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Date: 19 Nov 2006 07:55:04
From: hankus
Subject: Why minerals in the sparge water?
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A friend brought to my attention that many suggest the addition of minerals
to sparge water as well as mash water or sometimes to sparge water only.I
always though after discussions with John Palmer among others that once the
rxns with the CA had occurred or in the rare case once the acid rest had
occurred that sparging was simply a rinsing of sugars and nothing further
could/should be done to stabilize the pH.--
Thanks for your comments
Hank
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Date: 19 Nov 2006 08:22:08
From: David M. Taylor
Subject: Re: Why minerals in the sparge water?
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"hankus" <hbienert@cox.net > wrote in message
news:XmZ7h.25$Gj6.20@newsfe14.lga...
>A friend brought to my attention that many suggest the addition of minerals
>to sparge water as well as mash water or sometimes to sparge water only.I
>always though after discussions with John Palmer among others that once the
>rxns with the CA had occurred or in the rare case once the acid rest had
>occurred that sparging was simply a rinsing of sugars and nothing further
>could/should be done to stabilize the pH.--
> Thanks for your comments
You bring up a topic that is still in debate. I know from personal
experience that I have had a couple of brews with astringency problems.
When I started adding salts to the sparge water as well as the mash, it
seems like I have experienced fewer problems. The trouble is, there are so
many variables that it is very difficult to narrow it down to where you can
be certain that it's one thing versus another. So, just to be on the safe
side, I figure it doesn't hurt to split the salts between the mash and
sparge water. So that's what I do. If your beer turns out fine by another
method, then by all means, don't worry about pH. Some people have more
issues with pH than others. Too many variables.
--
Dave
"Fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking." -- Brad Paisley
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Date: 21 Nov 2006 20:36:30
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Why minerals in the sparge water?
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On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:22:08 -0600, <dmtaylor@SPAM.geocities.SUCKS.com > wrote:
> "hankus" <hbienert@cox.net> wrote in message
> news:XmZ7h.25$Gj6.20@newsfe14.lga...
>>A friend brought to my attention that many suggest the addition of minerals
>>to sparge water as well as mash water or sometimes to sparge water only.I
>>always though after discussions with John Palmer among others that once the
>>rxns with the CA had occurred or in the rare case once the acid rest had
>>occurred that sparging was simply a rinsing of sugars and nothing further
>>could/should be done to stabilize the pH.--
>> Thanks for your comments
>
> You bring up a topic that is still in debate.
I'm not sure what the debate is that you're referring to. From what I've
seen the issues are fairly well understood.
John.
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Date: 22 Nov 2006 22:10:36
From: David M. Taylor
Subject: Re: Why minerals in the sparge water?
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"John 'Shaggy' Kolesar" <spam@shagg.net > wrote in message
news:slrnem6p41.sdc.spam@weizen.shagg.net...
> On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:22:08 -0600, <dmtaylor@SPAM.geocities.SUCKS.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> You bring up a topic that is still in debate.
>
> I'm not sure what the debate is that you're referring to. From what I've
> seen the issues are fairly well understood.
The debate is, some people (such as myself) believe that they should add at
least a portion of salts to the sparge water as well as the mash, while
others do not believe it is necessary in the sparge. So which is the right
answer? I don't think every brewer in the world would agree one way or the
other. I may be in the minority, but even if I am, it ain't hurting
anything to add a little salt to the sparge water, just to feel like I'm
more on the safe side, whether it's truly necessary or not. That's my
opinion. I suppose I could run some more experiments as time allows, and
reach a more definitive conclusion. But for now, adding salt to mash and
sparge is fine by me.
--
Dave
"Fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking." -- Brad Paisley
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Date: 24 Nov 2006 23:10:33
From: Scott Sellers
Subject: Re: Why minerals in the sparge water?
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David M. Taylor <dmtaylor@SPAM.geocities.SUCKS.com >:
>"John 'Shaggy' Kolesar" <spam@shagg.net> wrote in message
>news:slrnem6p41.sdc.spam@weizen.shagg.net...
>> On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:22:08 -0600,
>> <dmtaylor@SPAM.geocities.SUCKS.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> You bring up a topic that is still in debate.
>>
>> I'm not sure what the debate is that you're referring to.
>> From what I've seen the issues are fairly well understood.
