Hydrometers and Sparging, surely its not just me?

[bandit]

On my latest all grain brew I have made the amazing discovery that hydrometers are based on a temperature of 20 deg C. When I have sparged in the past I have stopped at 1.006 What I learnt this weekend was that sparging involves hot water. So if the wort comes out of the mash tun at 66 deg C then a hydrometer reading of 1.006 is really about 1.021. I found that if the reading drops to 0.995 at 61 Deg C then this equates to 1.006. This meant that this weekend I got 27 litres of sparge water before I dropped below 1.006 which seems to be the level at which undesirable tannings and other nasty tastes are realeased.

I hope this helps some new starters as I wish somebody had told me. The TTL brewed this weekend smells better, its fermenting better and I hope it will taste better than the last two batches.

In the end it meant that I had to add less water to the barrel to make up to 23 litres.

Is it me or has anyone else learnt the hard way

[bitter_dave]

I've always cooled the wort as I understood that the accuracy of hydrometers decreases as the wort gets further away from 20 oC.

Am I wasting my time with the cooling malarky

[bandit]

I am going to produce a spreadsheet on excel to determine the 1.006 value at various temperatures. It may take me a few days but here goes.

[vaudy]

I am of the same opion as Bitter Dave, in that when the temperature varies greatly from 20 C the reading becomes inacurrate.

I belive that you can get an hydrometer which is calabrated to read in the region of 60 C, however I have never seen one.

Personally I just guess with regard to the sparged volume aiming to retrive at least the finished volume prior to the boil, taking into account the colour and taste of the sparged wort.

Regards
Vaudy

[bandit]

So what would you consider as a good colour and taste. As far as I could see its looks like weak pee (excuse the terminology) and also has a distinct sugar flavour.

Can we determine a level of bitterness that we should stop spaging at???

[vaudy]

The main criteria that I use is the volume being at least the finished volume that I want at the end of the boil, prior to boiling.

If I was brewing a dark beer for example and prior to reaching the desired volume the wort showed little colour, I would tast a sample and I should detect some, be it a lilttle sweetness, if not I would cease sparging.
With a pale ale the colour would be a lot less but the taste should still be evident.

I am not saying that this is correct, it is just the way I have done it for a number of years being lazy, it is better to take a reading, which I have done in the past, cooling the sample to try and gain some accuracy.

Hope this helps

Regards
Vaudy

[SteveD]

So what would you consider as a good colour and taste. As far as I could see its looks like weak pee (excuse the terminology) and also has a distinct sugar flavour.

Can we determine a level of bitterness that we should stop spaging at???

I stop sparging when the run off looks and tastes like American Budweiser, as it appears you do too

[steve_flack]

Could try a refractometer. You don't need to cool the sample.

[norman]

Have to agree with Steve, just bought a refractometer far superior to hydrometer and much easier to use.

[Scooby]

Have to agree with Steve, just bought a refractometer far superior to hydrometer and much easier to use.

I've been thinking of getting a refractometer, which one did you get norman?

Had my eye on this;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... &rd=1&rd=1

Would this be suitable?

[Andy]

That's the exact one I've got - it's great.

Cheaper ones are available on the 'bay although they don't have the 0-18 range (which is ideal for the brews I make).

[Scooby]

That's the exact one I've got - it's great.

Cheaper ones are available on the 'bay although they don't have the 0-18 range (which is ideal for the brews I make).

I rarely brew over 1060 so this is good for me also

[oblivious]

Life begins at 60....1.060, that is

[SteveD]

That's the exact one I've got - it's great.

Cheaper ones are available on the 'bay although they don't have the 0-18 range (which is ideal for the brews I make).

I rarely brew over 1060 so this is good for me also

Even if you do, it's still good for measuring the mash run off as it gets weak which is major use #1

Speaking of hydrometer accuracy, I've got several standard beer hydrometers and calibrated them in water at 20c. I was surprised how much variation there was. One was 4 degrees out, and only one read true The rest were somewhere in between. That was at their working temperature never mind at some way away from it!!

[Scooby]

I believe 0-18 brix will measure up to 1070 which is plenty for me and I can still experience a new life