Beer Forum

Hi fellas I am currently fly sparging single tier keggles I have been fly sparging for around 1 hour to get my 21 litre or 42 litre post boil volumes I am using my pumps(pumping from HLT and also from mash tun to boil kettle)to transfer do you guys thinks this is too slow

I don't normally need to rush a brew

What's your thoughts

I am getting a little higher Starting gravitys than the recipe is proposing so I am going to back off the time a little to suit my recipes

Even still what is a ball park correct sparging time frame

Thanks TBN lovin the new sour hour series

I think its difficult to say a given "time" for fly sparging to be completed. Your main concern should be not over rinsing your grains so as to not pull out any unwanted tannins that may lead to astringency in the final product. Your best bet would be to either use a refractometer or a hydrometer and start taking samples after you have collected 70% of your necessary wort pre-boil volume. Once the refractometer/hydrometer readings start to hit 1.010 or lower you should stop your runoff and top off the remainder of your boil volume in the kettle with whatever treated water you are brewing with.

Completing a fly sparge with this procedure with help to minimize any husky off flavors from the grains leading to the mouth puckering dryness and astringency from polyphenol/tannin extraction.

The best way to avoid issues with fly sparging? Batch sparging.

Thanks brewinhard that is the perfect answer almost a sticky

Spider wrangler I take it your preference is to batch! Do you add you sparge water salts to the boil when batching?

Do you think I should move to batch sparging?

The only other thing to add is that you should then use extra DME to hit your target gravity should you fall short.

The key is not a specific time it is a repeatable time...you can always adjust your grain to the eff you get. Consistency is more important that eff. As long as you are consistently making the beer that tastes good to you

Yes, Stinkfist is right -- getting consistent is the true goal. Once you are consistent, you then can take any recipe, adjust it to your sytem's expected efficiency, brew it and hit it without having to adjust with either top-up water or extra DME.