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Fly sparge volume too low

Locust15

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Just finished a recipe for a high gravity beer and it has me sparging with only 3.09 gallons, that seems way too low.  The grain bill is 23.25 lbs. Is that normal? Should I even bother sparging??
 
I rarely look at the sparge volumes. I make sure my initial water to grain ratio is where I want it but then I fill my HLT with more than enough water for sparging. (The excess I use for clean up later). Then for the sparge I use whatever it takes to get to my pre boil volume.
 
That's just a fact of life with high gravity brews. More grain = more strike water = less sparge water = lower efficiency.
I've increased boil time to 90 minutes for high gravity beers and, when practical, gone with a thicker mash. Both increased the amount of water available for sparging  and, in turn, reduced losses in efficiency. Other options include reiterated mashing and no sparge, including BIAB.
 
Yeah, that is normal.  I have a 11.6 ABV Imperial Stout with 25lbs grain where I use 10 gallons strike water and 2.5 gallons sparge for a 5.5 gallon batch size.  I use a 1.25 : 1 water to grain ratio and have about .4 gallons wort loss in the mash cooler.



 
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