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Two stage batch sparge question

civolpe1982

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When doing a two stage mash, do you always run off your initial mash first, or is the first batch sparge water supposed to be added to the mash?
 
Let's say that the recipe says to mash in with 16 quarts of strike water.

Then the sparges are .89 gallons and 3.5 gallons.

This means that when your mash is completed, you need to add the .89 gallons to your mash before draining your mash tun.  You need to get the mash up to 168F, by drawing off some of your mash wort and heating it up, so that your mash tun settles at 168F.

Then you can lauter slowly and keep recirculating the lautered wort back into your mash until your wort is running clear.  Then slowly drain the mash tun.

Then you add the 3.5 gallons of sparge water at the proper temperature, so that you once again settle at 168F.  Then slowly lauter and recirculate again, until your wort is running clear.  Once it is running clear, you can then slowly drain your mash tun. 

You should now be at your preboil volume and can commence your boil.

I hope this helped.
 
Yes.  Thanks Scott!  A follow up... Do you need to heat the wort or could you just heat the first sparge water to the proper temp to bring the mash to 168?  I assumed that my strike water would be 168... So it would be closer to 170 I'm guessing.  Is there a calculater or formula to calculate strike water temp for sparge water as there is for the mash? 
 
Your original strike water temperature is calculated so that it is at the proper temperature to allow you mash to settle at water ever your mash temperature is.  For example, you might have to have your strike water at about 163F, so that when it is combined with your grains, you settle at 154F (your mash temp).  You mash temp can be anywhere from 148F to 156F, depending on the recipe.

I heat that .89 gallon sparge to boiling and stir it in.  That has never brought my mash up to the mash out temperature of 168F.  When you look at the mash schedule and see that it says to sparge with .89 gallons and 3.5 gallons at 168F, that doesn't mean that you want the sparge water at 168F before stirring in into the mash.  It means that you want the mash (grains + original strike water + sparge water) at 168F, after stirring the sparge water into the mash.

When I've added the small sparge addition to the mash (grains and original strike water), I've never had it come up to 168F.  You just can't get it hot enough, unless you're able to add heat directly to your mash tun.  I use 48 quart coolers for mash tuns, so I can't just turn the burner on and bring it up to 168F.  I have to drain some wort out of the mash tun and heat it in my boil pot, then return it to the mash. 

You can use the "decoction volume" tool in BeerSmith to get a good idea of how much wort to pull out and what temperature to raise it to before adding it back into your mash.
 
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