[Slowbrew]

Not to beat a dead horse but I also don't wait very long to start draining my mash tun. 

Add sparge water, stir, wait long enough the big ripples on the surfaces to settle down and start the run off.  Start slow.  Once your wort is running clean open the valve up as far as it works for you.  On my system I can only open the valve half way or so without compacting the grain bed.

Paul

[thebottlefarm]

Try starting your run off with the valve just barely cracked.  That helps set the grainbed with compacting it.  After vorlauf I go ahead and open the valve full.  Never had a stuck runoff for 471 batches!  I have never seen any increase in extraction due to letting the sparge water sit, assuming full conversion before.

I'll try that next time. From reading other threads, I believe you do a 90m mash? Where as I do a 60m mash most times, I'm wondering if my 60m mash with a 10-15m between sparges is the difference impacts the efficiency. As I understand, that is why you do 90 vs 60. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[denny]

Try starting your run off with the valve just barely cracked.  That helps set the grainbed with compacting it.  After vorlauf I go ahead and open the valve full.  Never had a stuck runoff for 471 batches!  I have never seen any increase in extraction due to letting the sparge water sit, assuming full conversion before.

I'll try that next time. From reading other threads, I believe you do a 90m mash? Where as I do a 60m mash most times, I'm wondering if my 60m mash with a 10-15m between sparges is the difference impacts the efficiency. As I understand, that is why you do 90 vs 60. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Yeah, kinda....a 90 min. mash produces a more fermentable wort, so that's my main reason for doing it.  But it also gives the mash more time to ensure complete conversion.  Sparging with 185-190F water like I di also helps make sure I have complete conversion.  I don't really think your 60 min,mashes and 10-15 min, sparge rests are hurting anything, but I'd encourage you to play around with parameters on your next few brews so you can find out for yourself.

[flbrewer]

Bumping this "old" thread to verify something. I know you should open the valve every so slightly while vorlaufing, but after it runs clear can't you open the valve fully? Having a discussion on Reddit about this and someone mentioned it throws off gravity.

[theDarkSide]

It will depend on your system.  If you vorlauf at 1/4 open then open all the way and it doesn't get stuck then go for it.  If you find it does stick try 1/2-3/4.  The nice thing about batch sparging is if it gets stuck, close the valve, stir it up, vorlauf and run again.

I will run mine at 1/4 and then open it to full in steps (1/2, 3/4, then full) with no problems.

[dmtaylor]

I open mine about 1/4 the way for the first quart or two until there's no more chunks coming out, and then slowly open the valve all the way.  By slowly, I mean over the course of about 60 seconds.  Works for me.  The only time I might have an issue is with a lot of rye, oats, or corn, which are all pretty dang sticky.  I don't recall a stuck runoff with wheat although it's been a while.  Gravity or efficiency will not be impacted in the slightest.  The main reason to start opening the valve slow is to prevent immediate compaction of the grain bed and stuck runoff.  By opening it slowly, the grain bed will not compact quite so much (at least in theory) and prevent stuck runoff which is kind of a PITA but not the end of the universe either.  Like DarkSide said, you can always stir and start over, and add rice hulls if you have them and need them, which in my experience is a very rare need.

[HoosierBrew]

I open mine about 1/4 the way for the first quart or two until there's no more chunks coming out, and then slowly open the valve all the way.  By slowly, I mean over the course of about 60 seconds.  Works for me.  The only time I might have an issue is with a lot of rye, oats, or corn, which are all pretty dang sticky.  I don't recall a stuck runoff with wheat although it's been a while.  Gravity or efficiency will not be impacted in the slightest.  The main reason to start opening the valve slow is to prevent immediate compaction of the grain bed and stuck runoff.  By opening it slowly, the grain bed will not compact quite so much (at least in theory) and prevent stuck runoff which is kind of a PITA but not the end of the universe either.  Like DarkSide said, you can always stir and start over, and add rice hulls if you have them and need them, which in my experience is a very rare need.

+1.  Same thing I do.

[JohnnyC]

Thanks for resurrecting. My questions is to the 185-190 degree. Why that temp? I have been batch sparging with 168 deg.

[dmtaylor]

If you add hot 190 F sparge water to a hot mash at ~150 F, the temperature will quickly average out to about 168 F (within about 5 minutes).  Perfecto.

[denny]

Thanks for resurrecting. My questions is to the 185-190 degree. Why that temp? I have been batch sparging with 168 deg.

In theory you want to get the grain bed to 168-170 F.  You need hotter water to do that.

[flbrewer]

Thanks for resurrecting. My questions is to the 185-190 degree. Why that temp? I have been batch sparging with 168 deg.

In theory you want to get the grain bed to 168-170 F.  You need hotter water to do that.

Denny, I had a conversation with someone about this recently. They mentioned they are sparging with room temp. water with the idea that all of the conversion has already taken place during the mash. Any thoughts about this?

[dmtaylor]

That should work just fine.  You're just not able to mashout if you use cool water.... and that's okay because mashout is typically pointless in a homebrew setting anyway since you can quickly get up to a boil in a matter of minutes.  We're usually not leaving sweet wort sitting around for hours while we stoke the fire to get 'er up to a boil.

[ynotbrusum]

It really depends on your set up and boil volumes.  I do ten gallon batches, so I like to mash out because it takes as much as 40 minutes to ge to the boil for my beers.

[TMX]

It really depends on your set up and boil volumes.  I do ten gallon batches, so I like to mash out because it takes as much as 40 minutes to ge to the boil for my beers.

+1

Saves 1/2 hour on the brew day if I only have to raise from 170, as opposed to the 140 it would be from room temp water.  Also, IIRC, hotter sparge locks in the mash as it denatures enzymes, and sugar will go into solution much easier with warmer water.....think of adding sugar to iced tea, as opposed to adding to hot tea then pouring over ice...

T

[JohnnyC]

I raised my sparge water temp to 185 this weekend. Don't know if this was a result of this, but I seemed to have a better and quicker hot break.