Folks:
I just purchased the LaMotte water kit (the one that includes the ph meter). I wanted to share the water profile I recorded using this kit, along with some ph results from a subsequent brew session. I was little surprised by ph results in real world, so I'm wondering if water kit is reliable, or if the results actually make sense given my test results. Anyway, here goes:
After the test, I got the following water profile:
Cal: 0 (kit only shows results if 50 ppm interverals)
Mg: 12
Na: 33
Chl: 50
SO4: 0 (same as Cal; only shows 50 ppm intervals)
Alkalinity as CaCO3 : 50
PH. 7.1
I use the advanced water calculator on brewers friend. I target mash ph of 5.4 and aim to adjust sparge water ph to 5.4 as well (I use to have a nasty astringency issue--it disappeared once I started adjusting ph of sparge water). The following additions are water brewers friend told me would get mash and sparge ph of 5.4:
Mash: 17 lbs grain, color 5.9, and 8 gal of sparge wate: Add 5 g gypsum and 5 g cal. chl, and 1 ml of lactic acide. I did not get 5.4 with this. Instead I got 5.7. Test 10 minutes later showed 5.75.
Sparge: to 3.5 gal, I added 1 ml of lactic. This brought my sparge water all the way down to 4.7! I had to add tap water back in to bring ph up to targeted 5.4.
So, is the issue my test results from the LaMotte kit, is it brewers friend, or is it my ph meter?
A little more on the ph meter. Up until this last batch, I used colorphast strips. And, in fact, I still used them to compare to what the meter from the LaMotte kit was returning (I did calibrate meter, BTW). Colorphast strips, true to reputation, returned results nearly .5 lower than the meter included with LaMotte kit.
For whatever it's worth, here is my water profile according to my local water report:
Ca: 36
Mg: 9
Na: 20
Chl: 41
SO4: 37
Alkalinity (as CaCO3): 80
Finally, I'll say that, at least according to the colorphast strips, I was coming under on my ph using the water report numbers as well. I never did a brew with a ph meter using the water report figures.
So, anyone have any sense of what I should be addressing first in order to get more predictable results?
Thanks in advance!
I just purchased the LaMotte water kit (the one that includes the ph meter). I wanted to share the water profile I recorded using this kit, along with some ph results from a subsequent brew session. I was little surprised by ph results in real world, so I'm wondering if water kit is reliable, or if the results actually make sense given my test results. Anyway, here goes:
After the test, I got the following water profile:
Cal: 0 (kit only shows results if 50 ppm interverals)
Mg: 12
Na: 33
Chl: 50
SO4: 0 (same as Cal; only shows 50 ppm intervals)
Alkalinity as CaCO3 : 50
PH. 7.1
I use the advanced water calculator on brewers friend. I target mash ph of 5.4 and aim to adjust sparge water ph to 5.4 as well (I use to have a nasty astringency issue--it disappeared once I started adjusting ph of sparge water). The following additions are water brewers friend told me would get mash and sparge ph of 5.4:
Mash: 17 lbs grain, color 5.9, and 8 gal of sparge wate: Add 5 g gypsum and 5 g cal. chl, and 1 ml of lactic acide. I did not get 5.4 with this. Instead I got 5.7. Test 10 minutes later showed 5.75.
Sparge: to 3.5 gal, I added 1 ml of lactic. This brought my sparge water all the way down to 4.7! I had to add tap water back in to bring ph up to targeted 5.4.
So, is the issue my test results from the LaMotte kit, is it brewers friend, or is it my ph meter?
A little more on the ph meter. Up until this last batch, I used colorphast strips. And, in fact, I still used them to compare to what the meter from the LaMotte kit was returning (I did calibrate meter, BTW). Colorphast strips, true to reputation, returned results nearly .5 lower than the meter included with LaMotte kit.
For whatever it's worth, here is my water profile according to my local water report:
Ca: 36
Mg: 9
Na: 20
Chl: 41
SO4: 37
Alkalinity (as CaCO3): 80
Finally, I'll say that, at least according to the colorphast strips, I was coming under on my ph using the water report numbers as well. I never did a brew with a ph meter using the water report figures.
So, anyone have any sense of what I should be addressing first in order to get more predictable results?
Thanks in advance!