Sparge PH

[Dennis King]

I always treat all of my water at the very start. With info. from the water company and a salifert test I use CRS in all the water and add gypsum to the grain taking a PH reading 10-15 mins into mash. But I`ve never tested the sparge water PH assuming the mash PH was where its important with the gypsum and grain having a bearing on the reading. The reason I ask is because my last few beers have had a very slight astringent taste, not bad but still there so I`m thinking is my sparge water still to hard. So does any any teats thier sparge water before sparging.

[GARYSMIFF]

Dennis I tend to treat all my water in one go also.


I know its a PH question but have you checked your brew thermometer with another thermometer you might be over heating and pulling out some of the nastys from the grain.

Or it might just be Hanningfields fault.

[Dennis King]

Know its not a thermometer problem, checked and double checked. Like you self all the water is treated at the start but as I said I only test the PH 10 mins into mash where the gypsum and grain will effect the PH. Did get a report for Essex and Suffolk water so don`t think Hanningfeild reservoir is to blame.

[Aleman]

Ideally if you are fly sparging you need the pH of the sparge liquor to be below pH 6.0 or if the grain bed rises above 76/78C you stand the risk of extracting excessive polyphenols and tannins from the grain husks.

If you are batch sparging this is much less of an issue as the pH of the second batch never rises above pH6.0 (normally)

Be careful adjusting all of your liquor in one go as you will in all probability drop the mash pH lower than you want if you adjust the total liquor to pH 6.0 or less.

[Dennis King]

Just preparing my liquor for tomorrows brew, after adding CRS the PH is just under 6 [5.98] so thats not the problem

[mark]

I had a similar problem Dennis.
Turns out that my sparge water was too hot......keep an eye on your grain bed temperature during the sparge.