2funkids
Active Member
Fellow Brewers, after reading AJs posts I found a great deal on Amazon for a Hanna Instruments Bench PH/ORP meter HI4221-01 (if you watch closely you may find that Amazon seems to throw out intermittent deals For a single sale before increasing the price again). I do have some questions after doing a 10 Gallon Porter and I thought anyone new to this like me may have the same questions I do, so here it goes.. If youre wondering, this is typically an $800 meter, so my hopes are that it is as accurate as the PH buffers that are good to .o1 PH, the meter has accuracy of .002PH +/- 1LSD. I dont know what 1LSD is?
I Used 17 total Gallons of RO water purchased at a local Grocery Store. The Recipe called for approx 8% darker malts. Using AJs approach I added almost 1.75 tsp of Calcium Chloride to the water and I ended up sparging at the end with my well water that typically makes good dark beers. My thoughts were that this end of sparge water really never made it into the Kettle anyway After Consulting AJ the first time on this brew, His thoughts were that I would be approx 5.4 to 5.5 on my Mash so using the guidelines and not adding any Acidulated would be ok. Being as anal as I am, I wanted to be closer to the middle of his recommendations of being 5.1-5.5 so I used 4 oz Acidulated in the mash a mistake I think!
AJ wrote; According to the guidelines you shouldn't need any and I think the guidelines apply here. What I would really encourage you to do is obtain a pH meter and measure the actual pH you obtain in the mash tun. I'm guessing it would be around 5.4 - 5.5 but the only way to know for sure is to measure it.
Cheers, A.J.
So thats what I did and here is what I observed.
Observation 1, I checked the PH of the RO water. This made me initially think this PH meter was not going to help me. I poured some RO water into a glass and suspended the probes into it and it was showing a 7.5 PH and went down and down and down I am thinking what is going on, and walked away to continue with the other steps of the brew I went back and it had stabilized at 5.96 hence my first question. If it is RO water what should the PH be? I also understand the atmosphere will change the sample but I dont understand that either. Does the Starting PH of the RO water matter and how should I use it to calculate the amount of Acidulated I would need when compared to the recipe?
Observation 2, I checked the water after treating with Calcium chloride, initially it read 6.05 but stabilized at 6.12. So now I am wondering if going from 5.96 raw RO to 6.12 treated is what I should expect? I also wondered why it went up rather than down as it stabilized like it did with the Raw RO?
Observation 3, I checked the PH at mash in 4.98 and now I was thinking O-man, this is not good I am way too low and I should not have added that Acidulated .but it stabilized out at 5.07, so Now I am wondering, how does the lower of the range effect the beer? I hoped it meant a little lower yield and that is it? My fingers were crossed
Observation 4, as the mash sat, the PH went up a little bit. ½ hour in it is now 5.13, so I am wondering why it is going up during the mash?
Observation 5, I made the confirmation that the mash is going up because now at the first run off the wort is 5.15. Whew this is going in the right direction and I am in AJs recommended range of 5.1-5.5 but on the low side.
Observation 6, at 5 gallons of 13 on the runoff the PH is 5.25 now I am happy. PH at 10 gallons of runoff was 5.3, but why is it going up?
Observation 7, As I focused on Plato (what I typically use for an indication of over sparge), I found the PH stable at around 5.3 and it edged up to 5.32 at Plato 5. I stopped sparging at Plato 4. But I didnt check the PH because I was focusing on boiling wort. Now I am wondering if PH could be used to determine when to stop sparging or if Plato a better method?
So that is it and now hopefully one of you can add insight to these observations?
Lastly, thanks for all the help from this forum You guys and gals Rock!
I Used 17 total Gallons of RO water purchased at a local Grocery Store. The Recipe called for approx 8% darker malts. Using AJs approach I added almost 1.75 tsp of Calcium Chloride to the water and I ended up sparging at the end with my well water that typically makes good dark beers. My thoughts were that this end of sparge water really never made it into the Kettle anyway After Consulting AJ the first time on this brew, His thoughts were that I would be approx 5.4 to 5.5 on my Mash so using the guidelines and not adding any Acidulated would be ok. Being as anal as I am, I wanted to be closer to the middle of his recommendations of being 5.1-5.5 so I used 4 oz Acidulated in the mash a mistake I think!
AJ wrote; According to the guidelines you shouldn't need any and I think the guidelines apply here. What I would really encourage you to do is obtain a pH meter and measure the actual pH you obtain in the mash tun. I'm guessing it would be around 5.4 - 5.5 but the only way to know for sure is to measure it.
Cheers, A.J.
So thats what I did and here is what I observed.
Observation 1, I checked the PH of the RO water. This made me initially think this PH meter was not going to help me. I poured some RO water into a glass and suspended the probes into it and it was showing a 7.5 PH and went down and down and down I am thinking what is going on, and walked away to continue with the other steps of the brew I went back and it had stabilized at 5.96 hence my first question. If it is RO water what should the PH be? I also understand the atmosphere will change the sample but I dont understand that either. Does the Starting PH of the RO water matter and how should I use it to calculate the amount of Acidulated I would need when compared to the recipe?
Observation 2, I checked the water after treating with Calcium chloride, initially it read 6.05 but stabilized at 6.12. So now I am wondering if going from 5.96 raw RO to 6.12 treated is what I should expect? I also wondered why it went up rather than down as it stabilized like it did with the Raw RO?
Observation 3, I checked the PH at mash in 4.98 and now I was thinking O-man, this is not good I am way too low and I should not have added that Acidulated .but it stabilized out at 5.07, so Now I am wondering, how does the lower of the range effect the beer? I hoped it meant a little lower yield and that is it? My fingers were crossed
Observation 4, as the mash sat, the PH went up a little bit. ½ hour in it is now 5.13, so I am wondering why it is going up during the mash?
Observation 5, I made the confirmation that the mash is going up because now at the first run off the wort is 5.15. Whew this is going in the right direction and I am in AJs recommended range of 5.1-5.5 but on the low side.
Observation 6, at 5 gallons of 13 on the runoff the PH is 5.25 now I am happy. PH at 10 gallons of runoff was 5.3, but why is it going up?
Observation 7, As I focused on Plato (what I typically use for an indication of over sparge), I found the PH stable at around 5.3 and it edged up to 5.32 at Plato 5. I stopped sparging at Plato 4. But I didnt check the PH because I was focusing on boiling wort. Now I am wondering if PH could be used to determine when to stop sparging or if Plato a better method?
So that is it and now hopefully one of you can add insight to these observations?
Lastly, thanks for all the help from this forum You guys and gals Rock!