what should the pH of sparge water be?

[garyK]

So im about to do my first all-grain and was wondering what the pH of
the sparge water should be.

thanks

gary

[Thomas T. Veldhouse]

Post by garyK
So im about to do my first all-grain and was wondering what the pH of
the sparge water should be.
thanks
gary

I wouldn't sweat it. Just use the same water for sparging that you use for
brewing. If you treat your brewing water with gypsum or other minerals, do
the same to your sparge water. The real key is to watch the gravity your
mash runnings to be sure they don't drop too low (typical lower limit is
1.010) and make sure the mash itself remains below a typical pH of about 5.7
(the upper portion should not drop below 6 if you are fly sparging). If you
use any specialty malt (i.e. crystal malt or better) and if your OG is
expected to be above 1.045, you probably have very little chance of
encountering any of these conditions.

Tom Veldhouse

[Mike D'Brewer]

Post by garyK
So im about to do my first all-grain and was wondering what the pH of
the sparge water should be.

I don't concern myself with the pH of the sparge, but of the mash. After
adding my strike water and mixing thoroughly, I let it rest for 10 mins or
so. I then take a pH reading. I adjust if I'm above 5.8, with a target pH
of 5.5 or so. I use lactic acid for my adjustments.

Beer here,

Mike

--
sarge0503 at sbabootcamp dot commercial
www.schwedhelm.net/brew/

[John 'Shaggy' Kolesar]

Post by garyK
So im about to do my first all-grain and was wondering what the pH of
the sparge water should be.

It doesn't matter. What's important is the pH of the grain bed during
the sparge. Same goes for temp. Make the temp/pH of the sparge water
whatever it needs to be in order to get your grain bed in the right
range. These numbers will be different for different brewers. Most
people don't need to mess with the pH of their water.


John.

[zxcvbob]

Post by garyK
So im about to do my first all-grain and was wondering what the pH of
the sparge water should be.
thanks
gary

I haven't brewed in a few years, so my memory of the details is fuzzy. I
usually do a small mash, and add couple of pounds of malt syrup to the
wort. For my sparge water, I use a couple of gallons of deionized water
(35 cents per gallon from a reverse osmosis machine at the grocery store)
to which I add about a teaspoon of vinegar. Because the deionized water
has no buffering capacity, that tiny bit of vinegar drives the pH down to
about 4 or 5. Even without adding any acid to the sparge water, deionized
water cannot raise the pH of the mash enough to cause any problems.

I just use my normal hard tap water for everything else.

Best regards,
Bob

[Tom Meier]

Post by garyK
So im about to do my first all-grain and was wondering what the pH of
the sparge water should be.

6.0-6.5 depending on how hard your water is. Don't get carried away with
the acid - I wouldn't add much at all unless it is phosphoric. You are just
trying to reduce the buffering capacity of the hard water, so once
the pH starts to drop at all, quit adding acid.

-Tom Meier