[bo_gator]

If it had not been for Denny's old web-site (not been to the new one)

Bo, I'm confused (not that that's difficult!).  The 2 websites are exactly the same....

I thought you had changed it when you switched the domain name.

[denny]

Nope.  Just redirected the new domain name to the old website.

[bonjour]

Defense may be too strong a term.
More and more as I brew my "starters" I batch sparge, mostly because I can ignore it a little more, and believe me, I tend to ignore my fly sparges,

My big beers, with approximately a half sack of grain for a 5 gallon batch, I have to fly sparge.  There is no extra room.

I never see anyone talking about how easy fly sparging is.  I often feel an urge to talk about it when I get a chance.

[lonnie mac]

Defense may be too strong a term.
More and more as I brew my "starters" I batch sparge, mostly because I can ignore it a little more, and believe me, I tend to ignore my fly sparges,

My big beers, with approximately a half sack of grain for a 5 gallon batch, I have to fly sparge.  There is no extra room.

I never see anyone talking about how easy fly sparging is.  I often feel an urge to talk about it when I get a chance.

I have espoused the ease of fly sparging in the past, but I agree... You never hear how easy it is often enough. Dang, it is as simple as it gets for me... I actually find a lot of relaxation watching my whirlygig go round and round! Anyone that knows me knows that the last thing I care about is efficiency too. Though I can get numbers easily into the 80's, that is not my goal. I fly because that is how I have always done it...

[bo_gator]

I agree Fred and Lonnie, I think one of the problems is that to a "newbie" a write up describing fly sparging reads more complicated than it is. Even Charlie P. who is a very good entertaining writer seems to make  fly sparging seem complicated in the Complete Joy of Homebrewing. IMO this is where Denny's genius shows a little on his site...he explains it so simply with non-confusing words which keeps people from getting intimidated.

Maybe one of you two can put something up on this here interweb thingy that can help new people not be intimidated by the whole "you must keep an inch of water on top of the grain bed wile not allowing the drain to channel" Sure that sentence makes sense to people that have brew a few all-grain batches, but when you have never done a mash it seems complicated and confusing

[k4df4l]

Maybe one of you two can put something up on this here interweb thingy that can help new people not be intimidated by the whole "you must keep an inch of water on top of the grain bed wile not allowing the drain to channel" Sure that sentence makes sense to people that have brew a few all-grain batches, but when you have never done a mash it seems complicated and confusing

I can only speak to where my head was when I started AG brewing, but I was pretty overwhelmed by all the new information just from basic AG brewing that anything that made the process even 1 step more complex (or potentially more expensive as well) was out of the question.  Batch sparging, Denny's page specifically, made sense & kept the process minimalistic in my mind.

[ndcube]

Back when I use to batch sparge I did it the Denny way and drained the mash-tun as fast as I could, but the wort was clear. What are you using as a filter?

Just an SS braid.  I think I crush around .030" so maybe that makes it a little dustier.  What were you crushing at when you batch sparged?

[stout_fan]

... use a 2 qt plastic picture to move my sparge water ...

Fred

I'm trying to pitcher this in my mind...

[MDixon]

Maybe one of you two can put something up on this here interweb thingy that can help new people not be intimidated by the whole "you must keep an inch of water on top of the grain bed wile not allowing the drain to channel" Sure that sentence makes sense to people that have brew a few all-grain batches, but when you have never done a mash it seems complicated and confusing

It's been up since 2002 - see Setup and Mashing Techniques off my page www.ipass.net/mpdixon 

[denny]

I agree that fly sparging is not all that difficult.  But after I tried fly sparging, I found batch sparging to be much easier for me.

[bo_gator]

Back when I use to batch sparge I did it the Denny way and drained the mash-tun as fast as I could, but the wort was clear. What are you using as a filter?

Just an SS braid.  I think I crush around .030" so maybe that makes it a little dustier.  What were you crushing at when you batch sparged?

0.035 IRC it is still at the factory setting for a two roller Cranknstein.

Are you talking about cloudy wort or wort with chunks floating it?

[ndcube]

Back when I use to batch sparge I did it the Denny way and drained the mash-tun as fast as I could, but the wort was clear. What are you using as a filter?

Just an SS braid.  I think I crush around .030" so maybe that makes it a little dustier.  What were you crushing at when you batch sparged?

0.035 IRC it is still at the factory setting for a two roller Cranknstein.

Are you talking about cloudy wort or wort with chunks floating it?

No chunks.  Just cloudy/floury.  It's clear after the boil.

[bo_gator]

Back when I use to batch sparge I did it the Denny way and drained the mash-tun as fast as I could, but the wort was clear. What are you using as a filter?

Just an SS braid.  I think I crush around .030" so maybe that makes it a little dustier.  What were you crushing at when you batch sparged?

0.035 IRC it is still at the factory setting for a two roller Cranknstein.

Are you talking about cloudy wort or wort with chunks floating it?

No chunks.  Just cloudy/floury.  It's clear after the boil.

Mine was cloudy before the boil too,I thought you meant pieces of grain floating in the run-off

[wilypig]

I was just reading the thoughts on sparge methods. I have modified my method recently so I do not have to lift 12 gallons of 180 degree water over my head. I just keep a pot on a burner at 180 degrees and use a pitcher to add water as necessary. This allows me to ensure the water that is added for sparge is at the correct temperature. I found that the loss of temp from a HLT to the mash tun was unacceptable and allowed the mash temp to drop below 150 degrees. 150 degrees is the optimum temp for sugar to enter solution. I prefer to not batch sparge because I do not like to stir and vorlauf that much.

[denny]

You need to take a look at Kai Troester's groundbreaking work on "cold sparging".  He basically found that a lower sparge temp doesn't bot affect efficiency.