[Pricelessbrewing]

Completely agree Denny, just as I said over at the HBT efficiency thread.

No need to rest, no need to drain slowly. Just stir the crap out of it to make sure the sparge and grains are mixed very well.

I do a batch sparge in biab as well, mash, pull the bag, squeeze, combine with sparge water, open the grain bag, stir the crap out of it, pull the bag, squeeze again. By squeezing both times, you're reducing the extract remaining in the grain bed twice, which improves lauter efficiency by about 5-10% depending on your process.

[Joe Sr.]

The hose coming off my mash tun is only six or eight inches.

Is the longer hose to eliminate the dreaded HSA?  Am I a punk for having a short hose?

I use a longer one for two reasons....to make sure there is no chance of HSA.  While I think the chance is extremely minimal, a few cents worth of hose makes sure.  And my cooler drains better with a hose attached.

But does the length of hose improve the drainage?  Is longer better?  I have a hose attached, it's just nowhere near the length of yours.

Despite the juvenile allusions, I am serious.  It's easy enough to use a longer piece of hose if it will improve the draining.

[HoosierBrew]

The hose coming off my mash tun is only six or eight inches.

Is the longer hose to eliminate the dreaded HSA?  Am I a punk for having a short hose?

I use a longer one for two reasons....to make sure there is no chance of HSA.  While I think the chance is extremely minimal, a few cents worth of hose makes sure.  And my cooler drains better with a hose attached.

But does the length of hose improve the drainage?  Is longer better?  I have a hose attached, it's just nowhere near the length of yours.

Despite the juvenile allusions, I am serious.  It's easy enough to use a longer piece of hose if it will improve the draining.

I feel my cooler drains better with a longer hose. I use ~ a 5 foot piece of silicon tubing, mostly for convenience. It lets me sit the cooler up on a garage bench top and have enough hose to go to the bottom of my kettle, which is on the floor.

[Joe Sr.]

Ok. I'll have to give it a try.

[Stevie]

The best length is enough to touch the bottom of the pot or bucket you are draining into. This will take full advantage of gravity. A little longer is A-OK, just not really bringing anything more to the party.

[denny]

The hose coming off my mash tun is only six or eight inches.

Is the longer hose to eliminate the dreaded HSA?  Am I a punk for having a short hose?

I use a longer one for two reasons....to make sure there is no chance of HSA.  While I think the chance is extremely minimal, a few cents worth of hose makes sure.  And my cooler drains better with a hose attached.

But does the length of hose improve the drainage?  Is longer better?  I have a hose attached, it's just nowhere near the length of yours.

Despite the juvenile allusions, I am serious.  It's easy enough to use a longer piece of hose if it will improve the draining.

My experience is that if the hose is long enough to reach the bottom of the kettle and be submerged in the collected wort, it kinda forms a siphon and improves drainage.

[Phil_M]

I have other reasons for using a piece of tubing. Ever change the oil on a car, direct the stream into a drain pan, then have it miss the pan once it starts to trickle out? Or fail to estimate just how far the oil will shoot out of the oil pan and have it miss the catch can entirely?

Without tubing, collecting the wort is aiming at a moving target. The hose makes it foolproof.

[BrewBama]

I started all grain by watching a guy named Don Osborn on YouTube after seeing him on Northern Brewer's Brewing TV videos with Jason Keeler, Michael Dawson, and Chip Walton.  Don said he used a guy named Denny Conn's method.  I immediately looked up Denny Conn and found his website.  It looked like the cheapest and easiest way to break into all grain.  So...my set up is about the same as theirs.  This system has worked pretty good for the last cpl years and 43 batches later.  Good to see my mash in and sparge method is the same as Denny's.  I also see no reason to change.

[Stevie]

Don O videos are great. He hasn't been very active lately, but his older videos are still good. I like his casual approach to what he does.

[crakers540]

I agree that a longer piece of tubing may help with draining the wort.  I had a piece of tubing that was long enough to reach the bottom of my 10 gallon kettle, and curve around the bottom of the kettle about one foot (mash tun about 30" above kettle).  When I opened the valve from the mash tun, it created a siphon, and drained the wort rather quickly.  After batch sparging, same thing: siphon drained the liquid quickly, maybe too fast, not sure. Each time it only took a few minutes to drain, 2.5 gallons and 4 gallons respectively.

Gravity is a wonderful thing, I hope.

[FaradayUncaged]

Fantastic stuff.  Thanks for sharing!

[HoosierBrew]

Don O videos are great. He hasn't been very active lately, but his older videos are still good. I like his casual approach to what he does.

Yeah, I always liked his videos, too. Pretty laid back.

[davidw]

So no need to let the sparge settle before you start the second vorlaf?

Nope.  I've tested it many times and found no advantage to it.

Ah. I will adopt this as well then.

It depends on your mash tun/system set up. Try it both ways several times and decide for yourself if there is an advantage or not.

[denny]

So no need to let the sparge settle before you start the second vorlaf?

Nope.  I've tested it many times and found no advantage to it.

Ah. I will adopt this as well then.

It depends on your mash tun/system set up. Try it both ways several times and decide for yourself if there is an advantage or not.

David, can you generalize about what type of lauter system might benefit?

[charles1968]

Nice video, pretty much identical setup and process to mine. After the recent brulosophy experiment with a 9-gallon (surely a typo??) vorlauf produced much clearer beer than the non-vorlaufed beer, I now take more time and care with the vorlauf and try to get the wort clear before running off.

Cooler boxes are great for holding temp, but I put extra insulation around mine when I mash overnight - a couple of blankets or coats work fine.