stir sparge or not stir sparge

[Waterlogged]

We are doing our first brew with a mash tun this morning.  Beutiful morning isnt it?  When we put the sparge water in we stirred the mash, gave it a 10 min rest, lUTERED AND NOW DRAINING INTO BOIL KETTLE.  THE QUESTION IS, SHOUD WE HAVE stirred the mash?

[Chris Craig]

Yes, you should stir, but then you need to vorlauf before draining. Your sparge should raise the temperature of the grain bed to about 170F.

[JohnQ]

Many Commercial Mash Tuns stir throughout the mash, though I've not found it necessary at our weights, I stir at mash in, sometimes a few times during the mash, but not for the last 10 mins or so at all. I'm recirculating throughout though as well. Last batch came out crystal clear into the BK.

JQ

[Chris Craig]

He's batch sparring though, and he's talking about stirring after adding the sparge water.

Different story when you fly sparge.

[Waterlogged]

We didnt stir through the initial 60 minute mash but did when we sparged.  The recipe (post laster) called for a cool 66 degree 60 minute mash and 76 degree 10 minute sparge.  We did lauder both and the results were dramatic compared to the trub you get with BIAB.  We were finally able to get 60 l in the fermentors we were aiming for.  We had a lot of SG 1.04 sparge water left and have discussed purchasing a 25 - 30 gallon boil kettle.  Anyway I am not wasting the leftovers and have 10 X 500 ml mason jars in a boiling water bath.  Will use for starter.  We were also able to nail the OG of 1.070 for the IIPA recipe.  It called for 1.073 but the minimum range for the style is 1.07 so I call bulls eye. 

[Chris Craig]

Awesome!

[fakr]

Like John, i recirculate during the entire mash (herms in hlt).  I go back and forth between fly and batch depending on how much time i have.  When i batch, i drain the mash tun, fill it back up, and recirculate through the herms again until its clear, then drain and repeat.  Chris mentioned recirculating between each sparge and it works well.  Crystal wort into the kettle each time.

I've been leaning more towards fly sparging lately...takes longer but i hit over 88% efficiency every time and it gives me time to clean up.