First all grain brew

Hi all!

We’re ready to take the leap to all grain brewing, and we’re stoked about this!
We finished the mach tun, and might be ready to brew soon.
We want to try either a Yeungling Amber clone (haven’t seen a recipe yet), or a German Wheat beer.
I’ve gone through some recipes on brewers friend, and I’m having trouble understanding the recipes and procedures.

Could someone help me out?

When do you do a batch sparge?
A fly sparge?

Does it depend on the recipe?

That’s a choice you make, what system you want to use.  Any recipe can be adapted to be brewed by any method: batch sparge, fly sparge, no sparge or BIAB, or maybe something else I’m leaving out.  The choice is guided by the suitability to the equipment you have, and mostly simple personal preference or convenience.  So you need to decide how you want to mash and then separate the liquid from the grain, then you’ll adjust the amount of grain and water according to your expected efficiency.  If you haven’t yet, have a look at John Palmer’s book How to Brew, either in print or online.  It will give you a good guide to each method, and you can decide how you want to do things.

What kind of mash tun did you build? The fly versus batch decision may already be made.

We converted a picnic cooler into a mash tun.

^^^^
If it’s a simple, straight braid in a cooler, then batch sparge is for you!  Go to the main AHA site (click that medallion at the top left of your screen, you know) and from the menu pick how to brew > tutorials and there’s one on batch sparge brewing.

Okay!
I’ll read through that again. I’ll print it off so we both can get the procedure down.

I do a batch sparge 'll the time and a fly sparge never.

Which is taken from my website dennybrew.com

Credit where credit is due!  :slight_smile:

Thanks, but I didn’t intend for it to come off like that.  I was just adding it in case additional info is needed.

Since you took the cooler route you might want to avoid recipes that have step mashes where the mash temp is changed during the course of the mash. It can be done with a cooler but I would suggest avoiding them for now while you learn your system. No need to add any more complications than necessary at this point.

I agree with the batch sparge choice here too. Keep it simple and add equipment and procedures as you go along and as desired.

If the recipe mentions fly sparge you can simply substitute a batch sparge.

I don’t find step mashes that difficult in the cooler, but I do find them pretty much unnecessary.

I see that some recipes all for 1.25 qt/lb of grain, and some call for 1.5 qt./lb.
Is there a table or literature about the correct ratio to use when doing all grain?

Nope.  Doesn’t make a world of difference.  It mainly depends on personal preference and your equipment.  My equipment has plenty of  volume for the size batches I brew, so I can use more water.  I started at 1.25, then went to 1.35, then 1.5.  Now I often use 1.67-1.75.  I found that the higher ratio I use, the higher efficiency I get.  YMMV.  The one caveat is that the more water you use, the more you have to del with pH adjustment…but it’s not difficult or a big deal.

When I was getting started I believed I couldn’t brew all grain unless I built a manifold and a sprinkler for fly sparging. But I found out about batch sparge and went that route. Now I just dont even sparge at all. I still use a mash tun because I have one, but a bag is cheaper. I firmly believe that no sparge produces wort that is as good quality if not better than sparged. It makes for a quicker brew day. It’s as easy if not easier to figure out calculations (water amounts, salts, ph, gravity etc). The cost is just a little more grain. But that’s easily covered by less equipment and time… frankly it’s an unnecessary hobby and I believe cost is a poor argument.

Here is a quote from George Fix ( HOMEBREW Digest #977 Fri 25 September 1992 ) “I have found that to get a very high malt flavor the sparge must be omitted as well.  This is an expensive way to brew since the amount of grains needed must be increased by a factor ~4/3. Nevertheless, some of the world’s great ales and lagers have been brewed this way, and I have found it works in homebrewing as well for special beers. Clearly this is not the way to brew our standard beers.”

^^^^
I haven’t seen it for a while, don’t know what happened to it.  But there was a “premium” type international pale lager, Kirin Ichiban, that Kirin made by a no-sparge method.  It might not have been the most memorable of beers (it was produced under license in the US by AB, I think, and may have lost something in translation,) maybe not the kind of thing you would expect to  be made this way, but I found it interesting that a big brewer would decide it was worth the expense.

Probably used the second running to make Bud Light