theowlman16
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Many recipes I am reading do not include sparge temp. Is it always 170? I am batch sparking a hefe. Mash is 153.
Sparge temp
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You want the sparge water hot so that sugars are more readily dissolved. However, you don't want it so hot that astringent tannins are leached into your wort. Above 170 F and tannins are released, so that's why 170 is picked for sparging. So yes, generally all sparges are at 170 F.
Sorry to say it but this is only partially true. It's been found that you get nearly the same results sparging with room temperature water as with hot water. Also, extracting the tannins is controlled by the pH primarily so you could sparge with boiling water as long as you don't sparge with so much water that you drive the pH high. That normally would only happen with fly sparging so if you batch sparge you can ignore the pH.
Sugars are in suspension; all sparging does is allow them to drain.
You can sparge (as RM-NM says) with room temp water. I heat mine to 170 not because it ups the efficiency, but because the second runnings come out hot--and that reduces the time to bring the wort to boil.
You can sparge (as RM-NM says) with room temp water. I heat mine to 170 not because it ups the efficiency, but because the second runnings come out hot--and that reduces the time to bring the wort to boil.
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theowlman16
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So why not mash at room temp?
??
Mashing requires a certain temperature regime for the enzymes to work properly, generally from about 148-158 degrees, with most people aiming for 150-155.
You won't get conversion at room temp.
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theowlman16
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I was always under the impression that there was a chemical reaction occurring during sparge. You guys are basically saying it's just a rinse.
The enzymatic activity happens during mash when the water at an optimum temperature causes the Alpha and Beta Amylazses to convert the starches into sugars. When they are done, they are done. All of the sugars you are going to get are in there.
The sparge simply rinses the residual sugars from the grain. Stirring helps. Higher sparge temp can help flow in a sticky or thick mash, but generally doesn't do much else. I've sparged with 150F water no problem.
However, a high pH sparge may strip tannins from the grain husks if the temperature is too high. The generally accepted upper limit is about 168F. IIRC if you have the pH low enough it's not a real concern. I think that pH number is 6 or less.
I just use 160ish as a sparge temp and call it good.
The sparge simply rinses the residual sugars from the grain. Stirring helps. Higher sparge temp can help flow in a sticky or thick mash, but generally doesn't do much else. I've sparged with 150F water no problem.
However, a high pH sparge may strip tannins from the grain husks if the temperature is too high. The generally accepted upper limit is about 168F. IIRC if you have the pH low enough it's not a real concern. I think that pH number is 6 or less.
I just use 160ish as a sparge temp and call it good.
Yep, sparging is "rinsing" the already converted sugars out of the mash the best you can.
For batch sparging, you can sparge with ice water if you want. It's the agitation, the stirring, that "knocks" the sugars loose. Think of it as a washing machine rinse. The water comes in to the already washed clothes, after it's spun to remove as much water as possible, just like with a draining of the mash. Then, water comes in and it's agitated (stirred) well, then drained again.
For fly sparging, since it's a lengthier process, often hot water is used to bring the grainbed to 168 degrees. That "mash out" doesn't make the sparge more efficient- it denatures the enzymes so that the branching of the long-chained sugars doesn't continue during the sparging (the 'rinsing') part.
So, yes, sparging is just rinsing the converted sugars out of the mash when you think about it.
SHbrewing
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I've sparged @ room temp, with same results as 150
Sure, lots of people do. Braukaiser (Kai Troester) even had an experiment on his blog where he sparged with cold tap water. No issues at all.
You can't mash at room temperature, though. All you'd do is get the grain wet.
Yes. Yooper--who's a woman, btw--has given a very apt analogy w/ the rinsing of clothing.
There seems to be some belief out there somewhere that we need to dissolve the sugars into the sparge water. Well, that sugar is already in solution, and that solution is stuck to the spent grain through adhesion. Not really any different than the water sticking to you as you step out of the shower dripping wet.
What we're doing at sparge is diluting that sugar water and putting it back into a solution where most of it can be drained out. There still is some sugar remaining in the grist cake after sparge, but it's relatively minimal.
SHbrewing
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Explain, I brew indoors.
It's the temp of the mash itself to which we're referring, not the ambient temperature of the surrounding environment.
Can't tell if this was a troll or not, but in case it wasn't.....
Not sure what you're asking?
If you want to sparge with cold/cool/warm/hot water, it's all good.
Just make sure your water is chlorine-free, of course. I use RO water for sparging.
SHbrewing
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But I cant sparge with room temp water?
You can't mash at room temperature, though. All you'd do is get the grain wet.
Just looking for some advise, sorry if im confusing.
flars
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Water above a pH of 6 may extract tannins from the grain husks. I have been adjusting the pH of my sparge water to 5.6. This is for BIAB partial mash brewing. Temperature of the sparge water is about 165°F.
Is the pH adjustment necessary for the short amount of sparge time.
Is the pH adjustment necessary for the short amount of sparge time.
Sure, you can. Hot, cold, cool, warm, room temperature- you can sparge with any temperature water. You don't want it boiling, maybe, because you could possibly have some issues with tannin extraction, but that's the only limitation I can think of temperature-wise.
It may or may not be- if you're batch sparging sometimes the mash pH doesn't rise as it does with fly sparging. But, without a pH meter to check, it's good practice to sparge with RO or other low-alkalinity water. It's not the water pH that you have to worry about- tannin extraction may occur if the grainbed pH gets above 6. Using a low alkalinity water means that won't happen, even with batch sparging. It may not be necessary in all cases, but it won't hurt.
IMO one of the biggest benefits of batch sparging is speed. Drain the MLT, dump sparge water from a bucket, quick stir and drain again. I stopped heating the sparge water once I found no benefit was coming from heating the sparge water.
wapitiscat
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Thanks a lot Yoop. Now I'm thinking of ways to use my washing machine as a mash tun.
Todd
wapitiscat
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Agreed. The enzymes have a pretty wide range of activity around the optimum temps we target for mashes. Here's an article that includes a graph.
So one reason to sparge with 170 degree water would be to stop enzymatic activity. I suppose you could argue the other way and cool the mash to suspend activity but then you're missing out on the better rinse (in my opinion) as well as cooling your runnings that you're going to be trying to boil in a little while. Finally, I think this is one reason some folks start heating their first runnings once they hit the kettle (in addition to the benefit of getting a jump on the boil). It probably doesn't move the needle much as far as conversion but we're an obsessive bunch sometimes.
Todd
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theowlman16
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A benefit would be already hot boil kettle.
Oh yeah, I forgot about pH. Thanks for mentioning that.
I don't have the data, but I'd imagine that efficiency would be better with hotter water, as not all of the sugars are in solution. Some is stuck in the crushed grain. I would guess if you sparged with 35 F water compared to 170 F water, you'd have a significant difference. I do wonder how big the difference would be between room temp and say 150-170 water though.
Apparently none in regard to efficiency. http://braukaiser.com/blog/blog/2009/05/12/cold-water-sparging/
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