- stove-top and small pot is no longer good enough - we need gas and possibly even a slightly bigger boiling vessel as you end up with much more volume than you do when boiling simple partial batches. You need to end up with more wort in the kettle than you plan to ferment (although there might be a workaround to this ***)
- Vorlauf is something that takes time, patience and multiple repetitions - without doing proper research we only did the steps of draining and pouring back over the top once, ending up with quite a lot of fine grain bits in our fermenter. I guess the excitement took over a bit and all logic went out the window...
- Batch sparging is the easiest and best way to go - add the sparge water in two or more batches (half-half etc.) repeating the vorlauf steps each time after you recirculate the water and let it rest for a couple of minutes - this video gives a basic outline of the process (along with most of the other steps mentioned here)
Nevertheless, I feel pretty confident that we will be more prepared with our next batch which is going to be a Christmas Ale in preparation for the festive season a mere three months away...I know, time flies when you have a tun (I need to stop these awful jokes)!