Am I sparging correctly?

[Harto]

Hi All,

I have a question about my sparge process. I'm doing AG in a homemade mashtun (converted coolbox). When sparging, I take a measuring jug and add a litre of water at a time to the coolbox on top of kitchen foil with holes pierced just to keep the levels topped up as I run off the wart.

However, I'm ending up with beer that has a higher gravity than planned but lower volume. It tastes great going into the bolier but once fermented there is an off taste which I'm not sure if it is astringency or more of an alcohol taste.

I stop sparging at around 1.09 but I don't adjust for temperature bearing in mind my sparge water is probably around 50oC. In any case, the wart running off is much lighter in colour and has a very small amount of sweetness.

So my question is, where should I start looking to get the right amount of wart at the right gravity and where would the likely causes be for the off taste? I appreciate I may not have given enough info here for a clear answer but some general guidance would be helpful.

Thanks in advance

 

[Lesinge]

A couple of questions. Why are you sparging at the temp you are using? From what I have read it should be around 78c which allows for all the sugars to be taken from the wort whilst stopping further "mashing". I have used this method 6 or 7 times since starting AG and it has worked really well. Also, when do you get the taste you are describing? I have found that following fermentation the beer has a very high hop taste which can be pretty unpleasant at first. I did a couple of SMaSH beers and single hop beers with IBU at 75 which were like poison at first but after conditioning for five or so weeks were great. If this is the case for you, just be a bit patient and your beers will totally change in a short period of time.

 

[mike77]

I don't fly sparge but in my opinion if you are getting less wort than expected and at a higher gravity then the solution would be to add more water to the sparge.

If you are say 2 liters down then add 2 liters more sparge water. Once you have the right amount of wort you tben may need to tweek the amount of grain you use to get the right gravity. How much you need to tweek things will depend on your specific setup and the efficiency you get from it.

 

[TartanSpecial]

I only batch sparge, but I'd say you should be sparging at 75 Deg C or thereabouts. If you are are ending up after the boil with a significant lower volume of wort at a higher gravity than planned, then I'd top up the wort until you reach the planned gravity/ planned batch size or thereabouts. Or sparge with additional water as Mike 77 suggests so you end up with the right volume after the boil (latter method better) .

 

[geetee]

A few tips on sparging (the way I do it).

Sparge water should be approx 78°C this stops the enzyme action and washes out the converted sugars to make the wort.
The first runnings will always be high as you are washing out the most concentrated sugar solution as it be comes more dilute it will be less sweet and will be lower gravity.Combine, stir and check OG.

Don't worry if gravity of the total collection is too high you can keep sparging until 1008, no more after 1008 or you will extract tannins,

You can still boil if is high OG and add boiling water to volume at the end to hit your target OG.

If OG is low it will increase with losses due to evaportaion

 

[Harto]

Hi all. Looks like I need to increase the temperature of the sparge water. Can't remember why the temperature-probably because I was concerned about extracting tannins. When I stop sparging I still have water left in the HLT but I stopped again because I was concerned about extracting tannins. Sounds like I'm stopping too early and using all the sparge water will get me the right volume and OG. The off flavours were there at first sample about a month after brew and still there 6 months later.

 

[keat64]

I'm still learning and did my first AG recently.

The guy in my homebrew shop said: 'sparge at 76° and stop sparging when it tastes like weak tea'


I did batch sparging.
I drianed off the liquid from the mash, and added roughly half of my calculated sparge water, gave it a little stir, and put the lid on for 5 minutes.
Drained this off, and did the same again until i reached the amount of wort i'd calculated for.

Based on how much water i needed pre boil, (about 22 litres) i just kept sparging until i reached that point and then stopped.
What was coming out at this point, was a bit like weak tea.

I'm not sure how I would measure the OG while sparging, and compensate for the temperature difference.
I'm sure this process alone would take longer than the sparge.
Maybe this is where the refractometer comes in ??

 

[Harto]

A few tips on sparging (the way I do it).

Sparge water should be approx 78°C this stops the enzyme action and washes out the converted sugars to make the wort.
The first runnings will always be high as you are washing out the most concentrated sugar solution as it be comes more dilute it will be less sweet and will be lower gravity.Combine, stir and check OG.

Don't worry if gravity of the total collection is too high you can keep sparging until 1008, no more after 1008 or you will extract tannins,

You can still boil if is high OG and add boiling water to volume at the end to hit your target OG.

If OG is low it will increase with losses due to evaportaion

Thanks for that. One question I've never been sure of- is that 1.008 as read on the hydrometer or after temperature conversion. For example 1.008 at 70oC would be 0.99 at 20oC according to my calculator so in this case would I stop at 1.008 or 0.99 (I'm not exactly sure how a reading of <1 is possible! )

 

[Dads_Ale]

Thanks for that. One question I've never been sure of- is that 1.008 as read on the hydrometer or after temperature conversion. For example 1.008 at 70oC would be 0.99 at 20oC according to my calculator so in this case would I stop at 1.008 or 0.99 (I'm not exactly sure how a reading of <1 is possible! )

I would strongly believe that you are under sparging.
I never bother to check run off gravity but if you use the calculator under the calculation tab then 1009 at 70c equates to 1027 with a hydrometer calibrated at 20c.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/

 

[clibit]

The temperature of the mash should ideally be raised to about 76C during the sparge, so the sparge water needs to be hotter than 76C. Read this:

http://beerandwinejournal.com/sparge-water-temperature/

 

[geetee]

Thanks for that. One question I've never been sure of- is that 1.008 as read on the hydrometer or after temperature conversion. For example 1.008 at 70oC would be 0.99 at 20oC according to my calculator so in this case would I stop at 1.008 or 0.99 (I'm not exactly sure how a reading of <1 is possible! )

I use a refractometer to check the last runnings from the sparge. Take a couple of ml as it runs from the tap using a pipette, cool and apply a drop to the refractometer. This avoids the temp correction and will give an instant reading so you can stop if its getting to 1008.
I think it's too much hassle trying to use a hydrometer to follow the sparge especially if you have to cool or correct the sample, more to go wrong.

 

[GlentoranMark]

As my mate told me, taste the grains as you sparge and if they taste sweet then there are still sugars left to be converted.

I like both the comments of a refractometer (I'll buy one eventually) and the weak tea. It could also be a reason why my beers come up short although I think I'm losing too much to equipment loss.