Fly Sparge Question

[jstclair05]

I've been reading that fly sparking has the possibility of extracting tannins from the mash due to a rise in pH. Has anyone noticed this? If so, have you tried modifying your Sparge water to lower the pH (maybe with citric acid?) what were your results? I think I may try it this weekend and I'll let you know the results

Thanks

 

[Yooper]

I've been reading that fly sparking has the possibility of extracting tannins from the mash due to a rise in pH. Has anyone noticed this? If so, have you tried modifying your Sparge water to lower the pH (maybe with citric acid?) what were your results? I think I may try it this weekend and I'll let you know the results

Thanks

Yes, and yes.

I use phosphoric acid to reduce the alkalinity of my sparge water (or use 100% RO water for the sparge, if I have it) to avoid that rise in pH.

It's also important to not oversparge (which extracts tannins as well) so that's why it's important to stop sparging when your runnings get to 1.010.

Citric acid may have a flavor impact, depending on how much you use, as does lactic acid in larger amounts.

That's why I used phosphoric acid today, but I've found that I can use 1 ml of lactic acid per gallon in my water without any flavor impact.

 

[k_mcarthur]

Yes, and yes.

I use phosphoric acid to reduce the alkalinity of my sparge water (or use 100% RO water for the sparge, if I have it) to avoid that rise in pH.

It's also important to not oversparge (which extracts tannins as well) so that's why it's important to stop sparging when your runnings get to 1.010.

Citric acid may have a flavor impact, depending on how much you use, as does lactic acid in larger amounts.

That's why I used phosphoric acid today, but I've found that I can use 1 ml of lactic acid per gallon in my water without any flavor impact.

For those of us with a pH meter what is the target pH of your sparge water? Mine is usually at 6.

 

[Yooper]

For those of us with a pH meter what is the target pH of your sparge water? Mine is usually at 6.

5.9, using bru'nwater spreadsheet.

Unless I'm sparging with RO water, and then I don't check because the bicarbonate is so low in RO (or distilled) water that tannin extraction isn't a factor.

 

[jstclair05]

Awesome thanks for the help.