Does acidifying sparge water help with yield?

[asdtexas]

My water is 9.0 pH and alkalinity is high (live in Dallas). I batch sparge and am thinking about tweaking my process to see if I can increase my yield and get a better wort

A couple of ideas:

1 Add the same salts that are added to the mash to acidify the sparge water?
2 Or, add some amount of lactic acid to the sparge water

Palmer says this is overkill unless water is very alkaline and it is in dallas. I have had no astringency in my beers. Rather, I want to tweak my process and this seems like it may increase my yield and allow me to obtain a better wort.

Thoughts?

 

[Nateo]

I would acidify the sparge, partly to avoid tannins, but also to keep the wort pH optimal. Here is a link with effects of low wort/mash pH.
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/How_pH_affects_brewing

If you add a lot of alkaline water, it will overcome the mash's buffer capacity, and should increase the wort pH.

 

[mabrungard]

Adding salts to the water IS NOT effective in sparge water. We acidify sparge water to reduce alkalinity which is the prime problem in tannin extraction. Adding salts does not decrease the alkalinity of the sparge water.

You should download Bru'n Water to learn more about how to deal with and adjust your brewing water and sparge water. I don't think that acidifying sparge water will really improve efficiency. Its mostly a beer quality improvement.