Brew stand

This is a place where people can ask questions about brewing. Hopefully, someone who is more knowledgable about brewing will respond.

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Bill Lawrence
Posts: 374
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:18 am

Re: Brew stand

Post by Bill Lawrence »

Ok, there are two reasons I batch sparge. First of all, it's easier, I don't need to worry about getting the flow rates to equalize and I am not losing any efficiency that I can tell (ie; I don't need to pay as much attention to what is going on, a good thing for a more mature brewer like myself). Secondly, if you fly sparge, the ph of the grains is going to rise as you sparge. As the ph rises, the risk of extracting tannins increases which of course affects the taste of the beer (and if you get the grain bed too warm at the same time it will make this problem worse). What I do is add some buffer (which keeps the ph constant for all you non-chemistry types out there) so that the ph doesn't change as the sugars are extracted. Also, if I screw up and get the sparge water too warm it doesn't make a difference since the ph is still kept low even as I run the wort off the grain (ever wonder why the Germans get away with doing decoctions and actually boiling the grain?). If you use the water around here as you probably know, it is slightly basic. When making light colored beers, the ph issue is actually worse because the grain itself is not as acidic as the darker roasted grains (plus you'll taste the tannins more since there is less intense roasty flavor to hide the screwups behind). Anyway, that is my story and I'm sticking to it, hopefully all that is helpful to somebody out there. :D
Remember, brewers make wort, only yeast make beer
iledford
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 8:47 pm

Re: Brew stand

Post by iledford »

I definitely agree with Bill Lawrence - a good chiller is absolutely mandatory. Mine just broke recently and I felt like I couldn't work without it anymore and since I wasn't able to afford one I had to use rental power. Though right now I am not sure how long this will / can go on because I think I definitely have to buy a new chiller some time around.
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Bill Lawrence
Posts: 374
Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:18 am

Re: Brew stand

Post by Bill Lawrence »

Yup, the faster you can get your wort cooled down the better. First of all, if you make lagers you absolutely must get your wort down to as close to 50F as you can otherwise you will end up with off flavors. If you favor hop bombs, cooling the wort quickly will trap flavor and especially aroma, always a good thing for those IPA's. I just did a CAP Sunday and to get the wort cold enough I pump ice water through my chiller with a pond pump (after dropping the temperature with ground water first), it works great. Hopefully the stuff comes out half decent because that beer is a serious pain in the butt to make, ceral mashing corn grits is always a good time. :D
Remember, brewers make wort, only yeast make beer
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