Sparging

[crow]

The method of mashing I use doesn't call for sparging but I see this process used a lot, seems mainly by ppl reproducing a scotch style whisky , not sure about Irish styled. Can anyone point out what the benefit is in this process in a whiskey mash I would have thought sparging before you ferment would rob from the flavor a fair bit. I don't use peated malt btw

[wedwards]

I only sparge to wash the residual malt from the grain. Only use about 3 - 5 litres of water with the braumeister, however with an old fashioned mash run you would want to use more and monitor gravity until you get gown to 1.010 then stop. I dunno why I do it that way specifically - just how I have always done it for a 23 litre batch which gives around 1.040-50 after boil depending on malt and volume used.

[crow]

hmm ok :think: I ferment with the grain and malt, at the end of the ferment it sinks to the bottom with the sediment just wondering if ppl thought there was a better way than this and if so why

[kelbygreen]

I have not distilled but I do AG, Spargeing is washing the grains of the sugar thats trapped in them. So think of it as washing the sugar out of the grains.

It is usually done at a higher temp like 78deg so it thins the sugar out but wont extract tannins. Now its not needed but it will extract more out of the grain and some say it will stop conversion but in beer the highly modified grains used I dont think its needed but if using unmodified grain I guess it wont hurt same as a mash in at 50deg.

[crow]

Ok I should clarify this a bit (my fault) I mean do ppl think that it is better to sparge rather than ferment with the grain, that is to use the sparged wash rather than putting the whole grains and all mash in the wash

[wedwards]

I reckon you would get more/additional flavours by fermenting with the grains when making a whiskey, even just from the fact that the liquid is in contact with the grains for much longer. Not sparging sounds like much less work depending on your setup.

Best thing to do would be a sparged and a non-sparged batch then compare the two and see if you notice any major difference in taste. I would be really interested to know the answer to that.