I don't know about you guys, but I'm really starting to look for brew day efficiencies so I can reduce the total brew day. At the moment, I'm looking at the mashsparge steps. Here's what I'm going to try on my next brew day, and hopefully reduce this step by at least 30 minutes.
1. Mash in for 30 minutes at ex. 154F
2. over the next 30 minutes, sparge 1/2 of total sparge water @ 154F, and transfer 1/2 mash wort into kettle. Regulate kettle temp at approx 154F.
At this point, a 60 minute mash has been achieved at desired mash temp, as well as half the sparging, saving 30 minutes.
3. turn kettle up to 170F, turn sparge tun up to 190F.
4. Add 2L of sparge water (190F) to mash tun.
5. Draw 2L of mash wort (154F) into a container and recirculate on top of the mash.
6. Transfer 2L of wart into kettle.
Repeat steps 4, 5 and 6 until the overall grain bed temp reaches 170F. Cool remaining sparge water to 170 and continue repeating 4, 5, and 6 until remaining sparge water is spent. Turn kettle up to begin the boil while the remaining mash wort is transferred into the kettle.
So, I'm anticipating that my mashsparge time will be reduced by at least 30 minutes, and my mash efficiency should increase due to recirculating the cleaner wort during the last half of the sparge.
This might sound a bit cumbersome and complicated, but I'd honestly rather be constantly doing something for 4 hours than sitting around for 5 hours on brew day.
let me know what you guys think. I'm going with the assumption that the wort transferred to the kettle at the 30 minute mark will continue to have enzyme activity in the kettle, thus continuing starch conversion, and effectively mashing for 60 minutes. I will confirm this on my own on another brew day when I get some iodine reagent to test starch conversion.
I'm also trying to achieve a more static or constant mash in target temp by heating the first 1/2 of the sparge water to my target mash temp, and keeping my kettle at the target mash temp as well. I know, this is probably easier said than done, unless you're JohnQ with an electric setup.
