Sparging help

[Butty69]

Hi all,

Had my first try at using a rotating sparge arm at the weekend and everything seemed to go fine but my per fermentation gravity is 1042 instead of the target 1053 which is going to make quite a difference to the final alcohol percentage.

I have only ever batch sparked before but watched a few video clips on using a rotating sparge arm so think I had it all set up correctly.

Could anybody tell me how long they sparge for using a sparge arm? Wondering if I was bit hasty!

Also can I do anything to increase the gravity before I pitch the yeast?

And final question should I check the gravity after sparging? I have always waited until after the boil but am now thinking I could have returned some of the wort to mash if the gravity was low.

As always any help will be much appreciated.

 

[abeyptfc]

I take it your pre fermentation gravity is after the wort has chilled aye? if its quite a bit lower then you are possibly sparging too fast as your not collecting the sugars from the grain, I always batch sparge though. if you want to increase the OG then add some sugar or spraymalt.

 

[Butty69]

Aye I took the gravity reading after the wort had chilled. Any idea how much sugar I should add to get close to the target reading or increase it by 1%? My total volume is 19 litres.

 

[Good Ed]

With a spinney sparger it usually takes me 45-60mins to sparge for a 23L brew length, just take it nice and easy, no need to rush. I keep the sparge water at 85-89C to keep the grain bed between 72-76C and keep at least 25mm of water on top of the grain bed.

What are you using as a mash tun?

 

[Butty69]

I am using a 45 litre igloo cool box as my mash tun. Some of the video clips I saw had the sparge arm going at quite a pace so I only sparged for about 20 mins to get 25 litres of wort. Sounds like I need to slow it down a bit.

 

[Butty69]

Can anybody shed any light on how much sugar could be added to a 19 litre post boil brew to increase the alcohol percentage by 1%?

Also can anybody tell me if it will impact the flavour?

Thanks butty