sparge water

[neilph]

Im not all grain or a partial mash brewer. But I do think treating my grains as such is helpful to my brew,so after I soak them I sparge them. While I was brewing an IPA yesterday,I realized I had some left over sparge water as I neared the end of may boil. I used it to replace what I had lost in evaporation. Is there a downside to this? My train of thought is adding enzymes is a good thing...right? Am I on the right train?!
Thank you in advance!

 

[mabrungard]

I assume what you're saying is that there is some wort left in your mash and you would pull that out to replace your evaporation losses.

Its not the greatest idea since the final runnings from your mash have a higher potential to leach tannins and silicates from the grain. Whether with the main runoff or following, its not a good idea. In addtion, that top off wort would not have recieved the boiling and denaturing that is a desirable contribution of the boil. You don't need those enzymes after mashing.

 

[Gator1]

Sounds like you are running hot water over your grain bag after soaking them and then reserving the run off. That might get you some extra sugar and flavor and certainly can't hurt. Just make sure the temp does not exceed 170 F. I wouldn't use it to top off though. I would make it part of the initial boil.

 

[neilph]

It did go into the boil, but I hadn't considered the tannin factor...