NSMikeD
Well-Known Member
No, sparging is defined as rinsing with fresh water. Recirculating wort is not sparging, and does nothing to increase lauter efficiency, whereas sparging dramatically increases lauter efficiency.
Lautering is defined as separating the wort from the grain. A sparge step(s) may, or may, not be a part of the lautering process. Lifting the malt pipe, or bag, is lautering, just as draining the wort from an MLT is lautering.
Brew on
I concede I took some liberties with nomenclature, yes you are right. For the purpose of the claim about dead space however. the full volume mash in BIAB combines the sparge and lautering water together. And considering that BIAB is regularly matching the efficiency of traditional all grain brewing, the end result of recirculating wort through a malt pipe (the bag) with the combined water is achieving the same result and separate process, and I fully disagree that the wort in the dead space never touches the wort for the reason I mentioned.
Note that I am not disagreeing with you point about not doing full volume mash and the total pot space of the 6.5. Just the point about dead space.