Batch or Fly Sparge

[Toot]

There are hundreds of threads on the net on this subject but out of curiosity....

Who batch sparges and who fly sparges and why?

Ive only ever batch sparged but with a new keg setup about to be debuted this weekend im thinking about new techniques.

[James P]

Put the tap on Tony.... you'll love yourself for it!

If you don't compact your grain bed at least some of the way you are not getting an efficient filter, or do you with the 3L litre drain?

[Tony]

The bed settles, but the top is always covered. You don't want it to compress but be compact. The fly sparge setups I have seen are with some sort of shower types attachment that continually `sprinkles' water over the bed while it is running off. I have kettle sitting on the gas as I pour the wort in, that way I can get the flame on asap and it is pretty much boiling, by the time the sparge is finished. Otherwise I would probably wait 20-30 minutes, just for the boil to start.

[jt]

Do you pour the 3 litres of sparge water in carefully - or just pour it in so it disturbs the grainbed again - and do you let it settle again or just run off ?

Sounds like you could be fly sparging but not with a continuous flow

[studio1]

Fly-Spargers - what sort of false bottom / screen are you using? I've just set up and have a braided hose. My concern is that this would promote channeling and not promote good extraction?

[vdog]

We use the old lid from a 40L pot (former brew kettle) which has had a couple of hundred little holes drilled through it and which fits nicely in the bottom of the hot water cylinder mashtun, with the curve at the bottom giving us a good little runoff space. We used to use braided hose in a 55L chillybin setup, but always batch sparged with that setup.

[MrC]

I use a PVC manifold like Palmer recommends. I followed the instructions on HTB (apart from being PVC) and built it to fit perfectly in my cooler mash tun.

[MrC]

Here's a picture of my manifold