Mash PH question

Hey there,
I dove into water additions and mash PH today. I have a PH meter with ATC and while in the mash got a mash PH of 5.38, the reading was consistent. Now in How to Brew, Palmer recommends a mash PH of 5.1 to 5.5 at mash temp and 5.4 to 5.8 at room temp.

I was wondering, with the ATC should I be shooting for the room temp range or am I ok with my 5.38 which is right in the middle of the mash temp recommendation?

Btw, my grain bill was 12 lbs 2-row, 1 lb Munich 11 L and 10oz crystal 60. Thanks!


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Heat will destroy your probe. Cool to room temp and shoot for 5.4 to 5.6. 5.2 can be OK for some beers, but to start, shoot for the middle 5.5 until you get a handle on how to control it all.

even with atc the ph is literally different not just reading different at those temps so the atc helps but is still not accurate so for consistency and less ware on your meter measure at room temp.

I did cool the cup of wort by placing it in the freezer and stirring it. Didn't take a thermometer to it but it was cool to the touch. I did see the ATC was only accurate to 122*.

Do you always check the temp of the wort to 75* or so? How quickly into the mash should PH adjustments be made since cooling even a small amount of wort can take 5-10 minutes or so since conversion can happen pretty quickly from what I've read.

Thanks for the replies!



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cease said:

I did cool the cup of wort by placing it in the freezer and stirring it. Didn't take a thermometer to it but it was cool to the touch. I did see the ATC was only accurate to 122*.

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The ATC algorithm is valid at any temperature so this number is probably the recommended temperature limit for the electrode.

cease said:

Do you always check the temp of the wort to 75* or so?

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Yes.

cease said:

How quickly into the mash should PH adjustments be made since cooling even a small amount of wort can take 5-10 minutes or so since conversion can happen pretty quickly from what I've read.

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ASAP for the reasons you mention. You should not have to correct in the mash because you should have made a test mash prior to the actual brew and have scaled the acid/alkali additions from the test mash such that the error is the actual mash pH should be small. Experience will also tell you what to expect to the point where surprises should be rare.

ajdelange said:

ASAP for the reasons you mention. You should not have to correct in the mash because you should have made a test mash prior to the actual brew and have scaled the acid/alkali additions from the test mash such that the error is the actual mash pH should be small. Experience will also tell you what to expect to the point where surprises should be rare.

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I made adjustments using EZ Water Calc but have not heard of testing the mash prior to the brew. What size test mash do you brew?





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An ice water bath will bring it down more quickly.
Did you use one of the calculators to do an estimate before you started? If so, how close was it? The Munich and C60 can bring your water down into range even without much else if your water isn't too heavily buffered. Do you have a water report or did you just measure?

Got the water report from the water agency and used the EZ Water Calc that takes the source water, grain and adjustments into account. The sheet calculates a PH of 5.54 "estimated at room-temp." I guess at 5.38 I was way off assuming the measurement I took was accurate.


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Keep in mind it is only an estimate. Try some other calculators and see if they get you closer. I think someone else said they were consistently off with EZ but if it is consistent it doesn't matter. As a first step just getting into the accepted range is the first goal. Refining a preferred pH reading to a specific recipe you can work into. From what I've seen I think lower is good for dryer beers, higher is good for sweeter beers. But as a first go round? You will probably be pleased with the results.

cease said:

I made adjustments using EZ Water Calc but have not heard of testing the mash prior to the brew. What size test mash do you brew?

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Usually a pound of grain is sufficient. And please note that the entire brew is not carried out on it - only the strike to insure that the strike will be near correct when you do the full length brew.

This is one of the most valuable things your pH meter will do for you. Don't trust the spreadsheets and calculators. Use them to get you into the ballpark but only trust your meter (provided you have confidence in it - see the Sticky).

Hermit said:

Keep in mind it is only an estimate. Try some other calculators and see if they get you closer. I think someone else said they were consistently off with EZ but if it is consistent it doesn't matter. As a first step just getting into the accepted range is the first goal. Refining a preferred pH reading to a specific recipe you can work into. From what I've seen I think lower is good for dryer beers, higher is good for sweeter beers. But as a first go round? You will probably be pleased with the results.

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Right on, I did use a higher Munich 11L. I may have been close to the low 5.4 PH which is within the +/- .05 of the meter.

Yup, first time using lactic acid, salts and testing my mash PH. Always checked for conversion using the iodine test. Been happy with the final products but I wanted my standard IPA recipe to *pop* a bit more. I adjusted my chloride (34) to sulfate (74) as a starting point and adjusted for mash PH which according to EZ Water would have been at 5.73 as is.



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