BeerBorg

Kealia wrote:For batch sparging, does the speed in which I drain the mash tun affect efficiency?

I'm going to batch sparge the first few beers I make with this before trying fly sparging and I'd love to get the most out of the grains as possible.

So, any pros or cons to a fully open valve?

Lautering speed has no effect on mash efficiency.

Lautering speed does effect the amount of fine particulate matter going into the kettle.
Faster ==> more; Slower ==> less.
The effect of greater amounts of fine particulate matter going into the kettle matters little b/c this material settles out as cold break and lees when bottled.

IMO ... fly sparging is a yuge waste of time.
Brew days are long enough without fly sparging for an hour or more just to get a few measly gravity points.

Thanks for your thoughts, too. I will be taking pics and documenting my first use this weekend. I'm so excited to try this out that it's silly.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Kealia wrote:Thanks for your thoughts, too. I will be taking pics and documenting my first use this weekend. I'm so excited to try this out that it's silly.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

You will enjoy it.

Gymrat wrote:

Pudge wrote:"Channeling is not an issue unless you fly sparge."

I respectfully disagree. Water flowing through a grain bed is water flowing through a grain bed no matter how you placed the water there.

Let me put it this way. The water will not "channel" by simply taking a running. You run into that when you fly sparge if your sparge arm does not move continuously. When I batch sparge I pour my water in, stir, vorlauff, then take my running again. Unless there are other forces involved the water will naturally drain from the tun evenly. At least it does with my false bottom.

Maybe that is the difference with channeling...using a flase bottom over say a braided hose or bazooka screen. With a false bottom its design is to have it draw evenly from the bottom of the grain bed over the surface area of the false bottom vs a smaller singular area with a braided hose or screen?

MadBrewer wrote:

Gymrat wrote:

Pudge wrote:"Channeling is not an issue unless you fly sparge."

I respectfully disagree. Water flowing through a grain bed is water flowing through a grain bed no matter how you placed the water there.

Let me put it this way. The water will not "channel" by simply taking a running. You run into that when you fly sparge if your sparge arm does not move continuously. When I batch sparge I pour my water in, stir, vorlauff, then take my running again. Unless there are other forces involved the water will naturally drain from the tun evenly. At least it does with my false bottom.

Maybe that is the difference with channeling...using a flase bottom over say a braided hose or bazooka screen. With a false bottom its design is to have it draw evenly from the bottom of the grain bed over the surface area of the false bottom vs a smaller singular area with a braided hose or screen?

I think you have a point there.

But I see what you are saying with fly sparging. If you have flow only in one area of the grain bed it will make a path. Just like a stream in nature. It carves its own way.

Kealia

Well, if you want to geek out on it a bit --> http://morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/l ... almer.html.
Maybe Kealia can pick up a a pointer or two in there that might improve the experience. This was just a quick Google. I'm pretty sure John Palmer has a section in How To Brew discussing mash tun design and fluid dynamics, but I can't find my book

I do need to rework my mash tun.

Pudge wrote:Kealia

Well, if you want to geek out on it a bit --> http://morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/l ... almer.html.
Maybe Kealia can pick up a a pointer or two in there that might improve the experience. This was just a quick Google. I'm pretty sure John Palmer has a section in How To Brew discussing mash tun design and fluid dynamics, but I can't find my book

I do need to rework my mash tun.

It looks like madbrewer was correct. I have never seen any type of channeling because I am using a false bottom. It appears dealing with the occasional stuck sparge issue is a trade off for a more efficient collecting mechanism.

Yep, an even downward flow seems to be the gaol and a false bottom is hard to beat.

Gymrat wrote:

Pudge wrote:"Channeling is not an issue unless you fly sparge."

I respectfully disagree. Water flowing through a grain bed is water flowing through a grain bed no matter how you placed the water there.

Let me put it this way. The water will not "channel" by simply taking a running. You run into that when you fly sparge if your sparge arm does not move continuously. When I batch sparge I pour my water in, stir, vorlauff, then take my running again. Unless there are other forces involved the water will naturally drain from the tun evenly. At least it does with my false bottom.

If you fly sparge correctly than you should always have 1/2" of standing water on top of the grain bed which should diminish any chances of channeling.

Kealia, are you doing a single or multiple batch sparge. When I batch sparge I use two steps. The first step is basically is a mash out to raise the grain bed temp to free up more sugars. The second step is the rinse.

For my first time I did a 'double sparge'. After draining the mash tun I did two separate sparges, so the mash tun was drained completely 3 times in total. Allin all, I was pretty happy with the way it turned out and I have a few things to tweak next time around.