I brewed a porter this weekend. First time I have ever used a pH meter to measure the mash pH. Thought I would share the results.
Original water (ppm):
Ca: 4
Mg: 1
Alkalinity as CaCO3: 22
In 5 gallons of mash water I adjusted to:
(Added 3g of CaCl2)
Ca: 47
Mg: 1
Alkalinity as CaCO3: 22
This gives an RA of -14.
Two commonly used water chemistry guides:
Palmer:
Using Morey this is a 31 SRM beer. Plamer calls for an RA of 256 to 315. To get the low end you would need 8g of baking soda in the mash.
Tasty Brew 2.0:
15.5 lbs total grain, 2.5lbs specialty non-roasted, 1.25lbs roasted. 31 SRM. Predicts a mash pH of 4.96 and I would need 8g of baking soda in the mash to get a pH of 5.2 which is my target.
Both those leave me with about 73ppm of sodium in the final beer. So not bad, below the threshold for a salty taste. I am lucky I have <10ppm Na in my tap water. If I did not have a pH meter, I could probably add this and not worry too much.
Actual brew day:
dough in, pH: 5.15
add 2g baking soda, pH 5.27
I let it sit for 5 minutes and checked it again: 5.24 and this is where it stayed for the length of the mash.
So a RA of 25 is sufficient for brewing a 31 SRM beer. I know others have said they have done similar things, but I guess it is nice to confirm this myself. I hesitate to draw any other conclusions from this being that it was just 1 sample. But, I am going to really try to take the mash pH for every beer from now on.
Original water (ppm):
Ca: 4
Mg: 1
Alkalinity as CaCO3: 22
In 5 gallons of mash water I adjusted to:
(Added 3g of CaCl2)
Ca: 47
Mg: 1
Alkalinity as CaCO3: 22
This gives an RA of -14.
Two commonly used water chemistry guides:
Palmer:
Using Morey this is a 31 SRM beer. Plamer calls for an RA of 256 to 315. To get the low end you would need 8g of baking soda in the mash.
Tasty Brew 2.0:
15.5 lbs total grain, 2.5lbs specialty non-roasted, 1.25lbs roasted. 31 SRM. Predicts a mash pH of 4.96 and I would need 8g of baking soda in the mash to get a pH of 5.2 which is my target.
Both those leave me with about 73ppm of sodium in the final beer. So not bad, below the threshold for a salty taste. I am lucky I have <10ppm Na in my tap water. If I did not have a pH meter, I could probably add this and not worry too much.
Actual brew day:
dough in, pH: 5.15
add 2g baking soda, pH 5.27
I let it sit for 5 minutes and checked it again: 5.24 and this is where it stayed for the length of the mash.
So a RA of 25 is sufficient for brewing a 31 SRM beer. I know others have said they have done similar things, but I guess it is nice to confirm this myself. I hesitate to draw any other conclusions from this being that it was just 1 sample. But, I am going to really try to take the mash pH for every beer from now on.