I am considering starting to batch sparge rather than fly sparge and keep coming across conflicting opinions. On one side, batch sparging is much quicker and doesn't require any extra equipment. On the other side, fly sparging is more efficient and seems to be more widely used. I read that by increasing the amount of grains you use if you plan to batch sparge, you can get past the decrease in efficiency (I found a couple of spreadsheets for calculating how much additional grain you will need).
My question is, if the downsides of batch sparging aren't all that bad then why don't more people do it? It seems to be quicker and easier with limited downsides.
By increasing the grain for batch sparging you don't increase efficiency, you get the gravity back up.
As to your question, I think the reason has to do with making the best beer you can. You do everything by the "best" method, given that you can afford it. This folds over into sparging where it doesn't make any difference in the final product, but its the "best" method. I expect at the commercial level the savings in grain warrant the process. At the homebrew level, the $1.79 you save in grain (minus additional water and equipment costs) doesn't pay for the tiime spent.
Bottom line: Do what you want to do and Don't Worry about it. And have a Homebrew while you're at it.
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RDW, the worst that can happen is that you have to actually 'buy' beer.
Drinking: Coal Porter, American Amber
Primary:
Secondary: Saison
Conditioning: Pale Ale, Bohemian Pilsner Lager
In queue: Orange Tripel, Imperial Stout, IPA
Thanks for the replies. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some other critical reason for fly sparging. I'll give batch sparging a try and see how it goes...
I too have debated this in my head. Recently i swore i was going to start batch sparging to save the time.....then it dawned on me that i have all the gear i need to fly sparge, and i have in fact fly sparged the all of my 9 all grain batches, and just figured, F-it, i finally have my beer comming out the way i want, illl just keep fly sparging. Im brewing an English Pale as i type. Peace,Chris
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"the only people for me are the mad ones..." -Kerouac
proud member of the High Plains Drafters!
on tap. Jamils Choc Haz. Porter. Belgian Golden Strong, Jim Wagner's Vanilla Oatmeal Stout..
secondary. Fat Tire Clone.
primary. English Pale Ale.
on deck. Doc's Wit, Belgian Blonde, Munich Helles.
I like having a false bottom in my round cooler because I can do both and choose based on the recipe/batch size. I'll do either 5 or 10 gals in my setup.
I guess my point is that this doesn't need to be a religious war. Use each technique appropriate to its own advantages.
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-B'Dawg
Give a man a beer and he'll waste an hour. Teach him to brew and he'll waste a lifetime. - Nuco Gordo
I tried batch sparging but my efficiency dropped and I had not added any grain so that was a disappoinment. I returned to fly sparging and get ~70-75% efficiency. I am half Norwegian and we are notorious for our thriftiness! :-)
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John
Camp A Brewing
Primary: empty
Secondary: nada
Drinking: Get Real ESG AG, Rusty Choker Oatmeal Porter
"Work is the curse of the drinking class....." Marx (Groucho)
My first batch I ever made I had no idea what I was doing as well as no idea exactly what sparging was so I ended up draining the first runnings and pouring the sparge water on top and draining that. I had no idea I was doing a batch sparge. Somehow it turned out that the gravity was actually exactly what it was supposed to be. Turned out amazingly well for a first batch going mostly off of spoken instructions I received from a friend's dad a month previous. Since then I've always done fly sparging though.
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primary: british style porter
secondary: double ipa (tribute to the great hop shortage of 2008), n. english brown ale
bottle conditioning: american ipa
drinking: cream stout, wee heavy
next in line: weizen rauchbier, weizenbock
Just another thought, since I researched my water chemistry, and compensated for some of its shortcomings, I've consistantly been able to achieve 80% or more efficiency on every batch with a batch sparge method.
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Actually, it only takes one drink to get me loaded. Trouble is, I can't remember if it's the thirteenth or fourteenth.
I've now got 10 AG batches under my belt, w/ about half batch sparged. Here's some observations:
If your efficiency is good when fly sparging, which is a function of mash tun geometry and the crush, then batching will likely lower your eff.
If your fly-sparging eff. isn't very good, assuming you're hitting all your #'s and your water profile is "right", then it's likely the geometry of the tun. This is the problem I had early on; My tun just doesn't work all that well for fly sparging (Rect. cooler w/ copper manifold). My first few batches were fly sparged and I was getting some rather disappointing #'s. Then I found batch sparging. On two recipes I re-did using a batch sparge, I gained 15%! What I didn't realize in the beginning, was that I was getting some channeling, which lowered my eff. while flying.
Another note: Batching doesn't really save me any time, maybe a few minutes, but I can just dump the sparge water in, and walk away, do other things, rather than sitting there monitoring a fly sparge. So, overall it does make for a smoother brew session, and slightly less work! i am pretty lazy, after all!
dB
Yeah the worst part is the vorlauf, and I've had a few cloudy beers as a result of my laziness! But, I'm getting better, and don't really mind extra vorlaufing, especially since my eff. has gone up.
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