Best Method? Sparging

[Cellar_Rat]

Very excited about my first whole grain beer.

Bit confused as to the best way to spurge.

Method 1...
I will have the grain in a bag, can I just wash it through - dunking and stirring. I know this might deliver a bit more solids, but I could rack them out.


Method 2 ...
Stick to the sprinkly rose method, thus using the grains to make their own filter bed and discard everything until it runs clear.


Help?

[Delmonteman]

Method one is referred to as batch sparging.

Method two is referred to as fly sparging.

People can (and do) go on forever when it comes to discussing the relative advantages of both and essentially it's a matter of choice...

I have moved from fly to batch recently for a couple of reasons...

Batch sparging just seems for effective, because your giving every grain a good thorough soaking and rinsing as many sugars out as possible. Fly can be a bit more hit and miss.

It's just easier, soaking the grains again in a predetermined volume of water for a second or third time (each time leaving for 5 or ten minutes) is just less of a faff.

Temperature control for mash out (80-85c) is easier to achieve with batch sparging.

The one thing you need to be careful of is how much you spage with, but this is easily work out by deducting the volume of your first runnings from your required boil volume and then dividing this number by two (for two equal sparge volumes)

Hope that helps.
D
PS, if you go careful the extra solids won't be an issue, but you can always put a seive under the tap on the mash tun to catch some. The boil will precipitate proteins anyway so just be a bit more careful when running your boil off into the FV.

Good luck with it!

[koomber]

I'm a bit confused with what you are doing. You;ll mash the grains in the bag in a mash tun and then, once you've run off the wort you are planning to basically teabag them in warm water?

I'd go with the batch sparge either way. IT is very easy to setup and very rarely goes wrong.

[lockwood1956]

I always batch sparge these days, just find it a lot easier...

haven't really noticed any difference in the finished product

[rjb222]

Very excited about my first whole grain beer.

Bit confused as to the best way to spurge.

Method 1...
I will have the grain in a bag, can I just wash it through - dunking and stirring. I know this might deliver a bit more solids, but I could rack them out.


Method 2 ...
Stick to the sprinkly rose method, thus using the grains to make their own filter bed and discard everything until it runs clear.


Help?

I think you have confused two completely different methods cellar rat. The bag method is a tea bag used for small quantity's of grains when freshening a beer kit or adding adjunct grains to un hoped lme. Here is the easiest method to laughter your grains and maintain proper conversion temperatures. put the strike water into your mash tun first for a few minutes before adding in your grains. Make sure your temperature is about 20 deg higher than what you want to mash temp to be. This warms your mash tun. Add in your grains and stir them making sure there are no dry clumps when you are done. Put a blanket over your mash tun to hold the heat. Half way through the time which should be an hour or so open you mash tun and stir your mash cover again and let rest. Keep a thermometer in your mash to watch temperature. Then you do an iodine test and get the right reading then pull off a couple gallons of wort a gallon at a time and gently pour this back over your grin bed to filter out the unwanted goods after your wort runs clear open your valve and take off your first run. ( Iodine test is done on a white plate take a drop of wort and put a drop on the plate then take a drop of iodine and put it on top of the drop of wort if your wort turn purple then you need to raise the temp of your grain bed and allow more time for conversion. if the iodine stays red you are converted and ready to run off your wort.)At the end open your valve and take off your first run. Then add the right amount according to your recipe of 170 degree water to you mash stir the grains let rest twenty minutes and then drain off a couple gallons in one gallon amounts and pour this back on your grain bed. this will make your grain bed your filter for husk ETC. the stuff you do not want. Then open your valve and collect the rest of your run and proceed to your boil.

[Delmonteman]

The 'tea bag' approach you refer to is used for extract brewing, not really all grain. The original post refers to all grain, and the description offered by cellar rat is a legitimate batch sparge (or even no sparge!) technique which relies on a grain bag to hold the grain. Presumably this is because the boiler/ mash tun doesn't have a tap/ drain? Or if it does there is a concern about a stuck mash...

What cellar rat describes is like a batch sparge variation of a no sparge technique called Brew In A Bag... Which is very popular in australia and perhaps the easiest (and cheapest) way to get into all grain.

Either way cellar rat, go for batch sparge...

[Cellar_Rat]

Batch sparge wins through. Thanks for all you comments.


..... and then came 'No sparge'