Sodium Bicarbonate in Mash

[Cloud Surfer]

I did an Imperial Stout last year. When I checked the mash pH it was 5.07. I’m using a good Milwaukee meter.

Brewing today, same beer, I added 4 grams of Sodium Bicarbonate, into a volume of 34 litres/9 gallons before mashing in. I thought that would get me closer to 5.50 I was aiming for. When I checked the pH it was 5.13.

I’m wary of adding too much Sodium into the beer. My water analysis shows 25ppm Sodium, and I read in a few places to try keep it under 100ppm total. I can find information from people who add Sodium Bicarbonate to their dark beer mash, but I’m not clear about how much to add.

 

[dmtaylor]

34 litres is nearly twice as large as the standard American-sized batch. As such, go ahead and double your sodium bicarbonate addition. I don't think 6-8 grams in 34L / 9 gallons is all that much. If this is a black beer which I believe that it is, the dark roasted grains are adding a lot of acidity which needs to be neutralized, so I'm not surprised that you need a lot to balance it out.

 

[doug293cz]

If you want drop your mash pH, without adding sodium, you can use pickling lime (aka calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) rather than sodium bicarbonate.

Brew on

 

[Cloud Surfer]

34 litres is nearly twice as large as the standard American-sized batch. As such, go ahead and double your sodium bicarbonate addition. I don't think 6-8 grams in 34L / 9 gallons is all that much. If this is a black beer which I believe that it is, the dark roasted grains are adding a lot of acidity which needs to be neutralized, so I'm not surprised that you need a lot to balance it out.

Sorry, to be clear, the mash volume is 34 litres. Finished volume will be a fairly standard 22 litres.

 

[Cloud Surfer]

If you want drop your mash pH, without adding sodium, you can use pickling lime (aka calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) rather than sodium bicarbonate.

Brew on

Is there a downside to using pickling lime? From memory there was a reason I decided to use Sodium Bicarbonate instead, but I can’t remember why.

 

[doug293cz]

I'm not aware of any. There is a downside to using calcium carbonate (chalk) which is its very limited solubility.

Brew on

 

[Cloud Surfer]

I'm not aware of any. There is a downside to using calcium carbonate (chalk) which is its very limited solubility.

Brew on

Ok, well thanks for the idea. I need to learn more about this stuff. It would be great to see someone who does this in their brew process post some more info.

 

[dmtaylor]

Sorry about my previous post. 8 grams now does sound like a lot.

@doug293cz is correct however. You could use pickling lime, and I'm not aware of any adverse effects from it.

That, and/or, consider reducing the amount of dark roasted grains. Do you use brewing software? Check the SRM color of the beer. If it is more than about 30, then you are using way too much dark grains, which will tend to reduce the mash pH significantly, as well as ashtray astringency in the finished beer. I realize this is an Imperial Stout; however, black is black. It's not going to get any blacker if it's 50 SRM vs. black at 30 SRM.

 

[Cloud Surfer]

Interesting. I’ve never brewed with colour in mind. I build recipes based on flavour and aroma, and just accept whatever colour I get. This Imperial Stout has 5% chocolate wheat and 3% roast barley, which is on the very low end of dark malts typical in Imperial Stouts. If I reduced that any further the flavour profile would start to change and it wouldn’t be a very authentic Imperial Stout. The colour of this particular beer is 73 SRM. I’ve made Imperial Stouts up to 170 SRM. That was to roasty for me, but that beer still got a third in comp.

I’ll definitely look at using pickling lime. But back to the original question, how much would I use of that? I’m sure lots of people have experience using this in their big, dark beers.

 

[dmtaylor]

Interesting. I’ve never brewed with colour in mind. I build recipes based on flavour and aroma, and just accept whatever colour I get. This Imperial Stout has 5% chocolate wheat and 3% roast barley, which is on the very low end of dark malts typical in Imperial Stouts. If I reduced that any further the flavour profile would start to change and it wouldn’t be a very authentic Imperial Stout. The colour of this particular beer is 73 SRM. I’ve made Imperial Stouts up to 170 SRM. That was to roasty for me, but that beer still got a third in comp.

I’ll definitely look at using pickling lime. But back to the original question, how much would I use of that? I’m sure lots of people have experience using this in their big, dark beers.

A little dab'll do ya. I'd start with 1/4 teaspoon at a time. I'm not positive how many grams that is, maybe 2 grams at a time, something in that ballpark, until the pH comes up. Might end up using up to a teaspoon and 4-5 grams, but this is only a guess. Pickling lime is not in the software that I use.

 

[mabrungard]

Don't be too paranoid about sodium in your beer. Sodium doesn't 'taste' salty until its concentration gets around 250 ppm. Seawater is in the parts per thousand range and you probably know how salty that tastes.

I find that dark beers provide plenty of flavor that further obscures any possibility of saltiness. Taking the sodium concentration into the 100+ ppm is really not a big deal. The other thing to remember, is that you're only adding baking soda to the mashing water. Sparging water should have no baking soda added and when the sparging water is added, the overall sodium content would drop by maybe half.

Use baking soda more liberally!

 

[Cloud Surfer]

Don't be too paranoid about sodium in your beer. Sodium doesn't 'taste' salty until its concentration gets around 250 ppm. Seawater is in the parts per thousand range and you probably know how salty that tastes.

I find that dark beers provide plenty of flavor that further obscures any possibility of saltiness. Taking the sodium concentration into the 100+ ppm is really not a big deal. The other thing to remember, is that you're only adding baking soda to the mashing water. Sparging water should have no baking soda added and when the sparging water is added, the overall sodium content would drop by maybe half.

Use baking soda more liberally!

That’s good points. Thanks Martin.

Fortunately I’m making lots of Imperial Stout at the moment as I age them in different types of spirit barrels. I’ll try doubling the amount next time to 8g Sodium Bicarbonate and see what that gets me.