I am new to brewing, not real dumb, but still looking for a lot of answers. I hope this can help someone else.
Heres what I learned last night. I was into about 6 or 7 pints of IPA, so cut me SOME slack.
I have tried to understand all the things involved while I am getting set-up to AG brew. I have found a lot on water chemistry, and am blessed with really good well water. But I have tried doing searches for info on wort pH, but 'Search' doesn't like short word terms like 'pH'. I found nothing in the WIKI. I have found some stuff from Palmer on acceptable pH range, but it is tightly coupled to knowing your exact water chemistry, and I just want to know what I need, and what to do to attain a GOOD pH, and why it's important and what happens when it's off.
So, I asked the local 'Master. Here's what I got.
First, you HAVE to be in the range of about 5.2-5.5. If you are not in this range (and it's better to be on the low side than the high), the beer will taste blah, bland, and if you do everything right, but miss the pH correction, your beer will be disappointing. Correct pH wort produces beer that is crisp, and has distinct flavors.
So, what do you do about it? Litmus is easy to use but not that clear as you must interpret the result, and litmus gets old sorta quickly. An electronic pH meter calibrated with a liquid 'Standard' is real accurate, but expensive and awkward or cumbersome to use.
So, what do you add to fix high pH? Palmer says calcium chloride or calcium sulphate (gypsum), but my buddy says he just uses phosphoric acid.
When is this most important? If you brew a pale beer, trying to get a proper pH wort, pre-boil, is something to have to work at a bit, as kilned dark malts are acidic, so darker beers need less work.
How do the Germans do it (brew a pale beer, no dark malts, with correct wort pH) and stay true to the Gehsundhite (!) Law? Acidulated Malt.
http://***********/referenceguide/grains/grains4.html
Malt L G Decription
German Grains
Acidulated (Sauer) Malt 1.7-2.8° 1.033 High lactic acid. For lambics, sour mash beers, Irish stout, pilsners and wheats
And I said, 'oh.'
If anyone can offer more on this subject I think that it would help a lot of other people.
Heres what I learned last night. I was into about 6 or 7 pints of IPA, so cut me SOME slack.
I have tried to understand all the things involved while I am getting set-up to AG brew. I have found a lot on water chemistry, and am blessed with really good well water. But I have tried doing searches for info on wort pH, but 'Search' doesn't like short word terms like 'pH'. I found nothing in the WIKI. I have found some stuff from Palmer on acceptable pH range, but it is tightly coupled to knowing your exact water chemistry, and I just want to know what I need, and what to do to attain a GOOD pH, and why it's important and what happens when it's off.
So, I asked the local 'Master. Here's what I got.
First, you HAVE to be in the range of about 5.2-5.5. If you are not in this range (and it's better to be on the low side than the high), the beer will taste blah, bland, and if you do everything right, but miss the pH correction, your beer will be disappointing. Correct pH wort produces beer that is crisp, and has distinct flavors.
So, what do you do about it? Litmus is easy to use but not that clear as you must interpret the result, and litmus gets old sorta quickly. An electronic pH meter calibrated with a liquid 'Standard' is real accurate, but expensive and awkward or cumbersome to use.
So, what do you add to fix high pH? Palmer says calcium chloride or calcium sulphate (gypsum), but my buddy says he just uses phosphoric acid.
When is this most important? If you brew a pale beer, trying to get a proper pH wort, pre-boil, is something to have to work at a bit, as kilned dark malts are acidic, so darker beers need less work.
How do the Germans do it (brew a pale beer, no dark malts, with correct wort pH) and stay true to the Gehsundhite (!) Law? Acidulated Malt.
http://***********/referenceguide/grains/grains4.html
Malt L G Decription
German Grains
Acidulated (Sauer) Malt 1.7-2.8° 1.033 High lactic acid. For lambics, sour mash beers, Irish stout, pilsners and wheats
And I said, 'oh.'
If anyone can offer more on this subject I think that it would help a lot of other people.