Water Profile Corrections & Fly Sparging

There are really three things you need to consider: 1) pH during mash 2) pH of sparge water 3) final salt balance of beer. You want to make sure you mash pH is between 5.2 - 5.8 (wide range; narrower might be 5.3 to 5.5). You want to make sure your pH doesn't get above pH ~ 5.8 during the sparge to prevent tannin extraction; you can acidify your sparge water to a pH of ~ 5.5 - 5.7 to achieve this. Finally, the final concentration of salts in your final beer can influence your flavor profile and fermentation. You need min levels of Ca for yeast health, Na levels for flavor balance, and Cl / SO4 levels for appropriate malt/bitterness balance as examples.

Consider the first two; then add corresponding salts to the final beer (during the boil say) to influence the third.

Hope this makes sense.

 

You may find this useful, I stopped acidifying my sparge water...and have had no ill-effects:

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

 

This is interesting thanks. I've had some astringency in lighter beers (eg a pilsner) prior to acidifying; and none afterwards. My water is fairly alkaline, nominal pH is 7.9-8.0.

There's a study in Water that Sierra Nevada conducted studying the effect of sparge acidifcation. Tasters could statistically tell the difference between acidified sparge water, ie when pH was not allowed to rise, and when it was. They attributed astringency and harshness to the nonacidified batch.

If you have good, neutral, fairly unbuffered/carbonated water (say, as you would in Pilsen), it is true, it is probably unnecessary. If not, it's not a bad practice, and performed fairly regularly at many reputable breweries. I add ~3.5 mLs of lactic acid to 5 gallons of sparge water, and I have never tasted it in the finished product.

 

I hadn't heard about the SN study. Do you know if they were producing the beer at homebrew levels?

When I acidified my sparge water I never tasted any sourness in the finished product either, and it's pretty cheap insurance regardless of the necessity. It's just one step I could remove from my process, and I always had the concern that I'd end up being able to taste it for whatever reason. When I brew lighter styles I cut my water with distilled water, so I suspect that helps quite a bit.

 

I am sure cutting your water with distilled does help! The SN test was done at 10 bbl scale, but the physics are the same. High pH = astringency.

The article you posted states there is no benefit, as long as a) you aren't brewing a low gravity beer b) you aren't brewing with alkaline water c) you don't have a history of brewing astringent beer. It's far easier for me procedurally to just add the acid every time than it is to worry about these things. Just add the 3.5 mLs (total cost probably about 12 cents) and no worries.

 

The key here is b), you aren't brewing with alkaline water. One's focus should be on the alkalinity of the sparge water, not the pH, per se. If one fly sparges using water with high alkalinity, then towards then end of the sparge the (continually reducing) acidity from the malts will no longer be able to act as a buffer against the (bi-) carbonate alkalinity in the sparge water. The result is at some point the alkalinity will win, driving the pH upwards. Common wisdom says this leads to increased tannin extraction. So, if you use distilled or RO for sparging, then acid addition is unnecessary. However, if you use high alkalinity tap water for sparging, then it is probably worth your time to acidify.

For those interested, here is a water spreadsheet that includes a sparge-water acidification calculator.