Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Sparge water treatment

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Sparge water treatment

    I am wondering how you all adjust your sparge water? I have been brewing on a small system with a dedicated sparge water vessel so I could adjust it for alkalinity each time I brew. But I am moving up to an 8bbl system where I'll be sparging from the HLT. How do you manage your HLT for alkalinity, etc?

  • #2
    Measure, measure, measure....

    Get a solid idea of your water profile. Then you can use an adjustable dosing pump to add phosphoric acid to the sparge water as you sparge. If you measure your water and your resulting wort frequently, then you should be able to dial in the best treatment for your beer. The first step to control is to measure.
    Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by gitchegumee View Post
      Get a solid idea of your water profile. Then you can use an adjustable dosing pump to add phosphoric acid to the sparge water as you sparge. If you measure your water and your resulting wort frequently, then you should be able to dial in the best treatment for your beer. The first step to control is to measure.
      Thanks so much for the reply. I indeed measure my water frequently, I am kind of a water nut. What I am wondering is the actual management day to day of the HLT. For instance if I start with

      Ca 107
      Mg 18
      SO4 25
      Cl 67
      Alk(CaCO3) 238

      ..and I say acidify down to alkalinity of 0, sparge, but then of course have to top up the HLT and use that hot water for other uses, etc, then there is kind of always going to be water going in and out of the thing. Do I need to use my iDip SmartBrew kit and run ion and alkalinity readings everytime I use the water for sparge or mash in? I understand water very well, it's more the logistics of HLT management I want to learn about.

      Thanks again!

      Comment


      • #4
        Beuller..?

        Comment


        • #5
          I do 5BBL batches and use a corny keg to send my water treatment into the sparge stream before the sprayball. I add my acid to the keg, fill it with hot water, mix well, and then inject it into the stream. I use a small ball valve to set the flow rate. Yep, it's nothing fancy but I've been using this setup since day one and have never had a problem. Once you've done a few batches, you get a feel for where to set the valve depending on the quantity of sparge water. The pH of my final runnings is always where it needs to be.

          Cheers,
          --
          Don
          Last edited by idylldon; 10-04-2018, 09:03 AM.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by idylldon View Post
            I do 5BBL batches and use a corny keg to send my water treatment into the sparge stream before the sprayball. I add my acid to the keg, fill it with hot water, mix well, and then inject it into the stream. I use a small ball valve to set the flow rate. Yep, it's nothing fancy but I've been using this setup since day one and have never had a problem. Once you've done a few batches, you get a feel for where to set the valve depending on the quantity of sparge water. The pH of my final runnings is always where it needs to be.

            Cheers,
            --
            Don
            Thanks a lot for the reply Don. That sounds super interesting.. So you dial in CO2 at a speclific psi to dose the treated water into the pipe going to the sprayball? Do you think I could see a picture maybe? This is a very clever idea.

            Thanks!
            Sean

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by smp3385 View Post
              Thanks a lot for the reply Don. That sounds super interesting.. So you dial in CO2 at a speclific psi to dose the treated water into the pipe going to the sprayball? Do you think I could see a picture maybe? This is a very clever idea.

              Thanks!
              Sean
              The CO2 pressure isn't really that important other than having enough to push the contents of the corny into the sparge water stream. The flow rate is controlled by a small ball valve. Once I did a few batches with different sparge water quantities, I got a pretty good feel for where to put the valve for the quantity of sparge water needed for any given batch size. It's pretty basic but works like a charm for my process.

              I'll try to shoot a pic of the setup today when I get to the brewery.

              Cheers,
              --
              Don

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by idylldon View Post
                The CO2 pressure isn't really that important other than having enough to push the contents of the corny into the sparge water stream. The flow rate is controlled by a small ball valve. Once I did a few batches with different sparge water quantities, I got a pretty good feel for where to put the valve for the quantity of sparge water needed for any given batch size. It's pretty basic but works like a charm for my process.

                I'll try to shoot a pic of the setup today when I get to the brewery.

                Cheers,
                --
                Don
                Thanks again Don. Were you able to snap that picture?

                Comment


                • #9
                  Sorry, we haven't brewed in the past week so I didn't hook it up. Here you go.Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_1763.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	95.9 KB
ID:	191804

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Don't do it in the HLT...

                    ....use an adjustable dosing pump to add phosphoric acid to the sparge water as you sparge.
                    Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--

                    Comment

                    Working...
                    X