Vorlauf is the German word for recirculation. During the mash grains will work their way into your manifold cuts. After opening the port on your mash tun the grains that made their way in will wash out along with a lot of protein making for cloudy wort.
If you are batch sparging you will want to add any additional water you want to collect on your first sparge. (General rule: 10 gallon batch-add 4 gallons make up. 5 gallon batch-add 2 gallons) stir the additional water in and wait an additional 10 minutes for the grain bed to settle.
To vorlauf, I use two cheap plastic pitchers and a stainless steel strainer my mother in law donated. I open my ball valve half way and begin collecting my wort. When I took these photos I was solo brewing so I had a hard time taking photos of two-handed procedures. I usually get a tablespoon of husks and a quart of cloudy wort. I put the other empty pitcher under the drain tube as I slowly pour the cloudy quart into the strainer which is sitting on the grain bed so the splash of the wort won’t disturb the now packed bed. The picture is simulated-the grain bed is completely empty. If I time it right I can get back to the now almost full pitcher below. I switch the pitchers out and evaluate the clarity of the wort that is now draining. Usually 2 quarts is enough recirculation for me to get a clear runoff. I stick the drain tube in my trusty fermentor and begin the next step:
Batch Vs. Fly - Can't we all just get along?
Batch Sparging: Draining and filing the mash tun multiple times.
Fly Sparging:Applying sparge water at the same rate as your collecting the wort.
DISCLAIMER:I batch sparge. I have never fly sparged. I plan to some day just to see the difference. I think the method you use on your first all grain will become the method you will use all the time. It is more important to master one method than to learn both so your brew house can get regular reliable results.
Once the wort is draining without grain husks, you can begin to collect your wort. If your
fly sparging , you will begin to infuse your sparge water and adjust the output on your manifold
so that the mash level in the grain bed doesn’t change and collect all your wort in one
continuous sparge. If your batch sparging you open your drain balls on and let it rip. I like
to collect my wort in my fermentor bucket so I know how many gallons I recovered on the first
sparge. I then dump it in my kettle so that I can start the boil before the final wort is
collected. Add the second amount of sparge water that you need to your mash tun. The grain has
absorbed all the water it’s going to absorb during the mash, so the amount of water you will need
to add should be your desired preboil volume. Example: for 10 gallon pale ale I mash 20 pounds of
grain at 1.5 quarts per pound= 30 quarts (7.5 gallons) of sparge water. Your mash will absorb a
petty predictable amount of unrecoverable water at a ratio of 2 gallons for every ten pounds, so
my first mash will recover only 3.5 gallons. This is where the makeup water comes into play. Adding 4 additional gallons at the start of the vorlauf gets me to give or take 7 gallons of initial wort. (my math sucks right? Wrong. There are other factors involved in the loss like the dead space your manifold can’t suck up) I need at least 12 gallons of wort for the boil so I add more sparge water in the exact volume I need + 1 quart for errors. Take your mash paddle and stir the grainbed so to ensure all sugars left in the tun can be mixed into your sparge water. Close the lid and let the grainbed resettle for 15 minutes. Repeat vorlauf and drain. Still short on volume? If it’s significant do a third sparge, if it nominal, just add some make up water and remember to use a higher volume of sparge water the next time.
Once the desired volume of wort has been collected you will have a large quantity of spent grain to dispose. The easiest thing to do is to get your son to scoop the grain from your tun and put it right back in the bag you used to bring the wort home and throw the whole thing in the garbage. There are other alternatives:
Compost
At my house I have a lazy man’s compost pile. Behind my shed I put all the leaves and grass cuttings and turn the pile once a year at spring when I’m in need of the bottom layer that is truly compost. I throw the spent grains right in there with them. I have read that the sweet smells of the grain attract varmints to the compost pile, and that the smell of the grain rotting is unpleasant. I have never seen nor smelt either. I brew roughly once every two months so my contribution to the compost pile may not be enough to see a change. Let me know if you have problems so I’m not giving out bad advice. I have also read that some brewers add their grain directly to their gardens and flowerbeds. I tried this method and found that the decomposition was not very fast.
Animal (and human) feed
If you live in a rural area spent grains make wonderful filler feed. Most of the proteins and carbohydrates are depleted (if the brewer did his job right) but the spent grain is great fiber. My rural livestock is my dog Chase. With two young children sneaking food to him and a master who feeds him regularly, you would think the dog would turn his nose up at the wet grain. Wrong. I think if I let him he would eat all 20 pounds of grain. For fear of colon blow, I don’t let him. My little brewing buddy likes the taste too. I figure his diet is mostly processed food and cheese so he could use a little fiber as well. I tried them. Spent grain is warm slightly sweet with an oatmeal texture. It is actually pretty good for a fiber source, which led me to another alternative:
Baking
Spent grain is whole grain barley without the flour. You can use it with regular wheat flour to make your own artisan bread like Panera and the other trendy bread joints. If you want to know how I bake with it email me. I plan to put up recipes to some of the stuff I make with spent grain at a later time. Unless your making bread for Army unit, you will never use all the grain in the mash. 2 cups of grain to 4 cups flour makes a very hearty bread or soft pretzel.
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