Sparge questions

Ok be patient with me I think I've got all the terminology down. But one thing I don't understand is why the sparge water is hotter than first mash. I thought that anything over 155 degrees was bad and release tannins and stuff.

 

When performing a sparge, you are rinsing the grains and putting a halt to conversion.

 

extended time over 170F begins releasing tannins and denatures enzymes. 170F is the norm for sparging, but it really doesn't need to be that high. the higher temperatures just make it easier to rinse the sugar off the grains since it lowers the viscosity more.

 

Soo is the sparge the same as the second running? I'm so confused. Everything I've read says to mash at 140-155 then heat up the sparge water to 180. then do you pour the sparge water onto the grain bed ?

 

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Sparge

 

depends on how you sparge i guess. i batch sparge so after i lauter i have 170 degree water and dump it in. stir it up real good let it sit for 20 minutes then lauter again.

if you fly sparge you want your little sprinkler to sprinkle water at 170 ish over the water at the pace the water is coming out of your tun.

but yeah the hotter water stops conversion and dissolves sugar better and keeps the grains from getting really dense.

 

You don't want the water the grain is sitting in to go over 170. When you add that 180 water to your 155-ish mash, it heats up to near 170 which is fine. The extra heat helps dissolve all the sugars.

 

That extra heat also makes the mash thinner and easier to get through the lautering tun. I helps avoid a stuck sparge.

 

Oooh ok I got it now. Thank you guys so much. So the 170Ish water doesn't harm the grain. But anything more would?