Sparge water

[lord.president]

Hi all. I'm quite lucky (l think) that my tap water alkalinity is between 26 and 38. I use the calculator on here to add salts to the mash. However,l only treat the mash water. Is there any need to treat the sparge water too,other than campden? I've recently read that it should also be a ph of 6 or less,but not clear whether that is the actual water,or the grain bed being sparged?
It's been 25 years since l last sat in a chemistry lesson....

TIA

[Jocky]

You want the pH of the sparge water to be at 6 or lower to avoid extracting tannins from the grain that will make it astringent.

If you sparge with straight water the pH of the grain bed will gradually rise until this becomes a problem, so best to acidifybyour sparge water to avoid this.

[Mr. Dripping]

Calcium is also helpful and stops the pH of the run-off rising....this is why some people split their salt addition between the mash and sparge.

[john luc]

Or use RO as it has no resistance to PH adjustment

[JamesF]

I put sufficient water in the HLT for both mash and sparge and treat the entire lot in one go.

James

[john luc]

Same here. I use RO water and fill HLT with all I need for the brew. I also use beersmith and in my profile I set up the water for my equipment as RO so when I choose a water profile from the water section it automatically calculates the salt additions for my Mash. PH is always bang on 5.2.

[orlando]

Hi all. I'm quite lucky (l think) that my tap water alkalinity is between 26 and 38. I use the calculator on here to add salts to the mash. However,l only treat the mash water. Is there any need to treat the sparge water too,other than campden?

At 26-38 you get away with it for standard bitters. The problem arises when you want to make a Stout or Porter, any darker beer really. For a Stout for example an alkalinity of circa 100-150 is a good starting point. The real nature of the problem is that it is actually a lot easier to reduce alkalinity than increase it. Take a look at this chart for some starting points.

[Aleman]

Same here. I use RO water and fill HLT with all I need for the brew. I also use beersmith and in my profile I set up the water for my equipment as RO so when I choose a water profile from the water section it automatically calculates the salt additions for my Mash. PH is always bang on 5.2.

Which may or may not be optimum depending on the beer you are brewing . . . for me personally I think it's too low, and tend to target pH 5.4

[Kev888]

Take a look at this chart for some starting points.

I think that link has been attacked by the gremlins - it takes me to a reply & quote of the OP.

[JamesF]

Take a look at this chart for some starting points.

I think that link has been attacked by the gremlins - it takes me to a reply & quote of the OP.

Yes, I think it has. It does the same for me, unsurprisingly.

James

[john luc]

Hi all. I'm quite lucky (l think) that my tap water alkalinity is between 26 and 38. I use the calculator on here to add salts to the mash. However,l only treat the mash water. Is there any need to treat the sparge water too,other than campden? I've recently read that it should also be a ph of 6 or less,but not clear whether that is the actual water,or the grain bed being sparged?
It's been 25 years since l last sat in a chemistry lesson....

TIA

Click the chart button and could not help pressing the submit button to see what would happen. Was hoping it would have brought me to a secret site

[orlando]

Don't know how that happened but have corrected it, try here.

[lord.president]

Cheers all.

Thought it was just me that was happening to!