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How do you fly sparge?


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#41 MyaCullen

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 01:25 PM

Why would you choose the compromised method to save a few minutes, though? process related: Do you stir the mash before you run off each batch? I would assume so, but out of curiosity...

20 minutes is 20 minutes, and I went to a square tun with a braid and have yet so experiment with fly sparging in it, I will this spring however.Yes I do stir and vorlauf between batch runnings.

#42 Trub L

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 01:26 PM

How do people with rectangular coolers fly sparge?

rectangular manifold. batch sparging definitely has its place. someone made a "stuck mash" comment, but that's actually points in favor of batch sparging. if you get stuck while fly sparging, you have to start over. if you get stuck while batch sparging, well, you were gonna have to stir it up and recirc a bit anyway. it's just part of the process.

#43 weave

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 01:39 PM

To get off of the batch vs fly and back on topic.....................I used to sparge until I got my final volume until I began hanging out at a local micro. The brewer there sparges until target gravity is met. Whatever volume he collected is what they end up with. In theory, if your processes haven't changed, and your ingrediants haven't changed, your efficiency shouldn't change and you should be able to just sparge to a volume and get the same results. But, by sparging to a set gravity, you can compensate for any change in process or ingredients. Maltsters aren't perfect and the stuff they ship to you may have changed from the last time you used it. That was how it was explained to me anyway. Since I started hanging with this brewer I have purchased a refractometer, which makes sparging to a target gravity more practical.Basser, I am curious, can you discuss whether it is common among the pros to sparge by volume or gravity?

#44 3rd party JKor

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 01:58 PM

How do people with rectangular coolers fly sparge? I have the round ones right now with the spinning sparge arm, but not sure how that would work in a rectangular cooler. I was thinking that if I switched to a rectangular cooler so I didn't have such a deep grainbed, that possibly using those little sprinklers that you use on a drip system in your garden. Or even maybe those little spinning ones that I've seen used in an airoponic uh, vegetable garden that seems to create like a fine mist of the water being fed to it.. :rolf:

I don't think you need to have sparge arm or a manifold to 'fly' sparge. The point of the fly sparge is that you are continuously infiltrating the grain bed with fresh water, giving you the maximum driving force for the dissolved components (sugars, etc) to come out of the grain. Lately, all I've been doing is gently adding fresh water to the top of the MLT every few minutes, just making sure that there is always water covering the grain. As long as your outlet manifold is working properly you shouldn't have any channeling issues if you don't upset the bed too much when you're adding your water.

#45 dagomike

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 02:13 PM

I figured when I saw this thing gone into 3 pages batch spargers couldn't help themselves. :covreyes: :rolf:

#46 MyaCullen

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 02:15 PM

I figured when I saw this thing gone into 3 pages batch spargers couldn't help themselves. :covreyes: :rolf:

see brewbasser's comments above

#47 3rd party JKor

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 02:15 PM

20 minutes is 20 minutes, and I went to a square tun with a braid and have yet so experiment with fly sparging in it, I will this spring however.Yes I do stir and vorlauf between batch runnings.

How are your efficiencies w/batch sparging?

#48 MyaCullen

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 02:16 PM

How are your efficiencies w/batch sparging?

75-80 %

#49 3rd party JKor

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 02:22 PM

I figured when I saw this thing gone into 3 pages batch spargers couldn't help themselves. :facepalm: :rolf:

..or, the fly spargers poked the batch spargers with a stick...technicalities. :covreyes:

#50 siouxbrewer

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 02:23 PM

I'm a fly sparger because I feel that the first real step of the beer making process takes place in the mash/vorlauf/sparge. With fly sparging I feel more in control of what is going on in my mash. I have done fly, batch, and hybrids of the two. I find fly sparging to be as easy, with a copper manifold, as any other method and my efficiencies are right where I want them to be.

#51 dagomike

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 02:26 PM

..or, the fly spargers poked the batch spargers with a stick...technicalities. :rolf:

It's like saying, how do you drive to Florida, and someone chimes in they only got to Arizona because Arizona is better. Well, thanks you've contributed nothing but trouble. :covreyes:Anyway... I was mostly thought it was interesting how many flavors came be done with fly, and if there were any I didn't think of and just to share. Batch spargers can go off and do their thing too. There's probably an equal number of flavors there too, and I'd be happy to chat about that because I've probably done them all also.

