Sparge Ph

[Gout]

What should your sparge water be (pH) before it goes through the grain bed, eg in the HLT

my tap water is about 8.1pH so is this ok?

in the books they say to stop sparging at ph6 so does this acid come from the grain bed, and at pH 6 this means little is left and hence why the tannins etc will soon come through?

do you need to treat the pH of ones sparge water, if so , what

 

[chiller]

Hi Ben,

The important thing here is the pH of your grain bed and the final runoff. Not so important is the water pH.

At the end of the sparge aim to be no higher than 5.8 for the actual runoff.

With a batch sparge pH control isn't quite as important as with a continuos sparge.

To help with the sparge ph you can lower the sparge water to 5.8 with phosphoric.

pH and temperature are linked and both refer to the conditions in the grain bed. Up to about 72 -- 74c for the grain bed temperature and a ph no higher than 5.8.

If the temperature of the grainbed, not the water, is higher than 75c and the runoff ph is higher than 5.8 you run the risk of extracting grain husk tannins [suck a tea bag] into your wort.

Steve

 

[Gout]

great , thanks

i kept notes: (mind you while drinking some A grade home brew and 45min fillin up the gas bottle that ran out at the start of the boil DOH i knew it)

added to mash 9.5Lt at 78deg - 1.6g gypsum, 1.2 epsom salt, 0.3 chalk, pH was 7.6 at 21 deg water.
added 3g of sod met to mash grain - started mash at 66deg, pH at 10min: 5.5@25deg; 70min: [email protected]
sparge 20 Lt in HLT added 3.5 gypsum, 2.6 epsom, 0.7 chalk pH
First runnings 1058 G, 5.4@26deg final runings 1015 G 5.6pH.

looks like all was ok,

i will have to try my "old" method via no water salts to see if there is any difference (water is pH 8.1 from the tap - melb = solf and low in salts/harness)