Survey - Fly or Batch Sparging?

[majorvices]

I switched over to batch sparging about 5 years or so ago and it makes my brewday a hell of a lot easier. Unless you have a fully automated system Fly Sparge is the true PITA. Some people have issues with measuring their water out before hand, and even with my limited math capabilities I find it extremely easy. In fact, coming up with exact volumes of water is one of the reasons I prefer batch sparging over fly sparging.

[Denny]

Fly on a HIGH-gravity (1.080+) 5gal batch just seems to make more sense to me unless you want to triple batch sparge.

I get over 80% efficiency with a single batch sparge on 1.080 beers. YMMV.

[marklrob]

Fly on a HIGH-gravity (1.080+) 5gal batch just seems to make more sense to me unless you want to triple batch sparge.

I get over 80% efficiency with a single batch sparge on 1.080 beers. YMMV.

That's awesome. I guess I should surrender my doubt to facts. And I guess I should try to find out what YMMV means too....

When you get such high efficiency, for a 5gallon batch do you mash around 1-1.5qt/lb and then sparge with 6 or so gallons and boil out the rest?

[MullerBrau]

And I guess I should try to find out what YMMV means too....

Your Mileage May Vary

[Denny]

When you get such high efficiency, for a 5gallon batch do you mash around 1-1.5qt/lb and then sparge with 6 or so gallons and boil out the rest?

These days, I mash anywhere from 1.5-2 qt./lb. I sparge with whatever amount I need to get my boil volume, which can be anywhere from 7-8 gal. depending on how much whole hops I use.

[davemchine]

I'm very surprised that so many people say they don't see a difference in efficiency between batch sparging and fly sparging. Why is fly sparging even considered if there is no difference in efficiency?

[ValonaBrewingCo]

I'm very surprised that so many people say they don't see a difference in efficiency between batch sparging and fly sparging. Why is fly sparging even considered if there is no difference in efficiency?

Two reasons: fly sparging is how the "big boys" do it and so that's what it says to do in Papazian's book. Second, as I said earlier, it depends on your system. Fly sparging for me is easy and takes less time than batch sparging. Back when I had a couple of buckets and no pump, I batch sparged.

[killpineapple]

i really expected to see q lot of proponents for fly sparging but apparently not! I watched a neighbor brew all the time and he fly sparged, i always read about fly sparging, and thats what ive been doing too. it never seemed like a PITA until all of you mentioned so. I just get 6-7 gallons of sparge water hot and ready, set the sparge ball valve to a trickle, dump out 4 small pitchers of runnings back into the mash tun, and let er go. i check every 10 minutes or so and make sure the water level is good and rarely have problems. gives me more time to drink beer and enjoy a fine day outdoors....or a sweet air conditioner in the house.

[StAnthonyBrewery]

I can't see why we can't do a combo-sparge.

Drain all the wort off. Batch sparge once (waiting 15 minutes before draining off), and then fly sparging.

Or is that too off the wall?

[erik]

I can't see why we can't do a combo-sparge.

Drain all the wort off. Batch sparge once (waiting 15 minutes before draining off), and then fly sparging.

Or is that too off the wall?

Not too off the wall at all. I did that for a barley wine. Mashed and batch drained, then had to fly sparge to extract the rest of the sugars. The PITA part was that I'm not setup for fly sparging, so I had to add water a quart at a time

It worked well, but the next time I do a barley wine, I'm going to do a double batch via partigyle, the first gyle being the barley wine (with a bunch of extract) and the second being a brown or something similar and needs 1.040. This is because it took so long to boil down the 10 gallons of wort and I still threw away a lot of sugars because I stopped sparging to limit the wort size.

[StAnthonyBrewery]

I can't see why we can't do a combo-sparge.

Drain all the wort off. Batch sparge once (waiting 15 minutes before draining off), and then fly sparging.
Or is that too off the wall?

Not too off the wall at all. I did that for a barley wine. Mashed and batch drained, then had to fly sparge to extract the rest of the sugars. The PITA part was that I'm not setup for fly sparging, so I had to add water a quart at a time

It worked well, but the next time I do a barley wine, I'm going to do a double batch via partigyle, the first gyle being the barley wine (with a bunch of extract) and the second being a brown or something similar and needs 1.040. This is because it took so long to boil down the 10 gallons of wort and I still threw away a lot of sugars because I stopped sparging to limit the wort size.

That's actually a really great idea. We all forget about partigyle. Ideally doing two brews on the sameday is the best use of time. It may actually be the best way really... To mash like 25lbs to 40lbs of pale malts in one go.

[MDixon]

I can't see why we can't do a combo-sparge.

Drain all the wort off. Batch sparge once (waiting 15 minutes before draining off), and then fly sparging.

Or is that too off the wall?

That is essentially what I do, of course when I started doing it the homebrewing community had not really defined batch sparging to any great degree. I just mashout with extra water (10 min) and then can begin draining the tun. Once the first runnings are almost gone and the grain bed is visible I fly sparge the rest. My efficiency always tops 85%, but efficiency really doesn't mean much, consistency is much more important.

FWIW - I call it a pseudo-batch then fly...

[StAnthonyBrewery]

When I started doing it the homebrewing community had not really defined batch sparging to any great degree. I just mashout with extra water (10 min) and then can begin draining the tun. Once the first runnings are almost gone and the grain bed is visible I fly sparge the rest. My efficiency always tops 85%, but efficiency really doesn't mean much, consistency is much more important.

If you would be so kind as to describe in detail your method (times, temperatures, pounds of material, gallons of water, etc).

[MDixon]

I guess I'm not kind...

Times - up to you - I assume you mean how long to sparge, I let the first runnings go till clear (vorlauf) and then drain, generally slow the valve a little and add the water.
Temps - again, up to you - I mashout at 168F for 10 min and try to use 170-190F water for the sparge.
Pounds - depends upon the recipe and what you are after
Water - I make up enough sparge water to equal the amount I would want post boil. Generally I end up with extra water, no big deal IMO.

You can see my technique on my page, it has been there for a very long time...
http://www.ipass.net/mpdixon

[fossilsrocks]

I just want to step in here & make sure that everyone realizes that batch sparging is the best way to go at the homebrewer level. Pro's would do it too, but it is just too difficult to stir a really large mash. Be sure though; they are all jealous of us. Guys who fly sparge at home are stubborn & deluded!