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Author Topic: Batch Sparging pH  (Read 8558 times)

Offline mabrungard

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Re: Batch Sparging pH
« Reply #15 on: January 30, 2013, 02:22:33 pm »
Martin, IIRC you fly sparge.  Is that correct?  If so, have you tried batch sparging to see how it compares pH wise on the sparge?

I've only fly sparged in all my brews. (BTW, I finally passed the century mark with last week's brew. :-)  It pales in comparison to Denny's 400+ batches, but I'm working on it). 

I wouldn't think the pH results should differ between fly and batch sparging.  The same volume of water is pushed through the grain bed and the same quantity of buffering from the malt is exhausted. Interesting question though.
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Offline denny

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Re: Batch Sparging pH
« Reply #16 on: January 30, 2013, 02:25:05 pm »
Martin, IIRC you fly sparge.  Is that correct?  If so, have you tried batch sparging to see how it compares pH wise on the sparge?

I've only fly sparged in all my brews. (BTW, I finally passed the century mark with last week's brew. :-)  It pales in comparison to Denny's 400+ batches, but I'm working on it). 

I wouldn't think the pH results should differ between fly and batch sparging.  The same volume of water is pushed through the grain bed and the same quantity of buffering from the malt is exhausted. Interesting question though.

I've found that if my mash pH is good, the pH through the sparge is almost always good with no water modification.  I have fairly neutral water, though, so that undoubtedly has some bearing.  If you decide to take the plunge into batch sparging a batch or 2, I'd be curious to hear what you find.
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Offline hamiltont

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Re: Batch Sparging pH
« Reply #17 on: January 30, 2013, 03:00:27 pm »
My well water is pretty alkaline.  Last year I had a couple brews turn out a bit on the astringent side and I attributed it to the unadjusted sparge water (Batch Sparge). Since that time I adjust it with lactic acid to get the pH down around 6.5 and have not had the problem since. For comparison here's what my water looks like from Ward Labs:

pH 7.6
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 274
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm  0.46
Cations / Anions, me/L 5.2 / 5.1

Sodium, Na 7
Potassium, K 5
Calcium, Ca 77
Magnesium, Mg 10
Total Hardness, CaCO3 234
Nitrate, NO3-N 1.0 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 3
Chloride, Cl 5
Carbonate, CO3 <1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 287
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 236

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Offline denny

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Re: Batch Sparging pH
« Reply #18 on: January 30, 2013, 03:18:12 pm »
Much more alkaline than my water.  I'm going to try to check the unadjusted sparge pH of my next few batches and compare to the mash pH.
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