pH of sparging liquor
- Thread starter brais4
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Hi- I fly sparge and learned from a google site called bru'n water (a quick search will find tons of info), my target sparge pH is 5.6. I also use his water spreadsheet for adjusting my mash and sparge water. Hope that helps.
You want to keep your sparge water pH below 6 to avoid high tannin extraction.
The alkalinity in your water counteracts the mash pH. Light colored beers are less acidic and continuous (fly) sparging is more of a problem than batch sparging.
You can use this calculator to calculate how much acid you need to add.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/
The alkalinity in your water counteracts the mash pH. Light colored beers are less acidic and continuous (fly) sparging is more of a problem than batch sparging.
You can use this calculator to calculate how much acid you need to add.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/
Ditto what Wynne-R says... the most important factor is pH since polyphenols are more readily extracted at alkaline pHs. My experience says that they not only taste negative when the beer is fresh, but also, they do not age well, especially with oxygen exposure. Also, consider the pH of the mash you are sparging. Specifically, as the last Hansel drops so does the buffering capacity and if the sparge water is a high pH, more polyphenol extraction will take place.
