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Help with Batch Sparging

dermotstratton

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I just bought a copy of Beer Smith and I'm a little confused about the way it is setting up my batch sparge.

I am brewing a recipe with 8 lbs. of grain and 1 lb of rice hulls.

I am using the standard 5 gallon Igloo cooler for a mash tun and a Keggle as a boil pot.

When I set this up for the "Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge", it is suggesting the following:

Total Water needed - 7.85 gallons
Mash - 1.87 gallons of water at 171 F
Drain Mash Tun, Batch Sparge with 3 steps (2.01 gal, 2.01 gal, 2.01 gal)

This is suggesting a water (qt.) : grain (lb.) ratio of 0.875:1.  I always thought you should aim for a ratio of 1.5:1.  Isn't the mash going to be way to thick?

Then is suggest a 3 step sparge.  Why is it 3 steps instead of two 3 gallon sparges?

Is there a way to change the water:grain ratio used in the calculation?  Is there a way to reduce the # of sparges?

Thanks!


 
At the top of the recipe worksheet there is a row of buttons.  Click on "Mash Details".  In the box that shows the mash water/temp details, double click on the description and it will open up a pop-up box that shows you what the grain-water ratio is - you can change it.  (Typical is more like 1:1.3 lbs grain:quarts water - but depends on the recipe.)  Then go back to the "Recipe Design" (button at top of recipe worksheet).  At the bottom, in the section "Profiles for Mash, Carbonation and Aging", next to the mash profile, is a little check box.  Click it to open a new pop-up box.  Click the little box "Drain mash tun before sparging".  This should give you two sparge steps. You can do them either balanced by clicking the "use equal batch sizes" button or use a larger first sparge by leaving that un-clicked.

Good luck with your brew.
 
Thanks Dave.  I didn't realize you could double click on description and bring up a new pop-up box. 

I got a stuck sparge with my brew yesterday and I think I just figured out why.  I had 14 lbs of grain that I tried to put in my 5 gallon Igloo cooler.  I ended up with about 1 quart water/lb grain.  Would a 1 quart water:1 lb grain ratio make a stuck sparge likely?  Now looking at the forcing a 1.5 qt water/lb grain, it shows that I would need 7+ gallons of water, obviously not possible in my setup.  I should have done the math myself for a sanity check.  If I want a 1.3 qt. water: 1 lb grain ratio, then I can't exceed 12 lbs. of grain in my grain bill. 

The thing I'm still confused on is when Beersmith updates a recipe and when it does not.  Depending on where and when I update the mash profile, it sometimes adjusts the brewsheet automatically and sometimes it just doesn't.  I haven't figured out why yet. 

Thanks for the help!
 
I don't think the mash ratio should really affect sparging that much, except maybe on the first runnings if the mash was thick.  You can always add water before draining the tun though, so this can be avoided.  Stuck sparges are usually due to not enough hulls in the mash acting as filter media or from draining too fast in the beginning and plugging the bed near the bottom with fines.  Try going slow at first and reicrulating the first couple quarts back in.
 
Thanks for the feedback Dave.  I didn't pay much attention to how quickly I initially drained the mash tun after my 45 minute mash.  It sounds like this might have been the main reason that I got a stuck sparge.  I'll keep this in mind for my next all grain attempt.  I think I'll add some rice hulls in as well to try and make sure I get a good grain bed. 
 
If you're using barley malt you really shouldn't need to add rice hulls - it won't hurt anything but it's unnecessary expense.  The barley malt should have enough on its own.  The only time I've ever heard of anyone using rice hulls is for wheat beers that havevery little barley malt in them.  If you are grinding your own barley and the hulls are getting shredded too much so they don't make good filtration, try opening up the gap on your crusher a bit. The hulls should come off the grains but remain mostly in tact.
 
Daves Right , Unless its a type of wheat brew you shouldn't need the rice hulls . I would for sure thin out the mash and don't wait till it gets to the bottom to sparge .make sure you are vorlaufing. reduce your flow off your runnings . as well it wouldn't hurt to have a bigger mash/lauter tun . Also if you do use rice hulls that you are washing them and as well it doesnt hurt to preheat your tun you can then add your hulls and let them absorb the liquid as they will take away from your sweet wort ...
 
The OP had listed rice hulls in his recipe.  I do use them in my 10 gallon brewery.  I do not mind the insurance.

I do not include the rice in my recipe, rather, I simply soak them in water and drain them just before adding to the mash tun.
 
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