adjusting water

caver95 · 03-25-2009, 03:36 PM

Do you guys adjust your mash and Sparge Ph? I was told it will help. I am about to do my first AG and dont want to mess it up.

**brewmasterpa** · 03-25-2009, 03:46 PM

ill be honest, i dont mess with water too much. i buy RO filtered water from the local water shop, then do my mash, and add gypsum before the boil, and thats it. ive never had an issue. i live in the phoenix metro area, and our water here SUCKS WITH A CAPITAL SUCKS. you dont have any other choice but to buy water from the water shop if you plan on brewing. lets put it this way, the water from my tap, smells like swimming pool water. if you have any doubt, just buy water from the local water shop and add some brew salts. your brewshop should supply you with brew salts if you buy a recipe from them. mine does.

caver95 · 03-25-2009, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewmasterpodunkarizona

ill be honest, i dont mess with water too much. i buy RO filtered water from the local water shop, then do my mash, and add gypsum before the boil, and thats it. ive never had an issue. i live in the phoenix metro area, and our water here SUCKS WITH A CAPITAL SUCKS. you dont have any other choice but to buy water from the water shop if you plan on brewing. lets put it this way, the water from my tap, smells like swimming pool water. if you have any doubt, just buy water from the local water shop and add some brew salts. your brewshop should supply you with brew salts if you buy a recipe from them. mine does.

Cool, they did sell me some gypsum and other for the sparge water. I will use it. my water is pretty good.
I was very happy at the brew store tasting every grain that is going into my batch. I hope I can pick it out after. I plan on brewing friday, and making a starter today with washed yeast I have never done that but if it smells bad i will go get a new tube of yeast from the brew shop.

**GilaMinumBeer** · 03-25-2009, 04:18 PM

I have rock hard water. Seriously! After 2 brews I have to acid wash my gear to remove scale.

5.2 pH Stabilizer in the mash per Five Star instructions and Lactic Acid in the sparge water. Done!

Beers are great from Pils to Stout.

caver95 · 03-25-2009, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GilaMinumBeer

I have rock hard water. Seriously! After 2 brews I have to acid wash my gear to remove scale.

5.2 pH Stabilizer in the mash per Five Star instructions and Lactic Acid in the sparge water. Done!

Beers are great from Pils to Stout.

Lactic acid thats the stuff I bought. cool thanks for the info.

DD2000GT · 03-25-2009, 04:47 PM

Just did my first AG batch yesterday. I researched the water quite a bit and got a full report from my local water company. Dallas, TX water supply is actually pretty good and will brew Amber to dark ales right out of the tap (I was real surprised) and comes in at 5.7 according to Palmer's chart. In consulting John Palmers "How to Brew" book, I decided to add a little gypsum to my mash water to get the PH where it needs to be for my lighter colored Kolsch ale. Worked great and I hit 74% efficiency right out of my home made Igloo Tun.

I read though in Palmer's book that you do not need to adjust the water PH on your sparge - just the mash. Someone with more experience can correct this if I am wrong, but I did not adjust the sparge water at all (I batch sparged).

Good luck,
Dan

**GilaMinumBeer** · 03-25-2009, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DD2000GT

Just did my first AG batch yesterday. I researched the water quite a bit and got a full report from my local water company. Dallas, TX water supply is actually pretty good and will brew Amber to dark ales right out of the tap (I was real surprised) and comes in at 5.7 according to Palmer's chart. In consulting John Palmers "How to Brew" book, I decided to add a little gypsum to my mash water to get the PH where it needs to be for my lighter colored Kolsch ale. Worked great and I hit 74% efficiency right out of my home made Igloo Tun.

I read though in Palmer's book that you do not need to adjust the water PH on your sparge - just the mash. Someone with more experience can correct this if I am wrong, but I did not adjust the sparge water at all (I batch sparged).

Good luck,
Dan

With batch sparge pH correction is not critical but can't hurt. Many fly sparge and in that if you do not adjust your sparge water pH you MUST [ay attention to running gravity. By adjusting sparge water pH running gravity is not at issue.