For all the all-grain brewers more experienced than me, I have a question. How critical is the temp of the sparge water? As I understand it the sparge serves several functions. Rinsing out as much of the fermentables as possible, fixing the flavor profile by killing off the amylase enzyme among others. Most recipes I've seen call for a sparge temp around 168 F, as well as my BeerSmith derived recipes. Basically I'm asking what happens if your temp is over 168 F, what happens to the sweet wort (chemically speaking) ?
How critical is Sparge Temp
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It's grain temp, not sparge water temp that ultimately matters. If you're batch sparging hotter is often better to bring the whole grainbed to 167-168 (if I batch sparge I go with ~185F water and go by grainbed temp, not volume, usually in multiple sparge step's). It's when you're fly sparging and different parts of the grainbed are at different temps that it matters more. There I use 170F so that with minor losses along the way the grainbed stays below 170F.
Besides it's only one part. Your pH and how far you sparge complete the trifecta. As long as sparge runnings stay below 6 pH and above 1.012, you should be fine even if water goes a few degrees hot.
Besides it's only one part. Your pH and how far you sparge complete the trifecta. As long as sparge runnings stay below 6 pH and above 1.012, you should be fine even if water goes a few degrees hot.
I feel the warm temperature might help with getting the sugars out of the grain. But the temperature is not critical. There have been experiments, I believe there is little difference between hot water and cold water.
A mash out is what you are describing in the stopping conversion. It is supposed to be 170 degrees or more for the grain bed temperature. Sparge water of 168 will not raise the grain bed temperature to 170 degrees. It won't even be 168 degrees. It is a technique for fly sparging. It is not necessary with batch sparging.
I always get to near 168 degrees, but mostly because I "have always done it that way".
A mash out is what you are describing in the stopping conversion. It is supposed to be 170 degrees or more for the grain bed temperature. Sparge water of 168 will not raise the grain bed temperature to 170 degrees. It won't even be 168 degrees. It is a technique for fly sparging. It is not necessary with batch sparging.
I always get to near 168 degrees, but mostly because I "have always done it that way".
You start hitting mashout temps in the lower 160s. Once your grain gets above 170 the tannin risk kicks in. Not the only factor and hitting 171 is no reason to panic and dump the batch, but unless you're decocting or making Lambic via turbid mash, deliberately heating grain above 170 isn't a good plan.
chickypad
lupulin shift victim
You don't say whether you are batch or fly sparging. I usually don't bother mashing out when batch sparging since it's fast and going to the kettle with heat right away. As far as rinsing the sugars temp doesn't matter, you can sparge with cold water if you want (though it will then take a while to get to boiling). I have a habit of forgetting to heat sparge water in time so I'm often batch sparging in the 100-140 range.
OK wow ! This is exactly what I was looking for!!! I almost always fly sparge and my water temps are 180F or maybe a little above that. If you would be willing, I would be terribly interested on the temp/pH/tannin relationship explanation. So basically I'm asking you to help me move to "the next level" of brewing chemistry!
God damn I love this forum! So much knowledge concentrated in one place.
I fly sparge and this is probably not the norm but I raise the grain bed to 168ish then heat the htl up to the same I call that my mash out then turn the element off and it slowly cools over the hour sparge some times to 150ish but I don't care I get over 80 sometimes close to 90 efficiency so I'm doing something right lol
canehdianman
Well-Known Member
I think brulosophy.com did an exbeeriment on this... Doesn't matter at all.
Extracting tannins/silicates/excessive polyphenols from the grain husk. Most common impact is astringency, but can do other stuff too. You don't want to do it.
Big causes are too high pH (above 6), too hot (above 170F), or overextraction (sugar is almost gone so you start pulling other stuff, namely continuing to sparge after runnings reach ~3°P, or 1.012).
Not oversparging and keeping pH in check are the important ones. Temp is a distant third. Otherwise decoction would be very problematic. It works because when grains are boiled, the pH is lower and the boiled mash hasn't been sparged.
That said I wouldn't go sparging hotter than necessary. I just wouldn't sweat it if you run a couple degrees hot inadvertently.
Thank you Sir ! ! ! ! I really appreciate your taking the time. When I fly sparge, I sparge till I have 7 gallons in my boil kettle. Simply because I loose 1.5 gallons during the boil. I don't sparge till I have a 1.010 gravity or a certain pH. I'm just looking to make it into the fermentor with 5.5 gallons. So far I have been producing AMAZING beers, if my friends can be believed. So taking your wonderful information into account, as it relates to my process, I'm going to continue with exactly what I have been doing. You have been a great help cause the whole temp issue has been bugging me lately.
pH will rise during sparging unless either alkalinity is negligible such that sparge water will not buffer pH (basically RO or distilled), or if the sparge water is acidified to near mash pH. However If your water is reasonable, and your mash pH in line, as long as you don't oversparge you're probably fine.
As far as oversparging, it's difficult to do unless you're brewing session beers. Then it's easy to do.
As far as oversparging, it's difficult to do unless you're brewing session beers. Then it's easy to do.
applescrap
Be the ball!
Its pretty accepted knowledge that sparge temp does not matter unless conversion was incomplete. The main reason to heat sparge water is to use the time wisely to help speed up boil time.
