Cooler as a HLT - Water too hot?

[christyle]

So in my couple AG batches, I have noticed I need roughly 190 deg water to get my sparge temp in the right range of 165 or so. This seems like a large difference, for one, as my strike water for mashing in is usually only about 10-15 degrees higher into a cold mash tun, and I can hit the 150 or so temps needed. Why would I need to get my sparge so much hotter for a pre-heated grain bed and cooler?

So this brings me to my real question....If I need to put 195 deg water into a cold cooler for sparging, how do people utilize a cooler as a HLT if their max temps are suggested to be 180 deg F here on HBT?

 

[Happywanderer]

Do you really need a HLT? Are you batch sparging or fly?

 

[Natdavis777]

I use a 10gal Igloo cooler for a HLT when I fly sparge and I use ~180F water in that with no issues. I heat all my water in my BK and transfer via pump. It was either buy another keggle for a HLT or use a cooler and I opted for a cooler for the obvious price difference. Its done me well so far

 

[BigEd]

So in my couple AG batches, I have noticed I need roughly 190 deg water to get my sparge temp in the right range of 165 or so. This seems like a large difference, for one, as my strike water for mashing in is usually only about 10-15 degrees higher into a cold mash tun, and I can hit the 150 or so temps needed. Why would I need to get my sparge so much hotter for a pre-heated grain bed and cooler?

So this brings me to my real question....If I need to put 195 deg water into a cold cooler for sparging, how do people utilize a cooler as a HLT if their max temps are suggested to be 180 deg F here on HBT?

The maximum service temp for continuous use of the materials in a cooler (polyethylene and/or polypropylene) is 180F. At that temp and beyond there will be some distortion/warping of the inner lining but the container is still functional.

 

[christyle]

I was going to fly sparge, but I've had no problems doing batch

Problem is, first runnings would be going into my kettle ideally, so I cant use it as my HLT for sparging.

 

[Natdavis777]

If you have a three vessel system, fly sparge and use the cooler as a HLT

 

[christyle]

I have 2 10gal coolers, one with a false bottom for use as a MLT and one I was planning on using as my HLT, plus a 7.5 gal pot for my boil kettle. What I'm wondering is if I have an issue with my process by needing 190+ degree water to hit sparge temps, because holding water that hot in the cooler will degrade it pretty quickly I would think, and most people never seem to have this issue.

 

[Happywanderer]

For batch sparging you really don't need a cooler for HLT. But since you've already go it... might as well use it.

I use a 5-gallon pot (the one I started extract brewing with) to heat my sparge water 20 minutes before mash is done.

Many threads around here about sparge water temps.

I batch sparge.

I heat my sparge water to 170, dump, stir for 5 minutes, and let it rest for 10 minutes. Then drain. This gets the grain to about 160. More than enough for me.

 

[christyle]

That was how I did my first batch.

I guess that's my issue then, sparge temps. I can hit about 160-165 with water that is 180 in my HLT, I just was reading in my recipes that I needed to sparge at closer to 175. What would be the problem with sparging lower than those recipes call for? I'm overshooting my SG numbers so far, so it seems my efficiency with a split sparge is working just fine, but am I missing something else by not getting the sparge hot enough?

 

[Happywanderer]

Lots of debate about sparge temps. I don't want to launch a new one so I'll refrain from giving my opinion.

In sum, there are those that sparge hot ~170 and those that sparge medium 150-160 ... and even those that sparge cold.

AND ... for the really adventurous, there are those that don't sparge.

 

[christyle]

I haven't bottled my 2 AG brews yet to see if there are any issues, so I'll just wait until they're done to see if I can sense any problems. Meanwhile, i'll just keep going with 180 into the cooler and sparge will be at whatever temp it gets to.

Thanks for the input