>The debate is, some people (such as myself) believe that they
>should add at least a portion of salts to the sparge water as
>well as the mash, while others do not believe it is necessary in
>the sparge. So which is the right answer? I don't think every
>brewer in the world would agree one way or the other. I may be
>in the minority, but even if I am, it ain't hurting anything to
>add a little salt to the sparge water, just to feel like I'm
>more on the safe side, whether it's truly necessary or not.
>That's my opinion. I suppose I could run some more experiments
>as time allows, and reach a more definitive conclusion. But for
>now, adding salt to mash and sparge is fine by me.
I think of the mineral profile as part of the style/recipe, not
only in terms of effecting the mash, but also the finished flavor
of the beer. I treat all my water the same, mash and sparge, in
the HLT at the beginning of the brew process.
cheers,
Scott S
--
Scott Sellers
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Date: 28 Nov 2006 22:36:26
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Why minerals in the sparge water?
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On Wed, 22 Nov 2006 22:10:36 -0600, <dmtaylor@SPAM.geocities.SUCKS.com > wrote:
> "John 'Shaggy' Kolesar" <spam@shagg.net> wrote in message
> news:slrnem6p41.sdc.spam@weizen.shagg.net...
>> On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:22:08 -0600, <dmtaylor@SPAM.geocities.SUCKS.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> You bring up a topic that is still in debate.
>>
>> I'm not sure what the debate is that you're referring to. From what I've
>> seen the issues are fairly well understood.
>
> The debate is, some people (such as myself) believe that they should add at
> least a portion of salts to the sparge water as well as the mash, while
> others do not believe it is necessary in the sparge. So which is the right
> answer?
The right answer is that it depends on what happens to the pH of your grain
bed during the sparge. Depending on how you sparge and what your water
chemistry is like, you may not need to add anything at all, or you may
need to.
> I don't think every brewer in the world would agree one way or the
> other.
That's probably true. But I wouldn't call that a debate, the different
answers are just because there is no universal answer that applies to
everyone. It comes down to your specific process and local water.
John.
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Date: 19 Nov 2006 08:27:33
From: hankus
Subject: Re: Why minerals in the sparge water?
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...and I batch, not fly, sparge
--
Thanks
Hank
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Date: 19 Nov 2006 08:44:44
From: David M. Taylor
Subject: Re: Why minerals in the sparge water?
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"hankus" <hbienert@cox.net > wrote in message
news:rRZ7h.21$2t3.12@newsfe16.lga...
> ...and I batch, not fly, sparge
Same here.
--
Dave
"Fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinking." -- Brad Paisley
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Date: 20 Nov 2006 09:24:34
From: Denny Conn
Subject: Re: Why minerals in the sparge water?
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hankus wrote:
>
> ...and I batch, not fly, sparge
Then you don't need to worry about sparge additoins at all. Get your
mash pH where it should be and it'll stay there for the sparge. I
checked this MANY times until I satified myself it was true. Fly
spargers may need to add somehting to keep the pH from rising too high
during the sparge.
----------- >Denny
--
Life begins at 60...1.060, that is.
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Date: 21 Nov 2006 20:30:15
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Why minerals in the sparge water?
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On Mon, 20 Nov 2006 09:24:34 -0800, <denny.g.conn@ci.eugene.or.us > wrote:
> hankus wrote:
>>
>> ...and I batch, not fly, sparge
>
> Then you don't need to worry about sparge additoins at all. Get your
> mash pH where it should be and it'll stay there for the sparge. I
> checked this MANY times until I satified myself it was true. Fly
> spargers may need to add somehting to keep the pH from rising too high
> during the sparge.
Theoretically it's possible for this to happen with either sparge method.
However, in reality it's not common for it to happen in either. IMO, most
fly spargers don't really have issues with it either.
The only time I'd even worry about it is if you're brewing a really low OG
beer.
John.
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Date: 21 Nov 2006 20:26:43
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: Why minerals in the sparge water?
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On Sun, 19 Nov 2006 07:55:04 -0600, <hbienert@cox.net > wrote:
> A friend brought to my attention that many suggest the addition of minerals
> to sparge water as well as mash water or sometimes to sparge water only.I
> always though after discussions with John Palmer among others that once the
> rxns with the CA had occurred or in the rare case once the acid rest had
> occurred that sparging was simply a rinsing of sugars and nothing further
> could/should be done to stabilize the pH.--
It really depends on what your grain bed does during the sparge. If you've
got enough pH issues that your grain bed pH rises above the optimal range,
then you would want to adjust the sparge water. IMO, it's probably not
a common problem.
The issue is that sparging with too high of a pH can extract tannins from
the grains and lead to astringency in the beer.
John.
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