Looking for some tips to improve efficiency and fly sparging

It takes a little practice, you want the flow going out of the mash tun equal to the sparge water coming in. It should be a slow process taking about an hour. I usually have more in my HLT than I need and I know from experience when to cut it off. Another thing for efficiency is getting a good crush on your grain.

 

I was just throwing that out there, often times when all other things seem ok the crush can be the reason for low efficiency. Your crush may be fine. Some shop mills are worn out or gap set too lose, others are fine. I would get fly sparging down first then if you still have an efficiency issue look at crush.

 

I dont know what your set up is but here's mine. I try to get the ball valve coming out of my HLT the same as the one coming out of the mash tun. You want a good slow even flow. I keep a close eye on it at first and adjust if necessary.

 

Thanks. Yeah, you want the sparge to take about an hour, slower is fine but sparging too fast will lower efficiency. I like to sparge a little hot too. Most recipes say around 168 but I usually get my HLT up to around 175 or 180. My efficiency is usually around 80%.

 

Not sure other brewers take on this, but I've noticed that I can't get the same efficiency numbers from my rectangular mash tun as I can get from my round tuns when fly sparging. It may have to do with my manifold design, but now adays, I'll just use my rectangular tun for batch sparing since I can get better numbers that way with that tun.
Also one tip is to get a float valve (like an AutoSparge) for the mash tun…so nice...

 

I learned to go slow which is hard. The wort coming out of the hose from the mash tun is only about 1/8" wide.

 

I'm under the impression that fly sparges are more efficient in skinnier/taller tuns, although I do not have any direct experience comparing the two

 

I exclusively fly sparge (aside from one lame attempt at batch sparging). I regularly get at least 85% mash efficiency. Here's what I can tell you, based on my experience.

(1) Grain crush is the most important factor when it comes to efficiency. Before I started crushing at home, my efficiency was typically 70%. I most definitely crush harder than the mill at the LHBS (0.035" gap between my mill's rollers).

(2) You can add grain to water or water to grain to get the mash going. I add water to grain as I grind my grain directly into my mash tun (it's just convenient). A key to good efficiency is to make sure all dough balls have been exterminated.

(3) I typically do a fairly thin mash, typically 1.75 quarts of water per 1 lb of grain. This makes it easy to stir the mash when eliminating the dreaded dough balls.

(4) Before sparging, I top off my mash tun (which is a 7 gallon ss pot) with water to thin out the mash even more. I do a mashout to thin things down even more, although I don't think a mashout necessarily gives you higher efficiency. I do think having a fairly high ratio of water to grain helps to prevent channeling during the sparging process.

(5) Definitely keep an inch so of water above the grain bed as you are adding and subtracting water during the sparge, until you have used all of the sparge water you are going to use. You should estimate this ahead of time, based on water losses throughout the brewing process. Of course, after you have run out of sparge water the level will drop below the grain bed. No problem there.

(6) I find 40 minutes is sufficient time for a fly sparge. 30 minutes is probably OK. I've not gone any shorter than this, but it wouldn't surprise me if 20 minutes is sufficient. Somebody should do an experiment.

Cheers!

 

Check out this informative article on easy fly sparging, it may help you develop your own practice.

http://beerandwinejournal.com/easy-fly-1/

 

I discovered my crush was FUBAR. Once the crush was corrected efficiency went way up. So check your crush.

People just love fucking with the gap at the LHBS. Why I will never know. These are the same folks that want to add 30% dextrose and use champagne yeast for the extra special high gravity brews.
Cheers.