I’m about to try my first all grain recipe. I’ve just converted a 10 gallon cooler into a mash tun. I need some info about sparge temperature. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and see many different opinions. The sources I’ve read range from 170 to 200 F. Any thoughts about what is most commonly used? Is there a reason to change the temperature to get a different final result.
Thanks,
Harold Williams
Chadds Ford, PA
Batch- or fly-sparging?
Just remember that the temp of the sparge water doesn’t matter…the temp of the grainbed does. Try to keep it close to, but under, 170F. For me, that means I can use 190-200F water. And also keep in mind that if your pH is in range, the temp of the water matters a lot less.
I think conversion stops at 170. But I am going to a boil as quick as I can after the sparge, so I just go for the same temp as my strike water, about 151 or 152. I try not to complicate things, I make good beer.
ditto mashing at 150-155, so your strike water before adding the grains would then be 170.
To answer your question about adjusting the temp to change the final result: Ph aside, the higher the temp, the sweeter/maltier the product (155+ for a stout or malty scottish) and the closer to 150, the drier (IPAs, etc.) so the hops come through cleaner. have fun.
Why does everybody dodgeball around questions like this? There is science in place that shows at what temp you denature a-amylase which is typically quoted at 78C/172.50f and also it has been stated that temps over 170f will extract more polyphenols,lipids and tannins from the grain bed. So mashing out and/or sparge should be conducted no higher than 170 as a compromise between these two temps and has long been common knowledge.
The fact stated by one of the above posters is correct that overall grain bed temp is an important point of the entire question/answer, But many tend to forget all too soon that tons of people use a traditional continuous/fly sparge and that is where the actual sparge temp will make a difference. So if batch sparging you can “probably” get away with adding 5 gallons of 200f water depending on if mashing out or not etc…, but if fly sparging sticking to the facts of 167-170 as a ceiling is the bare essentials of this method of mashing. If I mash out and start adding 200f sparge water to my fly sparge operation the grain bed will rise above 170f.
Even if I dont mash out at the very least the top of my grain bed would tend to stay at the temp of the sparge water as I am not stirring after setting the bed. I have never tested the top of the bed as I always use <170 sparge every time, but the fact that the couple of inches of sparge water above the bed is clear as day and slowly trickling through tells me that 200f water would not change temp too quickly and equalize below 170f if left on the top and slowly draining down through my grain bed at 155f. I am no mathematician but a rise over 15f is probably happening to part if not all of my grain bed if I use 200f water and dont immediately stir/vourlauf and drain quickly as is the operation with batching.
^^^ This is why I asked which type of sparging the OP was doing and he has yet to respond.
Yuppers, Shade I kind of just went into the wherefore’s about the two and dig the fact that you were being proactive for the OP as to make certain they understood what I just explained. Didn’t mean to step on your toes. It looked like it was kind of sidetracking with mashing responses and such so I just interjected right now.
While on the subject of sidetrack of sorts now that the temp issue is addressed. As spoken to above another big concern is alkalinity and/or PH of your sparge. Which you want to either reduce alkalinity to low values or PH of no higher than 6.0 most times a person will acidify their sparge water to <5.8. Because if the actual PH of the mash rises to over 6.0 but your temp is right below 170f you still risk extracting the negatives mentioned above.
[quote=“ITsPossible”]Didn’t mean to step on your toes.[/quote]Not at all, just thinking that since this question has been asked and covered many times before, I wasn’t going to bother answering it unless the OP showed at least a minimum of interest and attention by returning to the thread at least once. 
Cuz we know you hardballers will drop by eventually to put everyone in line?
So very true, wise man. I had too much caffeine induced energy and went to town. But yes it seems we have a rash of these types lately. I have seen a lot of new folks on thread mania lately either posting about the super easy stuff addressed 100 times over 12 years or they throw threads up and never come back to them as you mention thus showing they could have cared less in the first place.
So very true, wise man. I had too much caffeine induced energy and went to town. But yes it seems we have a rash of these types lately. I have seen a lot of new folks on thread mania lately either posting about the super easy stuff addressed 100 times over 12 years or they throw threads up and never come back to them as you mention thus showing they could have cared less in the first place.[/quote]
As a “new folk”, please pardon our “thread mania”! I may be just as quilty as anyone. There is a lot to learn in homebrewing. First, you learn how to do research. That’s hard to do when you think that someone is in the forum, just waiting on you to ask a question. Sorting through thousands of threads can be daunting, especially when your worried about how the beer is going to turn out or not.
Then, you start planning ahead.
Many people probably don’t check their thread (or atleast respond to it) because they needed an answer right away and didn’t get one or found it somewhere else. I have posted a thread, only to find the answer in another post and felt bad. It’s good to remember that the “super easy stuff” may not have been so easy when you started. New folks are a good thing for the hobby. Children ask questions that to us are no brainers, but we asked them when we were their age!
Well said.
Obviously it would be nice if everyone followed certain protocols that Web forum vets tend to follow, but not everyone is a Web forum vet. Even some Web vets who haven’t learned to RDWHAHB will break protocol (say, post a thread before searching the subject) in a brewday panic. A poster may also abandon a thread if they have made an innocent “mistake” (in many cases subjective and/or dependent on unknown factors, such as potential time spent searching) and are taken to task for it.
