In trying to figure out why a lot of my beers are lacking any type of malt character or flavor i've tried switching from batch sparging to a no-sparge approach.

the no-sparge technique i've switched to is simply add all of my mash and sparge water to my mash tun at strike and then drain off once at the end of mash. (very thin mash)

the first beer i did like this i anticipated an efficiency of 55% but ended up getting about 70% and thus had to dilute in the kettle with more water. the next 2 beers i've brewed to 70% efficiency and hit target gravity no problem.

The first beer is one of the best beers i've ever brewed, rich malt character... the latter 2 have turned out the same as my previous batch sparged beers.

My question is, how can there be such a difference between the methods? I would think that taking brewing water and rinsing a little bit of remaining sugar out of the mash (batch sparging) would add to the malt character more than just diluting in the kettle with pure water?

i mash in a picnic cooler with cpvc manifold a la how to brew in the bottom, take multiple ph readings throughout the mash and have calibrated all thermometers.

my next beer i plan on doing a normal mash with a typical water/grist ratio and then dilute with brewing water in the kettle. if i understand correctly, i should get a much lower efficiency like i had originally planned on. hopefully this provide a good quality beer but in thinking about it, i can't understand why i would have had this issue with batch sparging in the first place.

tg

I recently started oxygenating with pure oxygen and controlling fermentation temperature tighter and I have noticed more malt character in my beers. What used to be hefeweizen that tasted like clove and banana with a touch of beer now tastes more like a nice malty beer with a hint of clove and banana in the background. On my oatmeal stout I could actually taste the malts and oats rather than that distinct english yeast character. I didn't change anything about my mashing.

Taste your second runnings when you sparge. Mine taste thin and somewhat "husky." I think that it detracts from the malt flavor. Acidifying my sparge water has helped.

interesting, i've always kept my fermentation's tightly controlled with a ranco. i oxygenate via one of these http://fermentap.com/view_product/16604/100573 hooked up to a pure o2 canister i get from the hardware store.

i just remembered the one other thing i did differently on the beer that turned out was use dry yeast for the first time and per the instructions did not aerate.

i wonder maybe if i'm over or under aerating?

Buford,

Is it possible you are holding closer to your desired mash temp given the larger volume of water?

-CH

What about pitching rates? Do you have the right pitching rates?
Try making a malty style like a bock. I find that maltiness comes through better in lagers.

What about water chemistry? Are you on well water, city, water, RO water? Do you find that your beers vary with seasons? Where I live the water changes seasonally. That could be affecting things.

I don't think so since i followed the same water/grist ratio for all 3 beers.

pitching per mr.malty, making starters... i was using tap water with camden tablets to remove chlorine/cloramine and then adjust with small amounts of salts per beer style. last couple of brews have went with RO water and built up with water salts without change in end results.

i guess i should also mention that i typically oxygenate for about 60s on beers of 1.050 and lower, 75s for 1.050 to 1.065 and 90s for anything above that.

these are all ales as well.

Sounds like you've got everything nailed then. Try acidifying/using less sparge water and see if that helps get your sparged beers more malt flavor than your no sparge brews.