I would appreciate some help/guidance here. First let me admit I am not a 'science' guy. I have absolutely zero training or experience in these things so it will be pretty easy for you guys to quickly go over my head. Now on to the issue at hand.
I have used Brun water for a couple of years now and, until recently, it has always been really close to my measured mash pH. But over the last 6 or so brews (from IPA's to Dunkels) the measured pH is significantly lower than predicted.
I'm going to hopefully give enough information here that so people smarter than me can give me some guidance. So bear with me please.
The only thing I could come up with that was in common to all 6 brews was the water. I use a RO system in my house and I thought maybe that was the problem. So today I bought 10 gallons of distilled water and brewed with that. The predicted pH was 5.4 and my measured pH was 5.2. I realize this is probably OK but I'm trying to find out what has changed.
I always calibrate the pH meter while the mash water is heating. I use 4.0 and 7.0 solutions. I thought maybe the solutions were old so I bought new ones 3 brews ago and nothing changed.
I cool the sample to 70 degrees (measured with a Thermapen) before measuring the pH.
My pH meter is less than a year old and is a Milwaukee MW102. I always store the probe in the storage solution.
I have even gone back and measured both of the calibration solutions after calibrating the meter to be sure it was reading correctly. It is, with a variation of about .01-.02 in the reading. I have even measured the temperature of the calibration solutions and calibrated at about 70 degrees.
Today I measured the S.G. of my phosphoric acid solution thinking it was the problem. The SG was 1.120 at 55 degrees. So that works out to about 20.495%. I have the Brun water spreadsheet set to 20%.
I have triple checked the Brun water grain inputs and color (L) inputs and the amount of mash water. I use BIAB so I only use the Mash portion and not the Sparge section. Since this has happened continuously over the last several brews I think that eliminates user input error.
I have also checked the scale I use for measuring water salts. I used a penny, a nickel and a quarter separately and they all measured correctly.
I don't have any 'old' versions of Brun Water but if that was the problem I figure I would see lots of others posting with the same problem but I don't see that.
As I said at the beginning I am not a science guy and with my limited knowledge have tried to logically go through my process and eliminate potential problems along the way. But I am missing something and would appreciate some input on what you think I should look into next.
I have used Brun water for a couple of years now and, until recently, it has always been really close to my measured mash pH. But over the last 6 or so brews (from IPA's to Dunkels) the measured pH is significantly lower than predicted.
I'm going to hopefully give enough information here that so people smarter than me can give me some guidance. So bear with me please.
The only thing I could come up with that was in common to all 6 brews was the water. I use a RO system in my house and I thought maybe that was the problem. So today I bought 10 gallons of distilled water and brewed with that. The predicted pH was 5.4 and my measured pH was 5.2. I realize this is probably OK but I'm trying to find out what has changed.
I always calibrate the pH meter while the mash water is heating. I use 4.0 and 7.0 solutions. I thought maybe the solutions were old so I bought new ones 3 brews ago and nothing changed.
I cool the sample to 70 degrees (measured with a Thermapen) before measuring the pH.
My pH meter is less than a year old and is a Milwaukee MW102. I always store the probe in the storage solution.
I have even gone back and measured both of the calibration solutions after calibrating the meter to be sure it was reading correctly. It is, with a variation of about .01-.02 in the reading. I have even measured the temperature of the calibration solutions and calibrated at about 70 degrees.
Today I measured the S.G. of my phosphoric acid solution thinking it was the problem. The SG was 1.120 at 55 degrees. So that works out to about 20.495%. I have the Brun water spreadsheet set to 20%.
I have triple checked the Brun water grain inputs and color (L) inputs and the amount of mash water. I use BIAB so I only use the Mash portion and not the Sparge section. Since this has happened continuously over the last several brews I think that eliminates user input error.
I have also checked the scale I use for measuring water salts. I used a penny, a nickel and a quarter separately and they all measured correctly.
I don't have any 'old' versions of Brun Water but if that was the problem I figure I would see lots of others posting with the same problem but I don't see that.
As I said at the beginning I am not a science guy and with my limited knowledge have tried to logically go through my process and eliminate potential problems along the way. But I am missing something and would appreciate some input on what you think I should look into next.
