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Larger HLT, how to treat sparge water?

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  • Larger HLT, how to treat sparge water?

    Maybe this should be in the "Stupid Stuff" forum, but here you go. I now have a bigger HLT, and I'm wondering how exactly (in process) I should go about treating my sparge water for PH. I used to treat my whole HLT because I was going to be using the whole volume to sparge with. Now I'm only using a barrel or two of the water, so I can't acidify the whole tank. Should I just add my acid back on top of the grainbed while sparging? Seems like that might not be the most effective method...

    Thanks in advance,
    Tim

  • #2
    Same issue

    I know I am reviving an old thread here, really old...but I have the same issue. Right now we add our chemicals to the boil kettle during collection, but I feel that it is too late. The only other way is inline using some sort of a chemical dosing pump I believe. Hope others can chime in now.

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    • #3
      A simple answer would be to add directly to the mash foundation water. You can then sparge with “normal” water and then add more upon kettle collection (if needed).

      More complicated but even better would be to add a dosing pump as mentioned. I prefer the peristaltic pumps for this myself. Tie it into your hydrator/sparge water line(s) to dose as needed.

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      • #4
        Depending upon your tap water quality, failing to treat water used for sparging by bringing its alkalinity down to acceptable limits is inviting poor results. If the water can't be treated within the HLT, then a dosing pump tied to the water delivery line may be an acceptable option.
        WaterEng
        Engineering Consultant

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        • #5
          Unless your tap water is extremely alkaline, there should be no need to acdiulate the sparge water necessarily. It could effect late saccharification (positively or negatively). Ideal mash pH is usually 5.1-5.2 according to Kunze, who also specifically addresses biological acidification as mash and kettle editions (at least in the 4th edition of Technology brewing and malting). Not a single mention of acidulatiing sparge water despite pages of technical information on mashing, lautering, and biological acidification. Optimal pH for the enzymes is actually higher than 5.2, so allowing the pH to raise during the sparge dilution should not present any major problems, and could in fact be beneficial towards late saccharification and haze prevention.

          It has certainly become popular with a lot of breweries, but personally I don’t know where it comes from. There is probably a book or study someone can reference me to. That said, I have done both acidulating sparge and not on a couple systems over a handful of beer styles and have failed to see any significant difference myself. If you mash at proper pH, it will dilute more alkaline over the sparge, however this can easily be adjusted for in the kettle. I choose not to acidulate sparge because I fail to see the benefit myself.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by UnFermentable View Post
            Unless your tap water is extremely alkaline, there should be no need to acdiulate the sparge water necessarily. It could effect late saccharification (positively or negatively). Ideal mash pH is usually 5.1-5.2 according to Kunze, who also specifically addresses biological acidification as mash and kettle editions (at least in the 4th edition of Technology brewing and malting). Not a single mention of acidulatiing sparge water despite pages of technical information on mashing, lautering, and biological acidification. Optimal pH for the enzymes is actually higher than 5.2, so allowing the pH to raise during the sparge dilution should not present any major problems, and could in fact be beneficial towards late saccharification and haze prevention.

            It has certainly become popular with a lot of breweries, but personally I don’t know where it comes from. There is probably a book or study someone can reference me to. That said, I have done both acidulating sparge and not on a couple systems over a handful of beer styles and have failed to see any significant difference myself. If you mash at proper pH, it will dilute more alkaline over the sparge, however this can easily be adjusted for in the kettle. I choose not to acidulate sparge because I fail to see the benefit myself.
            I'm with you on this. I may have to acidify my mash a bit to get the right mash pH but I don't fret over sparge pH and my results are great. To acidify my mash I use acidulated malt, but I just got a jug of lactic acid that i want to play around with for mash acidification (and to play around with kettle sours). When I want a specific water profile, I add my salt additions to the kettle. You lose a lot of your additions in the mash. This is especially important for IPAs that need a harder water profile to bring out hop character. I brew NE IPAs along with old school West Coast IPAs and I find that I need to bring my water to at least 'balanced' for a NEIPA and 'slightly hard/slightly bitter' for WC IPA and I do that through kettle additions.

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            • #7
              With our water, our pH is high, around 8.9, so we do acidify the mash and the sparge. We ended up going with a Prominent peristaltic pump, with a flow rate of 6 litres and hour. I then mix my chemical in a 5 gallon bucket, and tied the pump on/off into my PLC via a discrete output tied to our sparge output. So when I start my sparge, it turns on my dosing pump, when the sparge is done, it shuts off. Works great, and with the flow rate, its always empty by the time the sparge is done. Easy peasy.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by UnFermentable View Post
                Unless your tap water is extremely alkaline, there should be no need to acdiulate the sparge water necessarily. It could effect late saccharification (positively or negatively). Ideal mash pH is usually 5.1-5.2 according to Kunze, who also specifically addresses biological acidification as mash and kettle editions (at least in the 4th edition of Technology brewing and malting). Not a single mention of acidulatiing sparge water despite pages of technical information on mashing, lautering, and biological acidification. Optimal pH for the enzymes is actually higher than 5.2, so allowing the pH to raise during the sparge dilution should not present any major problems, and could in fact be beneficial towards late saccharification and haze prevention.

                It has certainly become popular with a lot of breweries, but personally I don’t know where it comes from. There is probably a book or study someone can reference me to. That said, I have done both acidulating sparge and not on a couple systems over a handful of beer styles and have failed to see any significant difference myself. If you mash at proper pH, it will dilute more alkaline over the sparge, however this can easily be adjusted for in the kettle. I choose not to acidulate sparge because I fail to see the benefit myself.
                I have personally noticed astringency with darker malts when we have not treated the sparge water. I have heard over a 6.0 can extract from the husk our experience was around a 7.0 which created a harsh bitterness. I treat all sparges to a 5.6-5.7 now and have had great results. It helps keep a tight ph from first to last runnings.


                Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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