2nd all-grain I've made and I have some questions...
I tried a two-step fly sparge today.... I didn't like it (the one-step was nicer on my first all-grain, but my original gravity was WAY off {sparged far to fast and w/ 168° water that didn't heat up the grain bed enough}).
The two-step mash got the grains up to 168°, but the sparging water, ran out of volume to fast (IMO), due to the smaller amount of water in the HLT. So, assuming a 152° mash, in a double-walled 10 gallon Rubbermaid (round) cooler (MLT has a false bottom, not a braided filter), what temp should I heat the sparge water up to, to make a 1 step sparge, if I want to sparge at 168°? The HLT is the same cooler as the MLT (minus the false bottom) and I don't/won't pre-heat. [Both coolers have brass ball-vales, to regulate flow manually]
Also, if I want my sparge arm to spin, I have to turn up the flow and I sparge way to fast. How are people on the YouTube vids, fly sparging so fast and still getting an hours worth of sparge? If I turned mine up that fast I'd be done sparging in 15min, tops. Sitting there making sure the tiny drips spin manually is.. boring and taxing.
Another problem I have, is getting the wort to exit the MLT at 168°, the best I have achieved is 158°.
I am sparging with 168° water, the grains were heated to 168° and yet, it pours out of the MLT 10° cooler?
I have to suspect the rotating sparge arm and the 3' of (thick walled) hose. What else can I do? [~side note I am using a cheap LHBS thermometer that takes a while to heat up and I am not sure where to place the tiny trickle of wort to make it heat up the mercury in the thermometer... it will be replaced]
All of my problems aside, I hit 82.6% efficiency with a (corrected) pre-boil gravity of 1.052 (expecting 1.049 gravity with a 76.4% efficiency).:rockin:
Still, how do I fix my annoying problems?
I tried a two-step fly sparge today.... I didn't like it (the one-step was nicer on my first all-grain, but my original gravity was WAY off {sparged far to fast and w/ 168° water that didn't heat up the grain bed enough}).
The two-step mash got the grains up to 168°, but the sparging water, ran out of volume to fast (IMO), due to the smaller amount of water in the HLT. So, assuming a 152° mash, in a double-walled 10 gallon Rubbermaid (round) cooler (MLT has a false bottom, not a braided filter), what temp should I heat the sparge water up to, to make a 1 step sparge, if I want to sparge at 168°? The HLT is the same cooler as the MLT (minus the false bottom) and I don't/won't pre-heat. [Both coolers have brass ball-vales, to regulate flow manually]
Also, if I want my sparge arm to spin, I have to turn up the flow and I sparge way to fast. How are people on the YouTube vids, fly sparging so fast and still getting an hours worth of sparge? If I turned mine up that fast I'd be done sparging in 15min, tops. Sitting there making sure the tiny drips spin manually is.. boring and taxing.
Another problem I have, is getting the wort to exit the MLT at 168°, the best I have achieved is 158°.
I am sparging with 168° water, the grains were heated to 168° and yet, it pours out of the MLT 10° cooler?
I have to suspect the rotating sparge arm and the 3' of (thick walled) hose. What else can I do? [~side note I am using a cheap LHBS thermometer that takes a while to heat up and I am not sure where to place the tiny trickle of wort to make it heat up the mercury in the thermometer... it will be replaced]
All of my problems aside, I hit 82.6% efficiency with a (corrected) pre-boil gravity of 1.052 (expecting 1.049 gravity with a 76.4% efficiency).:rockin:
Still, how do I fix my annoying problems?