pH, RA & Lactic

I'm brewing a Wheat PA with 9 lbs of pale and 4 lbs wheat. I'm starting with Distilled and building up to Ca 111, Mg 18, Na 38, Cl 34, SO4 348, RA -58. EZ water says my my pH will be 5.76. If I adjust with 4 ml Lactic to get to 5.5, the RA goes to -322. Should I worry about this?

pelletben said:

I'm brewing a Wheat PA with 9 lbs of pale and 4 lbs wheat. I'm starting with Distilled and building up to Ca 111, Mg 18, Na 38, Cl 34, SO4 348, RA -58. EZ water says my my pH will be 5.76. If I adjust with 4 ml Lactic to get to 5.5, the RA goes to -322. Should I worry about this?

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Why is your sulfate so high? That's really high. I know a couple of people go with 350 ppm with IPAs, but that's not to my taste at all. I'd probably go with 100 ppm of sulfate. The NA is a bit high for my taste as well but that's because I"d use calcium chloride and not sodium chloride. I'd use calcium sulfate and not magnesium sulfate for the sulfate. So my numbers would look different, but yours aren't out of line if you like beers with that much sulfate.

RA doesn't matter, but mash pH does.

I was trying to get the hops out there. I based the water on Mosher's ideal pale water.

I don't exceed 300 ppm with sulfate in my hoppy beers, but to each his own!

I'm surprised that EZ is indicating almost 5.8 with that grist. I'm estimating right around 5.4 if the RA was brought down to -58. But the bottom line is that RA is not a target. Only pH is a target. If you believe EZ, add the acid needed to reach the targeted mash pH.

Bru'n Water seems to suggest you don't need the acid if you are hardening the water as much as you are proposing. If you back off the hardening, you may need to add a little acid to bring the pH down.

Are you adding the wheat to get EZ Water to 5.4?

pelletben said:

Are you adding the wheat to get EZ Water to 5.4?

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He's using Brunwater, I'm sure. But yes, you'd add the wheat to the grainbill as well.

Yooper- Do you start with Distilled?

pelletben said:

Yooper- Do you start with Distilled?

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Close- it's mostly RO water that I sometimes mix with my tap water for certain beers. Most of the time it's RO water in the mash, and I always sparge with RO water.