Basic guide to sparging

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WelshPaul

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Hi folks, please forgive a noobie for asking what should be a basic question but I am looking for a (very) basic guide to sparging an AG brew. I've run a search on the forums but couldn't find what I was looking for.
I've done a couple of small runs so far (10l and 15l) while I'm waiting to buy a combo mashtun/boiler and I was wondering if the sparging process is strictly necessary when making an AG recipe or can I forgo it after the mashing part is complete?
 
sparging is needed to rinse all the sugars from your grain that has been mashing for 90 mins it is best done very slowly either with a pvc tube to just rinse the grain with or something a bit more technical like a spinning sparge arm etc. We use copper pipe thats sits on top of the mash tun with 1mm holes in :thumb:
 
So would I need a seperate bit of equipment just for this purpose? I haven't seen anything like that on any of the equipment suppliers' websites.
 
There are different methods of sparging. You can use a spinning arm/watering can head type that you soak the grain bed SLOWLY while SLOWLY running off the wort. Or you can batch sparge you empty the MT then refill it with hot liquor and mix and leave for 15 min then drain again - this results in a LOWER efficiency (50-60% vs 70-80%) but is much easier, or you can keep a constant head of liquor (say 1") on the mash while slowly draining it and get somewhere in the middle.

Given the cost of grain vs time I have switched from spinning arm to batch sparging (meaning that I need to use more malt about 5Kg gives me 1045-1050 OG) so instead of a 60min sparge I am done in about 25min, to my mind worth the extra grain YMMV.
 
There are probably about three main approaches to this; fly sparging, batch sparging and no sparging.

As mentioned previously, fly sparging sprinkles clean water in at the top of the grain bed whilst drawing off wort at the bottom, batch sparging is similar except you bung the clean water in in batches and stir it up before drawing off the wort. Both of these need some means of filtering the wort out whilst leaving the grain behind - in that link of yours its the stainless braid in the mash tun, other people use slotted copper manifolds or plates with holes drilled in or other kinds of mesh. I've even seen it done in a mesh bag and using a watering can, though it looked a bit tedious.

The no sparge method is a bit different, in that you mash the grains in ALL the liquid you'll use, so its a much thinner mix. This can be done in a big mash tun but typically its done as part of the Brew In A Bag process in one big boiler, and so the grains are lifted out from the wort afterwards in their net bag rather than visa-versa.

As well as rinsing the grains through, the sparge is supposed to be warmer than the mash - this helps rinse out the sugars more easily and kills off the enzyme activity - yet not so hot as to extract tannins and so on. In fly sparging and batch sparging you simply use warmer water to sparge with, with the no-sparge method you would tend to do it in the boiler and heat and stir the grain for a bit after the mash.

Cheers
kev
 
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