[Fritzbrew]

Was wondering what people think about brewing with the no sparge method.  Advantages/disadvantages?  Obviously less work but I know things that seem to good to be true usually are. 

[beersk]

I think the only real issue is getting poor efficiency and mashtun capacity. Otherwise, if you don't mind leaving a lot of sugars behind and using extra grain, then it seems like a good method.

[tom]

It's not all that less efficient, especially for regular strength beers.
And it is the easiest way for big beers.

[Fritzbrew]

I think its worth a shot so I can see what the difference in efficiency is to what I normally get from my fly sparging

[lornemagill]

it is my understanding that you get more malt complexity with first runnings.  i like the parti gyle technique because you get two different beers to play with.

[euge]

I get about 65% when no-sparging. Depends on your qt/# for eff though. Flavor is noticeably better but maybe not enough to offset $3-4 dollars you save when batch-sparging.

[tomsawyer]

I get about the same 75% efficiency with no-sparge.  I actually mash with the entire amount too, so my ratio is around 3.5 for an average 1.050 beer.  I can't say it makes better beer, but its simple if you have the room in your mashtun.

[malzig]

I use no-sparge quite routinely. I get 75% mash efficiency from no sparge and 85% from batch sparging.  It'll depend on the size of the grain bill and your conversion efficiency.

I can't say I've noticed a huge difference, but you can make a great no-sparge beer with decent efficiency.  I make my pale lagers with no-sparge to try to minimize tannins, and I'm very happy with the results.