Fly sparging or Batch sparging?

was wondering if this was Denny C trolling the BA forum
I started all-grain brewing doing fly sparging, went over to mainly batch sparging for a few years and now back to fly sparging. Both ways work well...I would say batch sparging is a little more fool-safe which is a huge bonus since I could pretty much hit my numbers every time I brewed, but once you hone in on fly sparging I have think it is a SLIGHTLY superior method for a few reasons one being that I'm disturbing the grain bed less. I agree with some others that I never found that batch sparging saved me anytime though.

 

I fly sparge.

 

I started a fly, it got stuck and I got angry, scooped everything out into a bag over my kettle and batch sparged the rest. hit my OG perfectly and it was much easier. but i like to complicate things (why I'm rebuilding my mash tun)
i also get impatient fly sparging.

 

I fly sparge. I've tried batch sparging but didn't find it was much faster. I've had pretty consistent results with fly sparging and once I tuned in my skills, I could pretty much set it and forget it. Not really concerned with speeding up the brew day as it I find it enjoyable. Also, don't most breweries do a fly sparge? So, if your concerned with making a qualily beer wouldn't you follow the professionals? Not talking about budweiser, miller, coors. Although, they do produce a highly consistent product.

 

Most commercial breweries do fly sparge, but it has nothing to do with quality. It's a matter of cost (higher efficiency), and in some cases a matter of equipment. Batch sparging can be a bitch of you have to manually stir a 15 bbl lauter tun to unstick a stuck batch lauter.

 

I fly sparge. I fully recognize that it is possible to produce high quality beer via batch sparging or fly sparging.

The feature that I appreciate about fly sparging is that it maintains a firm grain bed to create a ‘filter’ for the sparging process. I have noted that a few other posters have made comments along these lines:

@IPeteA91 observed: “it produced a less turbid wort than my previous batch setup”

@telejunkie mentioned: “I have think it is a SLIGHTLY superior method for a few reasons one being that I'm disturbing the grain bed less.”

I will freely admit that I have never conducted a batch sparge so I have no personal experience in comparing the ‘filtering’ aspect of batch vs. fly sparging but apparently telejunkie has conducted sparging via both methods so I think his statement has substantial weight.

Does the benefit of not disturbing the grain bed make fly sparging a preferred method over batch sparging? The answer is “yes’ for me.

Cheers

 

I was simplifying, but basically what @VikeMan said

 

I thought the same thing especially with being a brand new BA member. Says he is from Washington, and I know Denny, he is not in Washington, though this could be part of the ruse to throw us off his scent.

I batch sparge, get great efficiency, and make great beer. I see no reason to mess with my system, add more equipment, take more time (I realize that others have said that there isn't a difference in time, takes me maybe 30 minutes to do a single batch sparge for 10 gallon batches).

 

There are breweries that do batch sparge? I just assumed all did fly.

 

Same here, since day 1 all ive done is fly sparge

 

I can tell you for sure that there are. But I suspect it's very rare.

 

I know of a few nano-breweries that do batch sparging. At my brewery, I batch sparge our 1.5 bbl batches. 15 bbl batches though, I don't know how we would even be able to batch sparge if we wanted to.

 

I guess I wasn't thinking on a nano level. Agreed, doesnt seem like it would be possible on the larger batches.

 

I don't batch sparge, but SARA does and I know a couple people who think their beers are pretty good. Here is a video where he talks about it (ignore the sponsor at the beginning):

 

I would have a very hard time believing that, all other things being equal, a beer that was fly sparged would be better than one that was batch sparged. I don't doubt that there are benefits both in efficiency and in filtering, but will either of these benefits translate to a better end product than I would get from batch sparging, all other things being equal? I'm skeptical that the answer to that question is yes. Hell, some people don't sparge at all. I don't think the beer is worse in that case either.

I batch sparge in about 10 minutes. I do not want to lengthen my brewday or complicate it any more by coming up with a fly sparging mechanism. I'm comfortable with this, as I'm sure those who fly sparge are comfortable with their methods. To each his own.

 

Possible plus to fly sparge, but with a good vorlauf, and a good boil and hot break, and cold break, I get wort clear enough to read a paper through, and thats with a good 10 ounces of hops in the boil and hopstand.

 

Denny Conn. He's pretty much the advocate for homebrew batch sparging. He's a cool guy with plenty of info. Old school.

 

I don't see the advantage of not disturbing the grain bed...I batch sparge and after stirring in my sparge water I vourlauf until the grain bed settles and the wort runs clear, at which point I have just as good a filter bet as someone who fly sparges.