Hey guys, I have recently made the move from BIAB to a fly-sparging set up. I have completed 2 brews on my new set up (5 gallon). On the first brew I know I messed up really bad; I had no water on top of the grain bed while I sparged and I let the water drain far too quickly. Second brew I made changes where I am constantly keeping 1-2 inches of water on top of the grain bed and I am sparging slower (at probably a 30-45 minute pace). Mash ph is 5.15 and my sparge water ph is 5.3. I vorlaufed 2 quarts and stopped sparging when my runnings dropped to 1.012. Sparge water temperature was 165 F. On my first brew I had this really bad bitter/dry/grain/husky taste on the very back of my tongue/throat. Second brew I am not getting as much of those flavors but I am still getting them slightly. I never had these issues when I did BIAB and i am at a loss of what I am doing wrong. I get my grains milled at my LHBS.
I don't have an answer for you. Sounds like you are being mindful of the right things (pH, temp, gravity). However, why did you switch to fly sparging? Have you tried batch sparging? I've never "flown," myself, because batch sparging seems so much easier. You don't need to pay close attention to any of those variables. Not good easy enough for me, I regressed to BIAB.
Hmm. It mostly sounds right. But why take so long to get over to the boil kettle? No point with 5 gallons.I can only speculate that something is pulling through on the back with the longer sparge time, or you could be due for a deep cleaning. Personally. I just batch sparge now. Goes a lot faster for the same results.
Any other changed variables? Are recipes those that you had previously brewed with BIAB? pH meter calibrated? Your process seems fine.
I don't think you vorlaufed enough and that's why you taste junk. Since i batch sparge now i usually run off about 2 gals depending on how the wort looks. You have to keep going until it clears up. Did you make a light or dark beer.
Get a refractometer and monitor your runnings gravities. If you are pulling super low gravity, shitty wort through at the end of your lauter, it can contribute to those off-flavors. Better off cutting off the lauter and liquoring-up the wort.
+1 @JohnnyChicago I stop sparging when the wort reaches 1.018 with no problems. Some go lower or higher so experiment
Yeah, it’s one of those hugely variable things. Lauter geometry, channeling, temp, PH, and recipe all affect it. What works for one system won’t work for another...
It's an APA that I brewed back in May with very good results...pH meter was calibrated using 4.0, 6.86, and 9.0 water. The more I think about I think it may be due to vorlauf issues. I noticed that particles/grain were coming through even after I pulled the 2 quarts off and I am think that boiling those stray particles could be part of the issue. I am going to try and put a strainer bag on the end of my hose to see if I can grab everything that may come out of it into the kettle.
Well, as you have a pH meter, it is much better to measure the pH of your runnings towards the end of sparging rather than gravity. It is a rising pH that caused problems; gravity is a poor surrogate for pH. However, given your mash and sparge-water pH, I doubt this is a problem. It seems dubious to me that a few grains in the boil are causing a problem, but others may have more experience with this than I do.
I normally vorlauf about 4 quarts, then lauter through one of these. Sometimes I get a lot of grain, sometimes only a trace . . . but it's all easily caught and discarded. My suspicion is this is probably not the source of your problem but it's an easy step to add. My guess is the problem with your first brew was exposing the grain bed. I find 1 - 2 inches of water above the grain bed works so well I normally shoot for 3 - 4 inches. Not directly related to your off-flavor problem, but I recommend sparging with a higher temp sparge water. I mash-out to 168, then start my sparge water in the 185° range. It gradually cools and is about 170'ish when the mash tun is empty. And no, this 185° water doesn't cause astringency, the temp of the grain bed barely increases at typical sparge rates. The mash-out locks in your sacch profile and the higher temp water aids in getting the wort to boiling temp.
Or just recirculate your wort until it is completely clear. With most beers that only takes me a couple gallons, but with other beers I have to recirculate the entire liquid volume of the mash. Why are you recirculating your wort if not to ensure clear runoff?
