What can I use for pH correction towards the basic end? I'm at pH 5.05 20 min into the mash, and I need it to get up to the 5.3-5.6 range. I added 1/4 tsp baking soda, but that didn't do anything. Is it safe to add red devil lye NaOH?
pH Correction - Need help bring UP the pH
- Thread starter rocketman768
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Hermit
fuddle
Calcium carbonate?
OP
OP
Crap. Don't have any chalk.
motobrewer
I'm no atheist scientist, but...
baking soda. it skyrockets your sodium (as it's NaHCO3) so hopefully you have low sodium to begin with. i roughly calculate about 6 grams baking soda. about 1.5 teaspoons.
also did you correct pH for temperature?
also did you correct pH for temperature?
If you added baking soda to something at pH 5.05 and nothing happened something is wrong here. What was your grist composition. It would be unusual to have a pH as low as 5.05 unless you added a lot of roast and/or high kilned crystal malt or used sauermalz or acid in another form. What is your water's alkalinity? How big a mash are we talking about here? How do you measure pH? Given the report of 5.05 I assume a meter was involved. So when was it last calibrated? How fresh are the buffers?
You will probably be OK at pH 5.05. It's not ideal but shouldn't have much of a detrimental effect on the beer.
Most brewers use calcium carbonate to raise mash pH but you can use sodium bicarbonate, calcium hydroxide (pickling lime), calcium carbonate, sodium hydroxide (lye), potassium hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide etc. Anything you use should be food grade and that sort of puts Red Devil out of the picture.
motobrewer
I'm no atheist scientist, but...
1/4 tsp is only a gram. it might raise it a few hundreds
OP
OP
==Water profile (measured by Ward Labs)==
Ca: 41
Mg: 12
HCO3: 136
SO4: 9
Na: 11
Cl: 13
pH: 7.8
==Added water agents==
1 g gypsum
1 g calcium chloride
0.3 g epsom salt
==Grains in mash==
4.3 lb US 2-row
6 oz Biscuit
6 oz C120
Mashing at 1.5 qt/lb, 68C.
The meter was last calibrated yesterday by SWMBO who is a structural biologist in her lab.
Yeah. After adding the ~1 gram of baking soda or so without anything happening, I figured I'd RDWHAHB instead of adding loads of sodium. I'm not sure what happened today, it kind of confuses me why the pH would be so low. I had phosphoric acid to correct it if it was too high, but didn't have many good options for the other direction.
Thanks for the list of correction agents too.
baking soda++
motobrewer
I'm no atheist scientist, but...
well, baking soda won't spike sodium THAT much, but if you have high Na like I do it'll just make it worse.
anyway, i'm sure it'll be fine at 5.05
anyway, i'm sure it'll be fine at 5.05
A goodly, but not huge, amount of alkalinity there.
Assuming 5 gallons treated, that should leave you about 58 ppm as CaCO3 residual alkalinity.
Don't know about the biscuit but the C120 does have a fair amount of acid. Assuming the biscuit is about the same I still don't think there's enough to push you that low.
Though I just posted in another thread about an electrode that held its cal for 2 months that is most unusual. Daily calibration (or a daily check) is a good idea and so at this point my suspicion is aimed at the meter. Can you have her do a check (not a recal) on it tomorrow?
Adding that much bicarb to just the post treatment water would raise the pH to 7.9 and the RA to 90. I'd still expect some movement in the mash pH.
I think that was the best thing to do.
OP
OP
Yeah, I'm not sure. My pH meter seems to be properly calibrated, so I don't know what the issue was.
I'd acquire pH paper as back-up.
