Understanding Sparging - Fly Sparging vs Batch Sparging

[@hombredeletras8112]

As a brand new brewer I purchased my all grain brewing system (systems at this point, first an all in one, now a 3 vessel system) from you guys and have continued to purchase my ingredients likewise. I’ve received great customer service from you on more than one occasion and on this channel you’ve put out some great content that helped me greatly as a novice brewer; not least in giving me the confidence to jump straight into all grain, working at the most advanced level possible, with the most amount of control over my end product from day one, so thank you for that. This video is one which really set me back, however, and had me chasing my tail for months, really pulling my hair out, mired in confusion, having trusted the information provided, yet struggling to reconcile it with the process of batch sparge being described in books, textbooks and community discussion. Unfortunately, in short, it provides incorrect information. I only post this as a way to help others avoid the many wasted hours I had in figuring this out. It is certainly not intended to ‘call out’. Batch sparging, by definition, first requires the complete draining of wort from the mash vessel (aka first runnings, for anyone new who’s come across that term), into a separate vessel (usually the boil kettle), following which the predetermined volume of batch sparge water is added into the now-drained grist (grains, for anyone new). The grist is in essence then re-mashed for ‘x’ amount of time with this new water. This is batch sparging. Following this batch sparging ‘secondary mash’ process, the liquid is then drained from the grist (sometimes referred to as second runnings) and added to the originally drained wort (first runnings) where you’d proceed to boil as usual. Unfortunately the video doesn’t describe or show this process and what is described as batch sparging is really just fly-sparging. It would only be possible to batch sparge in a single vessel system (e.g. Brewzilla, Grainfather, Anvil etc) by draining the wort out of the all in one, which in addition to requiring a separate heat-safe vessel to temporarily contain the hot wort (unrealistic for many), would defeat the purpose of owning an all in one system. This video describes batch sparging as “you just pour all your water in the top”. This description is accompanied by some b-roll of someone pouring water by hand into the top of the raised grain basket of an all in one system. This is fly sparging. Just fly sparging being performed by hand and at a fast rate. I hope this clears things up for anyone who might be as confused as I was and who happens to read this comment. I hope you’ll take down this video until you’re able to reshoot and in the meantime, until you’re able to read my comment, it can serve as a clarified for anyone who was as similarly confused as I was. If anything I’ve said is unclear to anyone new and would like further clarification, please don’t hesitate to message me. Regardless, keep on keeping on with the good work GEB. I’ll be ordering the ingredients for my festive beers ‘23 from you over the next couple of days. Salud!

[@Geterbrewed]

Thankyou for your feedback we will review and see if we can revisit this in the future

[@gazhugs]

I use a watering can for sparging on my Brewtools B40pro, works fantastic and i always hit or better my numbers, sometimes low tech just works, great videos by the way...

[@Geterbrewed]

Fair Play Gary, like you said, some times the simple methods work great. Glad you're enjoying the videos, they are good fun to make. What sort of beer have you been brewing lately?

[@gazhugs]

@@Geterbrewed I brew a fair amount tbh, all 23 litre batches, yesterday brewed Elusive Brewings Oregon Trail [clone] before that was my take on a Northen Monk Faith clone, Old Peculier Clone, Butty Bach Clone [both very close to the originals] I like a lot of different beer styles and have done 74 brewdays on my B40pro in just over 2 years, love the system...

[@donzapet]

@@gazhugs What's tbh? I thought my own industry, the building industry was hectic but my new hobby has so many acronyms :)

[@gazhugs]

You literally need to learn a new language for all the acronyms, 100s of them, still learning a few myself...

[@gazhugs]

tbh = to be honest...

[@paskrell]

Cheers.

[@richardwilkinson77]

Nice video. I have one question that I don't think you covered... When do I need to sparge? At the start of the mash? Split across regular intervals throughout the mash period? Or towards the end of the mash? Thanks.

[@Geterbrewed]

Hi Richard, sparge once the mash has completed it's cycle. So let it complete its 60 min mash, then spare the water through and over and through grain to get your wort up to the desired pre boil volume. hope that helps :) Are you brewing anything tasty?

[@richardwilkinson77]

@@Geterbrewed plenty planned! Next up is a SMAEH - Single Malt and Every Hop - using up my bits and pieces of hops, then I'm doing a Märzen ready for October, then a German Pilsner Pseudo lager. The latter two fermented at room temp under pressure. Cheers! 🍻

[@Pingwinho]

Sparge at the start of the mash 😂😂😂

[@richardwilkinson77]

@@Pingwinho I'll keep asking the stupid questions that make you laugh if it's all the same to you. That's how I learn. 🙄 It made me laugh a little too a year on from when I asked, and now know better.

[@Pingwinho]

@@richardwilkinson77 either roll your eyes at me or admit you laughed at it yourself.

[@matthewbrown5677]

As long as the pH of your sparge water is about 5.3 to 5.6 use latic or pos acid