I've seen nothing written on this, nor have I seen it in the many BIAB videos I've watched on YouTube. I've also written to some of the BIAB'ers on YouTube. All seem to be in the dark on the subject or how to treat the situation.
For conventional brewing where the strike water to grain ratio is about 1.3 to 1, I don't think I would have had a problem getting my water reasonably close to 5.4 from the grains.. with minimal adjustment to get it down a tad more.
However, with my first attempt at BIAB, using a full liquid volume of 4.5G to 5.5 lbs of grain (2.5G batch), my pH dropped from 7.0 to 6.4. I had to add acid to the mix to drop it to 5.3.
I'm assuming the difference between conventional and full volume mashing is the difference but I don't fully understand why. I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this.
I'm also hoping someone can tell me, if this is normal, how to treat the water before adding the grains. If my batch only dropped 0.6pH, should I treat the water during the heating to mashing temp to say 6.0 or 5.9 ahead of time and then a add the grain and make a minor adjustment.. even with dark roasted barley?
PS.. please don't get too technical on me with this.. cuz it'll go right over my head. Basically, I need a synopsis of what you think I should do.
Thanks for any input..
For conventional brewing where the strike water to grain ratio is about 1.3 to 1, I don't think I would have had a problem getting my water reasonably close to 5.4 from the grains.. with minimal adjustment to get it down a tad more.
However, with my first attempt at BIAB, using a full liquid volume of 4.5G to 5.5 lbs of grain (2.5G batch), my pH dropped from 7.0 to 6.4. I had to add acid to the mix to drop it to 5.3.
I'm assuming the difference between conventional and full volume mashing is the difference but I don't fully understand why. I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this.
I'm also hoping someone can tell me, if this is normal, how to treat the water before adding the grains. If my batch only dropped 0.6pH, should I treat the water during the heating to mashing temp to say 6.0 or 5.9 ahead of time and then a add the grain and make a minor adjustment.. even with dark roasted barley?
PS.. please don't get too technical on me with this.. cuz it'll go right over my head. Basically, I need a synopsis of what you think I should do.
Thanks for any input..