breweries and return very high efficiency, over conventional sparging.

 

[An Ankoù]

This is how we do it in the outback of Brittany. The kettle has a diameter of 36cm, this means you can dip the contents with a steel rule and every centimetre of depth is 1 litre. Photo 1 shows the steamer section of a 30cm couscoussier with its finely perforated bottom. A strainer bag contains the mash and allows the mass to be lifted if the flow gets a little slow. The perforated plate sits on top of the grain bed and disperses the water poured from a jug, preventing it from drilling holes in the grain bed.
Best system I've ever used.

 

[The Baron]

Another Urban Myth created by the over zealous experts some of them are also the brewing manufacturers who want you to buy the latest sparge system £££'s Kerching.
Sadfield is absolutely correct PH is the enemy

 

[Twopan]

I 'rinse' sparge, which consists of dumping the biab bag in my spare fv along with 5l of water and give the bag a good wiggle with my plastic paddle, then leave it to soak till the remaining wort is about to boil
Pull the bag out and give it a good squeeze and pour the 5l of sparge water + whatever I squeezed out of the bag in to the kettle and away we go

No idea what effiency I get from doing it this way, over the much more complicated sparge methods, but it's simple and works for me.
I might take a sample next time I brew and take a gravity reading to see what I get, but I usually achieve a 70% efficiency, which is more than acceptable for biab

Yes - this method solved my low efficiency problem for my BIAB process. That and mashing longer at a reduced temperature of 62° to increase fermentable sugars. I heat up to 8L in a second kettle to 77° max and dunk the bag in it for 10 minutes. Then drain under its own weight in a large colander over the mash water and then mix the lot together, topping up with water to target boil volume as necessary. I routinely hit 67 - 70% efficiency using this system.

 

[An Ankoù]

I'm a non-squeezer.

Do you hug?

 

[Sadfield]

Batch Sparge analysis from braukaiser.

Saying efficiency is just a number, is naive. Efficiency decreases as the grist increases. The better you sparge, the more you can raise and flatten the curve. Finding a good, reliable sparge method, makes brewing increasing gravity beers more achievable and predictable.

 

[MashBag]

efficiency

I think @An Ankoù nailed that one. If you really really must sparge

 

[Twostage]

Batch Sparge analysis from braukaiser.
View attachment 100570

Saying efficiency is just a number, is naive. Efficiency decreases as the grist increases. The better you sparge, the more you can raise and flatten the curve. Finding a good, reliable sparge method, makes brewing increasing gravity beers more achievable and predictable.

I’m assuming that the efficiency shown is how much of the potential has been extracted?

It would interesting to see how much volume and wort gravity you end up with after 1,2 and 3 sparges.

It was the wort dilution that I used to worry about and being conscious that there must be a fine line between under and over sparging.

 

[Sadfield]

I’m assuming that the efficiency shown is how much of the potential has been extracted?

It would interesting to see how much volume and wort gravity you end up with after 1,2 and 3 sparges.

It was the wort dilution that I used to worry about and being conscious that there must be a fine line between under and over sparging.

It's calculated on the assumption that pre-boil is the same, the mash and sparge volumes get smaller as the sparge number increases.

No sparge - Run-off is preboil volume.

1 sparge - Two run-offs of half preboil volume.

2 sparge - Three run-offs of a third of preboil volume.

 

[Druncan]

This is my biggest current headache. I sprinkle sparge using the mains output from my solar PHE (@ 65*C), but i then pass through filters and U/V. Before it hits the mash pipe I need to add my HL sparge treatment. Anyone know a way to introduce the treatment proportionally as the liquor flows through the hose?
Currently I dribble from a jug,,,, (my life story,,)

 

[Sadfield]

@Druncan Some form of Venturi Syphon and premixed treatment?

https://amzn.eu/d/cCiFGWM

 

[Big_Eight]

I found maintaining sparge temp increased efficiency as did changing the bazooka filter for a copper manifold.

I might have to go this route. I get pretty good efficiency with my bazooka filter but wow if I can gain 10% or thereabouts I may have to pursue this.