The Bishop’s Indulgence (III)
Wort run off is going well, clarity remains excellent and the color is now a deep chestnut color, beautiful. The sparge has almost finished now and the wort run off should be finished within the hour. The sparge liquor serves to wash out the sugars and other nutrients from the mash so that we are extracting the maximum amount of nutrients that we can within the limitations of the system. Of course we can’t simply keep sparging until the mash is free of nutrients because we will excessively dilute the wort we are collecting and the last runnings may contain high levels of phenols if the pH rises above 5.5, which will lead to clarity issues with the product. The elevated temperature of the sparge liquor serves to rapidly inactivate the mash enzymes.
The sparge liquor is added across the surface of the mash as the wort is drawn from underneath the mash.
Tags: the bishop's indulgence