IMO, berating someone is the wrong approach to deal with these “infractions,” with the possible exception of a repeat offender. A person new to forums in general and/or homebrewing in particular is probably daunted enough (I know I was, and sometimes still am). To make an innocent mistake and get thrown over a barrel is probably not encouraging future participation.
Just my $.02.
Of course, all lot of us have now broken the OT post protocol in this thread. Shame on us! We need to be taught a lesson!
:cheers:
As the person that started this thread, I’d like to state a few things.
First, I’d like to thank those that responded. There’s a lot of contradictary written info out there. I thought I’d go the people that actually do the work and get their opinion.
As far as something that’s been covered in threads a thousand times, I realize that. I searched the forums but didn’t find what I was looking for. So, thanks for those that were patient enough to answer a beginner’s “simple” question.
Just because someone doesn’t answer back right away doesn’t mean they’re weren’t really interested in the topic. It’s only been a day or so since the thread started.
Real time participation is a rule 'round these here parts!
Well said.
Obviously it would be nice if everyone followed certain protocols that Web forum vets tend to follow, but not everyone is a Web forum vet. Even some Web vets who haven’t learned to RDWHAHB will break protocol (say, post a thread before searching the subject) in a brewday panic. A poster may also abandon a thread if they have made an innocent “mistake” (in many cases subjective and/or dependent on unknown factors, such as potential time spent searching) and are taken to task for it.
IMO, berating someone is the wrong approach to deal with these “infractions,” with the possible exception of a repeat offender. A person new to forums in general and/or homebrewing in particular is probably daunted enough. To make an innocent mistake and get thrown over a barrel is probably not encouraging future participation.
Just my $.02.
Of course, all of us have now broken the OT post protocol. Shame on us! We need to be taught a lesson!
:cheers: [/quote]
+1000! This is a forum where home brewers can come to ask questions. If you don’t want to answer, THEN DON’T ANSWER! Don’t answer the guy’s question then proceed to beat him up about it. Just because he didn’t log back on to read the responses in what you consider to be an appropriate time frame. I’ve seen a LOT of these responses from the same people recently. New home brewers ask questions and then get beat up over it. Its ridiculous. This is the entire point of the forum. Come and get good advice from people who’ve already been down the road. Why should someone have to search through page after page of old posts to maybe find the answer to their question? You call not searching first lazy? I call it productive. Get in, ask a question, get an answer, get out!
I hope you got your answer, w18288. Don’t let some of these other posters bother you. Coming to this forum to ask questions is EXACTLY what the forum is for. And don’t worry, it’s not like they’ll run out of server space if we all ask the same questions too many times.
:cheers:
Not to mention, sometimes the only relevant thread you find is 6+ months or even 6+ years old. But, you post to it anyway instead of adding a whole new entry to the data server, and then someone yells at you for dredging up an old thread.
Ya gotta love the Internet .
That said, I do generally search for relevant threads before posting, unless I’m posting something that is by definition unique (e.g., a new custom recipe).
[quote=“w18288”]I thought I’d go the people that actually do the work and get their opinion. [/quote]So, batch- or fly-sparging? And I wasn’t beating up on you for asking a question that gets asked repeatedly or for not checking back on the thread, just wanted to know which method you were using so you could get the best answer.
Love it Shade! Let’s get back to the question. Maybe I should do some more research, but since the topic is already here I’ll ask.
I fly sparge and the instructions to most of the kits I have done say to sparge with 170 water. I take that to mean that the water I sparge with should be 170 and not the grain. Is that right?
C’ mon newbies dont get whacked out or self important on us. That’s really not helping anyone much less a stellar hobby, or lest yourself if you publicize your self worth across the net as the all encompassing consumer of that which is home brew goods or others information flows.(Superfab) We are all consumers and I welcome all and deliver forthright knowledge to assist when I can. But as far as caring if you become offended because you were asked to please look before you leap is not a daunting request. BTW none of that>including(berating etc…LOL) was spoken to in this thread so whats the beef? You become offended and make up disdain and take something said personally when it doesn’t speak to you directly EDIT: OR THE OP nobody beat him up over anything, he received a clear answer from me anyways with no guff(read the comment Shade and I made again and then read the text in blue) I don’t profit if you stay or leave neither do the rest of the board members.
And FWIW I along with others can probably chime in to the same effects that we were either directed to threads that cover the question or asked to kindly look more than 2 seconds when we were young to the hobby, In my case I came to the forum with long time knowledge but I had to ask others in person and was told many times to read “how to brew” or simply knew to look in dedicated brewing texts if the question was huge and still do to this day. Really guys/ gals sure the search is less than perfect but it will give you quicker answers to many simple questions like how to open a pack of yeast or how to clean an airlock that’s the simple shnizz I am speaking too none of you have done this but you know that some new members are truly wasting others time here. That’s the all encompassing point to take away today, such as stated so eloquently by Shade. If you are truly interested in an answer you might have to actively also be a participant in the thread and as spoken to if the OP were to reply then it warrants answers.
To the OP your question here was warranted and you got the answers you needed, but Shade then myself were speaking to the nature of real ghost posters that ask,ask,ask and never contribute or even a peep after somebody freely gives their time in an answer. So welcome and please do look some first if you can on topics that may seem lighter than earth shattering if you feel what I am saying, but as I have always stated as well as others there is no stupid question only the one you dont ask.
