Sparge water temp?

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.

Zero

Active Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2009
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
Location
Columbus, OH
What's a good temp for the sparge water to hit before a batch sparge? I'm doing a single in fusion mash in a rectangular cooler MLT. Are you not as concerned about a temp drop, since the grain is alread hot from the mash?
 
Yeah I used the calculator that you linked, but it only suggested the strike water temp for the mash, not the temp for the sparge.

Do you usually anticipate an absorption loss from the grains during the sparge as well, or are they considered to be completely saturated from the mash process? In other words, the calc says 4.5 gal of sparge water...should I expect to see about 4.5 gal out of the sparge and into the kettle, or should the same .13 gal/lb absorption rate still apply?

I'm shooting for a 6 gallon volume in the kettle, as I lose a gallon/hr on the boil.
 
The required sparge water temperature depends on your equipment and methods.
You want to get the grain bed up to 165 - 170F. If you're batch sparging, I would start somewhere in the 175 - 180 area, and measure the temp of the grains after adding the sparge water, mixing, and letting it stabilize. If it's a bit low, you know that you need to heat the water a bit more the next time, but it should be fairly close.
And yes, the grains will be fully saturated during the mash, so adding x gallons of sparge water will deliver approximately the same volume of wort (A tiny bit more actually as the wort will contain the sugars rinsed from the grain as well as the water).

-a.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top