All Grain Brewing Part 5

Brewing Your First Batch Sparge Beer

Let's walk through an actual brew session. This is from a 8 gallon batch of altbier I brewed recently (pictures here). Remember that the method can be used with any brewing system or equipment. I'm going to describe how to do it the "Cheap 'n' Easy" way.

The equipment you'll need is: Your converted cooler mash tun a pot to heat water in (5 gal. minimum recommended) a 1-2 qt. heatproof pitcher (preferably unbreakable) your regular brewing equipment-thermometer, boil kettle, and whatever else you normally use

In the photo you can see my cooler, converted keg boiler, a 7 gal. aluminum pot for heating water, a thermometer, a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup, a 1/2 gal. plastic pitcher, and the pickup tube for my kettle.

The things that you need to know to figure your water volumes are:

Total grain weight - in this case, 19.3 lb. Strike water volume - in this case, 1.24 qt./lb or 6 gal. Absorption of water by grain - in my system, it's 10 lb. of grain absorbs 1 gal. of water. Some systems absorb 1 gal. for 8 lb. If you don't know your absorption volume, measure your first runoff volume the first few brews. By knowing how much water you put in and how much wort you got out, you can easily figure your absorption. Preboil volume - how much sweet you need to start with. For this batch, we want 10 gal.

OK, we're ready to brew!

1.) Mash in with 6 gal. of water for 1.24 qt./lb. I use the pitcher to pour water from the 7 gal. kettle (4th row 1st photo) until the kettle is light enough to lift and pour the rest of the water in. I predict that the grain will absorb 1.9 gal., so I should get just about 4 gal. out of the mash.

2.) Since I'd like to get 5 gal. out of this runoff, I infuse with 1 gal. of water at the end of the mash, before the first runoff. I add boiling water to get as close to the 168F mashout temperature as I can and stir it in.

3.) After 10 more minutes, I begin to recirculate the mash by draining into the pitcher (5th row 1st photo). I only open the valve partially at first, then as the runoff clears I open it up fully. With the hose braid, I usually only have to drain about a quart or so until it's clear. Keep draining and recirculating until the runnings are clear and free from pieces of grain.

4.) Once the runnings clear, direct the runoff to your kettle, and slowly pour the contents of the pitcher back over the top of your mash.

5.) Completely drain the mash tun as fast as your system will allow.

6.) As the first runoff progresses, start heating your batch sparge water. In this case, we're going to heat 5 gal. to about 185F to try to get to a grain bed temperature in the 165-168F range.

7.) When the first runoff is done, close the valve and once again use the pitcher to add your sparge water until the pot is light enough to lift. .Then pour the rest in. Stir the grain thoroughly , close the cooler, and let it rest for a few minutes.

8.) After the rest, open the cooler and thoroughly stir the grain once again...yep, you heard right! We want to get all the sugar into solution in the water.

9.) Go through the recirculation and draining process again, once more draining the cooler as fast as your system will allow.

10.) Continue the brewing process as you usually do

Congratulations...you've batch sparged! Like anything else in brewing, it may take a couple tries before you get everything figured out completely. But with batch sparging, you can brew all grain beers with a minimal investment in equipment, and a pride in the hands on fun of brewing.

It will be evolving and growing with many resources for the new and old brewer alike.