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I am a batch sparger and I love it. To address your specific questions. You do not need to stir up the grain prior to vorlauf. Just start drawing liquid out the bottom until it seems to run pretty clear. (And clear means just the large chucks). After that run all the liquid out of the tun. I add more water and stir it up. The stirring is vital at this ...

Two most prevalent issues for poor efficiency when batch sparging are 1) grain crush and 2) void volume in the tun. 1) Take a real close look at your crush. Crush it twice if necessary. If you are getting your grain pre crushed through a mail order, I'd invest in a mill and start doing it at home. My LHBS has a mill that is fixed to a certain gap. ...

Yes there is a risk - with each successive sparge you increase the risk of extracting tannins, causing the beer to taste "puckering"/astringent (think sucking on a teabag.) Before doing extra sparges, should also be sure that the low extraction is because of your lautering efficiency and not because of mash efficiency, so do an iodine test for complete ...

Mash thickness has a small impact on your beer, but not really enough to stress about. I aim for a constant thickness, regardless of beer style. Some brewers give their stronger beers to have a thicker mash, while their low-gravity beers have a thinner mash. The logic behind that latter approach is that thinner mashes encourage a more fermentable beer. My ...

My previous brewing attempt was my first switch to all-grain brewing, so I was right in your shoes. It turned out great, and was a lot of fun. I made my cooler out of supplies from Home Depot using this video: How to make a Mash Tun from a cooler Then I watched this video: Easy All Grain Brewing - Batch Sparge Method Then I compiled these instructions for ...

@Hopwise addressed the issue of efficiency and mash thickness. But the amount of sparge water will affect your efficiency as well. The more water you sparge with, the more sugar you'll extract from the mash. The grist will absorb a constant amount of water (around 0.13 gallons per pound of grist). When you add your sparge water and stir, all the sugars are ...

I don't think grain absorption varies according to mineral content, so that's not the cause of the problem. For the top up runnings, I would have done that as a 2nd batch sparge - add the extra 1.5 gallons, stir vigorously and leave for 30 mins. Simply running the liquor over the grains won't pick up much sugars unless you let it trickle slowly out over a ...

With such a small mash compared to the final volume I'd shoot for enough sparging to just get your sugars out. In this case I'd shoot at a 4 gallon total. So at the end of the mash I'd add in 0.75 gallons of boiling water to raise the mash to mash out. (Not necessary, but it does help a little but with lowering viscosity IMO). Recirc a little to clear the ...

You say you want to get to as close as a full mash\sparge as possible, but scaled down so that you are prepared for a full mash. In practice, this means using an amount of water proportinal to contribution to the OG contributed by the mash. For example, if you were to get half of your OG from extract, and half from the mash, then you'd aim for 3.5 gallons of ...

Great answer from brewchez. The other thing to consider (after the 2 he mentioned) is your water. If the pH is way off it can affect conversion. But crush is always the first place to look. One other thing to consider is the source of the recipes. Maybe they're written for higher efficiency than your system gets. You should always adjust any recipe to ...