Sparge Water Temperature

[Buzz]

It's just dawned on me that I may have been sparging at too low a temperature.

All my recent AG brews have been fine but, my efficiency has always been about 60/65%. I wasn't too worried, and being a relatively new all-grainer, just put it down to my technique and upped the amount of malt in each brew.

Bored at work over the weekend, I searched for batch sparing techniques and realised that each entry I found, referred to sparge water heated around 80/85deg. For some reason I have always heated to around 73deg, the same as the strike temp for my mash. Do you think my efficiency will increase if I up the temp to about 85deg for the sparge

[Aleman]

In theory it does, cause you have a less viscous solution of sugars. . . in practice, I've seen someone sparge with cold water, and still hit 78% efficiency

[Buzz]

Interesting, thanks Aleman. I'll be brewing again on Thursday so I'll try 85deg this time and see how things compare with recent brews.

[Ianb]

I always thought the issue with going above 77 C was tanin extraction, and for this reason, I've always fly sparged with water at 77 C. I've never really accurately calculated my mash efficiency, but Promash seems to think it is around the high seventies / low eighties.

How much of that is down to brewing liquor I don't know. I just use good old Yorkshire water (he says wearing his flat cap)

[ColinKeb]

Ive always gone fro 80 degrees , but i must lose a couple of degrees transferring it so it should be around the 78 mark . works fine for me .

[Vossy1]

Sparging temps have always been a bit of a myth to me.
Even when sparging with 77 deg c liquor the grain bed never got to anywhere near 77 deg c before the end of sparging.

I still do it for best practice, but don't get too hung up on it anymore.

[russt1969]

Ive always gone for 80 degrees.

Me too

[adm]

Me too - in my limited experience....

I heat the sparge water to 80C, it loses a few degrees between the HLT and the mash tun, but the thermometer probe I leave in the mash tun after a good stir never seems to creep above 70C.

[RabMaxwell]

I wonder what causes low efficiency ? it's alway's intrigued me as to how some people get 60-65%. Whether it's mash tun design or water composition i haven't a clue.I have alway's managed good efficiency i even try to cut my efficiency in favour of collecting a better quality extract from my grain.After years of fly sparging & getting 85% i have done batch sparging for the last couple & still get 75% without even trying.Although it intreages me i can't understand how so many brewers worry so much about getting the highest efficency possible anyway.

[Ianb]

Rab raises some good questions, for which I have no answers, but in the May / June issue of "brew" magazine, there is a pretty in depth article about increasing extraction efficiency.

(as an aside, why is it that in a main stream high street news agent / book store in any major US city, I can pick up at least two home brewing magazines (brew and zymurgy), yet in the UK I can't get either!?!?)

To quote one of the "headline bars"

For most homebrewers, the crush, the amount of wort they collect, the grain bed temperature and total wort collection time will be the most important variables.

I have a logged temperature sensor in my mash tun grain bed. This graph is from my first ever all grain brew.
You can see the grain bed temperature fall as run off started, followed by a sharp rise as sparge water filtered through the bed.

I'm now wondering if running the initial wort off before starting sparging has any effect...

Hmmmm. More questions than answers, as usual

[adm]

's a nice nerdy touch......what do you use to do that then?

[Vossy1]

what do you use to do that then?

A data logger, probe, and asscoiated software

[adm]

Yebbut.....what probe, logger and how to connect to the PC?

I want to do this. I'm getting sick of various crappy digital thermos and would like to embed a decent one permanently! If there's something good and affordable of the shelf, then so much the better.

Wireless would be a bonus!

[Vossy1]

Out of my league and money I'm afraid

A PT100 and PID is about as far as I go, then it's time to call in the heavy mob

[Buzz]

i can't understand how so many brewers worry so much about getting the highest efficency possible anyway.

I know where you are coming from Rab and whilst I'm not overly concerned, it's just that I think that to have such a low efficiency, I must be doing something blatantly wrong. It's that that niggles me. I reckon there's something staring me in the face and I just don't see it.

Also, with the rising price of malt it would be nice to get something like 70%. I'd feel as If i'm doing things right if I could hit that consistently.