Stopping Sparging ?

[fisherman]

Hello lads,
I have a Refractometer now and would like to know when to stop sparging, I fly sparge and in the past have suffered with tannins and unpleasants tastes through over sparging. I have looked in my brewing books. Dave line does not give when to stop just when you have enough wort to fill the boiler. Graham's old book 1993 Brew your own Real Ale At Home with Roger Protz puts it at 1005. I really dont like Tannins so I would like to know when you would stop sparging to completely avoid any Tannis and off tastes carried through when sparging?.

[adomant]

I try to calculate sparge volume / time in advance but will stop if o.g. goes below 1.010 or at the first sign of wort cloudiness - but that's just me

[boingy]

I think I've seen recommendations for both 1.008 and 1.010.

If you think it is causing you a problem, why not stop well short of 1.010 on one brew and see if it solves the problem.

[Martin G]

In recent editions Palmer and Wheeler seem to agree on 1.008. I notice that Palmer says tannins can start to be extracted at 77C. Might be worth considering your temperatures, if you haven't already. Interesting when thinking about temperatures for sparge, by the time the liquor has dripped out and been diluted could have dropped a fair bit. I guess the risk of lowering is that you end up with more sweetness, given that 76C is the upper limit for enzyme activity, but then again that risk may be preferable to having tannins.

[adomant]

Enzyme activity should stop after mash out (or by sparging at 77c), my impression is that sparging is just to carefully rinse out the converted sugars occluded in the grain rather than to continue any further saccharification ?

[fisherman]

Thanks for the replies you are all a great help,
My sparge liquor is at 77oc to 79oc when it leaves the HLT so I don't think temperature is my problem. It;s me just sparging and tasting the liquor for sweetness and not checking the gravity. I am hoping the refractometer will be a big help, everyone who has one seems very pleased with the results.

[fisherman]

I shall stop next time at 1010 as you both say . I'm sure it is going to be ok.
Cheers