57 replies to this topic

[Big Nake]

Are we talking finished beer pH?

I seem to remember a conversation we had and I think that Denny mentioned that brewers should not try to influence finished beer pH and that the yeast and fermentation would determine that for us anyway. I'm not sure I understand that or if my paraphrasing of that is incomplete. I originally assumed that one could adjust the kettle pH and get a beer's finished pH lower so you could get that refreshing snap that we've talked about. I seem to pick it up on a lot of my pale lagers (helles, pils, American premium, etc) where the low overall pH just seems to be a good part of the balance of the beer.

[positiveContact]

Are we talking finished beer pH?

I seem to remember a conversation we had and I think that Denny mentioned that brewers should not try to influence finished beer pH and that the yeast and fermentation would determine that for us anyway. I'm not sure I understand that or if my paraphrasing of that is incomplete. I originally assumed that one could adjust the kettle pH and get a beer's finished pH lower so you could get that refreshing snap that we've talked about. I seem to pick it up on a lot of my pale lagers (helles, pils, American premium, etc) where the low overall pH just seems to be a good part of the balance of the beer.

 

I only measure pH in the mash so that's what I was talking about.

[Big Nake]

I only measure pH in the mash so that's what I was talking about.

Oh. Yeah, I'm always attempting to knock it down... never up.

[HVB]

I only measure pH in the mash so that's what I was talking about.

I measure it at all steps- mash, kettle, fermenter, keg but I only adjust it in the mash.  The others are just to see how it changes during the process.

[positiveContact]

I measure it at all steps- mash, kettle, fermenter, keg but I only adjust it in the mash.  The others are just to see how it changes during the process.

 

if I had a meter I'd probably do the same

[HVB]

if I had a meter I'd probably do the same

you can get one you know

[Big Nake]

This hoppy blonde was pushed off until today so late this afternoon I plan to brew. So I have a grist of 3 pounds of pale ale malt, 3 pounds of wheat, 2.5 lbs of this Patagonia extra pale malt, 8 ounces of acid malt and 4 ounces of CaraPils. I would ordinarily add about 4ml of 88% lactic acid to the strike water to get my mash pH to line up. With this acid malt in there (supposedly for every 1% of the grist that is acid malt, you lower the pH by .1), I'm not sure how much acid to add. I rarely use this stuff so I don't know if that 1% = .1 thing is even correct. Should I start with 3ml and add more if necessary? The total % of acid malt in the batch is 5.4%. I really don't want to be all    while I'm trying to get my pH and temp set.  Thoughts?

[BlKtRe]

Sounds good to me on percentage. Typically Wyermann suggests 10% for sour beers so 5.4% seems reasonable. 

[neddles]

This hoppy blonde was pushed off until today so late this afternoon I plan to brew. So I have a grist of 3 pounds of pale ale malt, 3 pounds of wheat, 2.5 lbs of this Patagonia extra pale malt, 8 ounces of acid malt and 4 ounces of CaraPils. I would ordinarily add about 4ml of 88% lactic acid to the strike water to get my mash pH to line up. With this acid malt in there (supposedly for every 1% of the grist that is acid malt, you lower the pH by .1), I'm not sure how much acid to add. I rarely use this stuff so I don't know if that 1% = .1 thing is even correct. Should I start with 3ml and add more if necessary? The total % of acid malt in the batch is 5.4%. I really don't want to be all while I'm trying to get my pH and temp set. Thoughts?

Honest answer here. I'd throw the acid malt out and use lactic per your usual process. If anything about this beer becomes an outlier (good or bad) your going to immediately point to the acid malt. If you are looking to make acid malt a regular part of your process then that makes sense but to me it doesnt otherwise seem worth using $0.67 of what is probably pretty old malt (IIRC this is acid malt you have has for a while, right?) at this point. Forgive me if I am missing some other detail here.

[Big Nake]

It may be a year old and was in its original bag, sealed and kept cool, dry and dark. The issue is that I have already measured out the grains and they're all in a bucket so I'm past the point of no return. I hear your point and I understand it but it's too late to take it.

[positiveContact]

Honest answer here. I'd throw the acid malt out and use lactic per your usual process. If anything about this beer becomes an outlier (good or bad) your going to immediately point to the acid malt. If you are looking to make acid malt a regular part of your process then that makes sense but to me it doesnt otherwise seem worth using $0.67 of what is probably pretty old malt (IIRC this is acid malt you have has for a while, right?) at this point. Forgive me if I am missing some other detail here.

 

risk seems low that there will be an issue.  just my two cents.

[neddles]

risk seems low that there will be an issue.  just my two cents.

Agree. I wasn't suggesting it would cause an issue.

[Big Nake]

It's not like I haven't used it. It was suggested to help lower my mash pH but eventually I found plan lactic acid to be better for me. In the meantime I have this malt so I may as well just use it. I am trying to prevent adding everything together, taking a reading and being at 4.85 or something. I doubt that will happen. On pale beers I have added 4ml of acid and still needed to lower the mash pH so I think I'll use 3ml of acid, the 8 ounces of acid malt and then take a reading. If I'm high, I'll add more acid. If I'm low or REALLY low, I think I would be surprised but I'll just have to pivot based on what I find. I'll report back.

[positiveContact]

It's not like I haven't used it. It was suggested to help lower my mash pH but eventually I found plan lactic acid to be better for me. In the meantime I have this malt so I may as well just use it. I am trying to prevent adding everything together, taking a reading and being at 4.85 or something. I doubt that will happen. On pale beers I have added 4ml of acid and still needed to lower the mash pH so I think I'll use 3ml of acid, the 8 ounces of acid malt and then take a reading. If I'm high, I'll add more acid. If I'm low or REALLY low, I think I would be surprised but I'll just have to pivot based on what I find. I'll report back.

If too low just add some of your tap water

[Big Nake]

If too low just add some of your tap water

QFT

[Big Nake]

5 gallons of water plus 3ml of lactic acid came to a pH of 5.50. Then I added 2g of CaCl and 1g of CaSO4 plus the ¼ tsp of brewtan and it went to 5.46. My guess is that the mash pH will be in the zip code. I'm about to find out.

Final mash pH was 5.19 which I'm calling GOOD.

[positiveContact]

QFT

 

you could sell your tap water as pH raising solution

[Big Nake]

you could sell your tap water as pH raising solution

True story. 7.50 (ish) pH plus all that bicarb.

* starts packaging water... *