sparge water too hot

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

McMalty

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2011
Messages
640
Reaction score
18
Location
Lisbon
heated my sparge water to 200F, 20 degrees higher than i wanted. Batched sparged for 15 mins, is this going to have a negative affect on my brew. Ik, i should pay closer attention, i'm a dumb@$$, yada yada...
 
I've probably gotten my sparge water up to 190 or 195 before, and being lazy never waited for it to cool back down. I've never noticed any effects of having this hotter sparge water. Never had any issues with tanins, low gravity, or any other problems that I could perceive. While having your mash water way too high would create several problems, the sparge water may halt any further conversion you have going on (which should be very minimal after a good mash anyway), so really you shouldn't have any serious negative impact on your beer.
 
I've probably gotten my sparge water up to 190 or 195 before, and being lazy never waited for it to cool back down. I've never noticed any effects of having this hotter sparge water. Never had any issues with tanins, low gravity, or any other problems that I could perceive. While having your mash water way too high would create several problems, the sparge water may halt any further conversion you have going on (which should be very minimal after a good mash anyway), so really you shouldn't have any serious negative impact on your beer.

yeah, mash temp wasn't too much of a prob, approx 146F, so i got a lot fermentable sugar out of that. I was just worried about tannins or phenols. I've heard differing opinions, some saying that too hot will produces those negative by products, and others saying that the hotter the better, to stop conversion in it's tracks.... I would just hate to think an otherwise great batch could be ruined by a simple 5 minutes of overheating.
 
It takes mash temperatures over 170 and pH over 6 to extract tannins. Most mashes should be 5.2 to 5.5 pH so you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
 
It takes mash temperatures over 170 and pH over 6 to extract tannins. Most mashes should be 5.2 to 5.5 pH so you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

how do i calculate the pH of the mash?
 
You don't calculate pH, just check your LHBS or online for pH testing strips. They're pretty cheap to get
 
I usually do a double batch sparge. My brewing software (BTP) usually calls for the first sparge to be at 190F and the second at 170F. Never had any problems.
 
Back
Top