RCCOLA
Well-Known Member
I've been following this forum for awhile and just wanted to thank TH, AJ, and Martin B. You guys have really helped me to get my head around my water mods. Once again--thanks guys!
Here are my results from yesterday's brew. I used Bru'n water calculator and EZ water calculator to compare it to.
7° SRM/ 7 gallon batch/
RO water: 4.5gallons mash
4.5 gallons sparge. 2 sparges @ 2.25gal/ea.
Grain bill:
48% 6 lb American Two-row Pale
32% 4lb Wheat Malt
8% 1 lb Caravienne Malt - 22L
8% 1 lb Flaked Oats
4% 8oz Honey Malt
I wanted a malty profile, so I used
Mash: 2g CaCl, 1g CaSO4
Sparge: 1.6g CaCl, .8 CaSO4--> 1/2 of each of these were added to the 2 sparge volumes.
This nets:
Ca: 42 (after pickling lime addition it went to 56)
Cl: 55
SO4: 30
Estimated pH: 5.2(Bru'n Water calc) 5.46(EZ Water)
Actual: 5.3 before lime addition
The first thing I did was calibrate my meter. First at 7pH then at 4pH. It did not need adjustment--had held it from 2 weeks ago.
I added my strike water to the tun and then added my mash ions to it, then stirred in the grain. I took a sample and jockeyed it between 2 plates to cool it to room temp. It yielded a mash pH of 5.3 Disregard the 5.5 reading--it's the pH of the storage solution
So, I added .5g of pickling lime (Ca(OH)2)
which raises pH
This brought my pH up to 5.4.
If I had used baking soda, the calculators predict that it would have taken 2-3 times that amount to have the same effect
After I added my first sparge volume, I stirred in .8g CaCl and .4 CaSO4 and then checked pH.
It read 5.8.
I wanted it at 5.6 so I added 1tsp of 10% phosphoric acid which dropped it to 5.4
Ranoff the 1st sparge volume, added the second along with .8g CaCl and .4 CaSO4, and checked pH at 5.6
Seemed good to me and I left it alone. Here's the 5.6 reading on one of my CPR test strips
Looks like 4.6 to me. 5.6 on its scale is medium brown.
Boil pH ended up at 5.2
That's an 8 gallon boil in an 8 gallon pot BTW. Fermcap FTW.
All in all, a good brewday. My $40 meter (Hanna HI98107) performed flawlessly and my additions worked pretty close to as predicted. 6.25gals chilled to 64F and tucked away in my wine fridge set at 65F.
Here are my results from yesterday's brew. I used Bru'n water calculator and EZ water calculator to compare it to.
7° SRM/ 7 gallon batch/
RO water: 4.5gallons mash
4.5 gallons sparge. 2 sparges @ 2.25gal/ea.
Grain bill:
48% 6 lb American Two-row Pale
32% 4lb Wheat Malt
8% 1 lb Caravienne Malt - 22L
8% 1 lb Flaked Oats
4% 8oz Honey Malt
I wanted a malty profile, so I used
Mash: 2g CaCl, 1g CaSO4
Sparge: 1.6g CaCl, .8 CaSO4--> 1/2 of each of these were added to the 2 sparge volumes.
This nets:
Ca: 42 (after pickling lime addition it went to 56)
Cl: 55
SO4: 30
Estimated pH: 5.2(Bru'n Water calc) 5.46(EZ Water)
Actual: 5.3 before lime addition
The first thing I did was calibrate my meter. First at 7pH then at 4pH. It did not need adjustment--had held it from 2 weeks ago.
I added my strike water to the tun and then added my mash ions to it, then stirred in the grain. I took a sample and jockeyed it between 2 plates to cool it to room temp. It yielded a mash pH of 5.3 Disregard the 5.5 reading--it's the pH of the storage solution
So, I added .5g of pickling lime (Ca(OH)2)
This brought my pH up to 5.4.
After I added my first sparge volume, I stirred in .8g CaCl and .4 CaSO4 and then checked pH.
It read 5.8.
Ranoff the 1st sparge volume, added the second along with .8g CaCl and .4 CaSO4, and checked pH at 5.6
Seemed good to me and I left it alone. Here's the 5.6 reading on one of my CPR test strips
Boil pH ended up at 5.2
All in all, a good brewday. My $40 meter (Hanna HI98107) performed flawlessly and my additions worked pretty close to as predicted. 6.25gals chilled to 64F and tucked away in my wine fridge set at 65F.