klnosaj

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I'm just getting into brewing water adjustments and I appreciate all the help in this sub-forum.

My last mash came in at 4.9 but I didn't know when was the appropriate time to make an addition. Do I do it as soon as I take that first pH reading at mash-in? And if so, do I just add my measured Sodium Bicarbonate directly to the mash tun and stir it in? Lastly (for now), if I need to acidify the mash can I add Acid Malt directly to the mash tun after mash-in of everything else?

Thanks to all who take a second to look in here! I am lost without the expertise of the people on this forum.

ajdelange

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See the discussion at http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/changing-my-mash-water-saved-my-beer-323473/

The general drift there is that you must wait 15 - 20 minutes for the pH to stabilize before making an adjustment. By this time it is really too late to make one, however, so a better idea is to mash a small amount of the grist you plan to use with the water you plan to use and check its pH after 15 - 20 minutes. If that is too high then add some acid (1% sauermalz per 0.1 pH drop desired is the easiest to compute certainly) or if too low then add small amounts of alkali until the desired pH is reached and then scale that amount for the full mash.

If you haven't done a test mash then go ahead and do the acid/alkali adjustment anyway. The beer will not be as good as it would be if proper pH were established immediately but it still can be very good. Next time you brew this beer you will have a better idea what to do.

Yes, you can make corrective additions directly to the mash.

mabrungard

Recipes 

I have to agree with AJ, but using a program like Bru'n Water can at least get you prepared for what additions are likely. I do think you should take care of mash pH ASAP. The test mash approach seems quite reasonable. If you're not into that approach, use Bru'n Water to get you close.

__________________
Martin Brungard, P.E. D.WRE
Carmel, IN
BJCP National
Foam Blowers of Indiana (FBI)

Brewing Water Information at:
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/

Yooper

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I tested this a bit today. I mashed it, stirred very very well, and checked the temperature. In 5 minutes I took my sample and cooled it. It read 5.45 at room temperature. In 15 minutes, I took another sample and got 5.39. In 30 minutes, it was still 5.39. Very close, but not exactly the same.

It takes me about 5 minutes to cool my small sample in an ice/water bath.

__________________
Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

klnosaj

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Yeah...I've tried using your program. I really admire the time and energy you put into it but it always ends up calculating a much higher pH than I end up with. It's great for calc'ing mineral content but hasn't worked so great for me with figuring pH. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong (e.g., it always says "unbalanced" for total anions on the "input water report" page) but I don't have the technical knowledge to figure out what it is.

mabrungard

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The computer age adage: Garbage In = Garbage Out holds true. Until you input the water quality of your starting water correctly, there is no way that you'll get an answer that's worth a hoot.

__________________
Martin Brungard, P.E. D.WRE
Carmel, IN
BJCP National
Foam Blowers of Indiana (FBI)

Brewing Water Information at:
https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/

ajdelange

Recipes 

That makes me suspect that you are measuring pH with strips rather than a properly calibrated meter.

klnosaj

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I don't really know what that means. I called my water provider and had a nice chat with one of the engineers there. I entered the data as he provided them to me.

No, no strips here. I use a Milwaukee pH 600 from Amazon. It's calibrated using 4.0 and 7.01 solution.

afr0byte

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How'd you do that? I looked up the pH 600. It only supports calibrating at one point (probably 7.01).

Veedo

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i have been seeing about .2 lower than what ezwatercalculator predicts, with biab full volume mashing.