Second Sparge With Wort

[Terek]

I was thinking about taking a few gal. Of my wort before boiling, and just running it threw my tun just like you would do in sparge. Stir it and everything. My theory is that you would get that last little bit of sugar without having more water volume to boil off. What's everyone think? Will doing this accomplish nothing? Or hurt my eff.? My goal is to have another step that can increase eff. A little more. I'm sitting at an average mash eff. Of %73-%75 and would like to do steps to keep it a constant %75 or better

 

[brick]

I don't think it would work. The last runnings are low in sugar concentration, and if you run high gravity wort back through the grain bed it's more likely that sugar will be re-absorbed by the depleted grains. 73-75% is respectable, but you should stick with the normal advice if you want better: crush finer, stir harder, try a mashout, etc.

 

[sumbrewindude]

Crush size will have the greatest effect on efficiency.

That said, I do pull off a certain amount of the wort to boil for the mashout temp (there are plenty of calculators out there for amounts to boil for a step mash). It's usually only a few quarts, boils fast and I'm not adding more water to the mash - but I also mash in at 1.5qt/lb.