#52 Lagerdemain

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 02:42 PM

LMAO at the dogmatism in this thread. Sparging is a mechanical process. Why on earth some get so emotionally bound to it completely eludes me.

#53 DaKine

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 02:52 PM

Seriously, if you batch sparge, you need to rethink brewing.Just my .02BrewBasser

hey, i remember you brewing with coolers.I've got a '?' copper dealeo on the lid of my cooler, I used to use the pump to recirculate. If I had a kettle with a valve, i'd try it. my efficiency is around 80%. I like the KISS formula.

#54 CaptRon

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 03:06 PM

LMAO at the dogmatism in this thread. Sparging is a mechanical process. Why on earth some get so emotionally bound to it completely eludes me.

Because we are all a little more right than the rest of us. hehe :rolf:

#55 3rd party JKor

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 03:19 PM

LMAO at the dogmatism in this thread. Sparging is a mechanical process. Why on earth some get so emotionally bound to it completely eludes me.

Because it's not a mechanical process. The efficiency of your sparge is directly related to how you contact the grain with fresh water. Batch sparging employs an inherently less efficient method, which is where I think the friction comes from.

#56 Lagerdemain

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 03:34 PM

Because it's not a mechanical process. The efficiency of your sparge is directly related to how you contact the grain with fresh water. Batch sparging employs an inherently less efficient method, which is where I think the friction comes from.

But it is, completely and entirely, a mechanical process. All sparging is doing is extracting sugars from grains. It doesn't change the nature of the sugars whatsoever. It's only a matter of *how much* of these sugars are extracted.Again, WHO CARES which is theoretically more efficient? At the homebrewing level, efficiency differences are basically meaningless economically - and economics is the entire argument for sparge technique. At the end of the day, it's about what is most convenient for the brewer and what best suits his/her system. All of these silly claims of superiority of one method over another are just that - silly.

#57 Trub L

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 03:41 PM

But it is, completely and entirely, a mechanical process. All sparging is doing is extracting sugars from grains. It doesn't change the nature of the sugars whatsoever. It's only a matter of *how much* of these sugars are extracted.Again, WHO CARES which is theoretically more efficient? At the homebrewing level, efficiency differences are basically meaningless economically - and economics is the entire argument for sparge technique. At the end of the day, it's about what is most convenient for the brewer and what best suits his/her system. All of these silly claims of superiority of one method over another are just that - silly.

When I was a kid we were 10% efficient and damn happy to be that way.

#58 3rd party JKor

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 03:48 PM

But it is, completely and entirely, a mechanical process. All sparging is doing is extracting sugars from grains. It doesn't change the nature of the sugars whatsoever. It's only a matter of *how much* of these sugars are extracted.

Semantics. To me, opening a valve is a mechanical process. Diffusion is a physiochemical process.

Again, WHO CARES which is theoretically more efficient? At the homebrewing level, efficiency differences are basically meaningless economically - and economics is the entire argument for sparge technique. At the end of the day, it's about what is most convenient for the brewer and what best suits his/her system. All of these silly claims of superiority of one method over another are just that - silly.

It's something to argue about, right? :rolf:

#59 gnef

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 04:19 PM

I am currently only a batch sparger, and have done so for quite a while with good results.With that said, I've been contemplating building a sparge assembly and replace my stainless braid with cpvc. Thing is, I would need another pump as I am on a single tier right now, and like not having heating water above my head.I may coincide this with building an entirely new mash tun that will be slightly larger, that way I can batch sparge for my small beers, and fly sparge the larger gravity beers or larger volume beers.The way I have it set up in my head is to go by volumes. I know it isn't as good as gravity, but I figure I will check the gravity pre-boil for the first half dozen batches just to check my numbers, and once I have things dialed in, just go by volumes

#60 cavman

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Posted 29 March 2009 - 04:52 PM

How are your efficiencies w/batch sparging?

normal is low 80's for me, have hit 86. I know slothrob hits 90-91% consistently.


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