Cold Sparge Water

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jtp137

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I have a one pump herms system on a single tier when I sparge I use the pump to drain the mash tun into the kettle I run my sparge water from the faucet through the herms coil and into the mash tun. The sparge water picks up some heat from the coil but is far less than 170 degrees. I have no problem with efficiency around 86%. Are there any ill effects of fly sparging with cold water other than low efficiency?
 
No, and even low efficiency isn't going to be a concern. There have been some studies showing that there isn't a loss of efficiency at all between a cold water vs. warmer water sparge.

The only thing I'd consider is that if fly sparging I'd want to do a mashout. If batch sparging in one round, which is very quick, I wouldn't even worry about that.
 
The only thing I'd consider is that if fly sparging I'd want to do a mashout. If batch sparging in one round, which is very quick, I wouldn't even worry about that.[/QUOTE]

What happens if I do a mash out and raise the temperature to 170 degrees then i start the sparge with cold water and the temperature of the grain bed reduces?
 
jtp137 said:
What happens if I do a mash out and raise the temperature to 170 degrees then i start the sparge with cold water and the temperature of the grain bed reduces?
Click to expand...

If it's been long enough to denature the enzymes, then there shouldn't be any effect of the temperature dropping.
 
Yooper's right. The solution won't be anywhere near super saturated so heat isn't going to be an issue with solubolizing the sugar into the water. Your not going have any viscosity issues either.
 
Yooper said:
No, and even low efficiency isn't going to be a concern. There have been some studies showing that there isn't a loss of efficiency at all between a cold water vs. warmer water sparge.

The only thing I'd consider is that if fly sparging I'd want to do a mashout. If batch sparging in one round, which is very quick, I wouldn't even worry about that.
Click to expand...
I know this is an old post, but I just learned of the concept of cold water sparging. Is this essentially saying that you do not need a hot liquor tank and can sparge the grain bed with cold water? I am assuming a mashout is performed prior to this cold water sparging. Sorry, but I just started down the road of all grain brewing and thank you for your insight.
Also I did find the other thread by Kaiser on cold water sparging. Very helpful
 
Last edited:
Yes, if you are continuous (fly) sparging, you'd want to do a mash out. However, if you're batch sparging, since you're putting the runnings onto boil right away, I wouldn't bother with a mash out.


toxdoc49 said:
I know this is an old post, but I just learned of the concept of cold water sparging. Is this essentially saying that you do not need a hot liquor tank and can sparge the grain bed with cold water? I am assuming a mashout is performed prior to this cold water sparging. Sorry, but I just started down the road of all grain brewing and thank you for your insight.
Also I did find the other thread by Kaiser on cold water sparging. Very helpful
Click to expand...
 

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