Anybody who does 2 or more batch sparges is pretty much wasting their time as well as causing potential pH issues.
Are you saying a double batch sparge is a bad idea?
It's a counting thing. Denny and I have went back and forth about it for year. To me EVERY draining is a batch so a batch sparge which drains and then recharges and drains again is TWO batches. Denny goes with the methodology that the first one is not a batch. He can correct me if I have once again misunderstood his nomenclature, the old coot!!!
That is exactly how I believed it to be.
Have I been defining a "double batch sparge" incorrectly?
My understanding of the progression, No Sparge - Sparge - Double Sparge... if adding mash water, draining, adding sparge water = double sparge, then no sparge would be just dumping dry grain into the boil kettel. Most batch spargers refer to a Mash followed by a Sparge. IE single sparge.
Agreed. If what I do is a sparge, then I'm confused. Mash. Drain. Boil. So (STAND BACK... I'M ABOUT TO USE LIBRARY SCIENCE... though you could Google it) I looked this up and the definition of sparge is to sprinkle, from the Latin "spargere," which means, big surprise, to sprinkle. I don't sprinkle, I drain. (That sounds like it should be on a tee-shirt.) Anyway, I interpret no-sparge as a practice that is common for drainers and BIAB folks, and involves the un-rinsing of grain (and rinse comes from an Old French term that means rinse... sometimes dictionaries are ridiculous). No-sparge has definitely changed the flavor and other characteristics of my brewing, but I like it because a) it's fast and b) it imparts a "difference" I find interesting. As a small-batch brewer, sparging would only be useful if it helped me replicate a recipe.