Raising Mash PH - Pickling Lime

[joegbeer]

So my Bru'n water calculations come out at 5.2 PH and I'd like to get it to 5.4 PH. I had never noticed before that the Pickling Lime water addition in the spreadsheet has a comment: "Add Pickling Lime in mash only. Do not add to water alone since the PH may increase too high". Oops.

Don't think it matters much for this conversation, but I brew on a grainfather system.

So here's my question...

After mashing in, sprinkling 0.9 grams of pickling lime just doesn't feel like it's going to be evenly distributed. Is it really that unpredictable to add that small amount of pickling lime to the water, stir and start my mash in process?

 

[mabrungard]

I should probably revise that language since the high pH thing is mainly a concern if the water already has significant calcium. High pH could cause that calcium to precipitate out of solution. But for most brewers that need to boost mash pH, they are often starting with low TDS water such as distilled or RO. In that case, it doesn't matter what the water pH does. The only thing that matters is where the mash pH ends up.

As you would find, sprinkling lime onto the mash and trying to get it mixed uniformly through the mash is difficult. Its much easier and more effective to incorporate all mineral and acid additions into the mashing liquor and mixing it up well, and then adding that to the grain. That's the way to assure yourself that they additions are uniformly distributed in the mash.

 

[joegbeer]

Thanks Martin. Appreciate the insight to your knowledge and experience.