PH and Efficiency Correlation

Is there a correlation between PH and Efficiency? My efficiency is on the low side (between 50% and 65%). I am wondering if the PH of the water is potentially an issue. I don't know the ph of my water and i am currently not treating it. Just wondering if it could potentially play a role if too low or too high. I know that i need to have grain crushed finer, i want to rule out the possibility and learn a little more.

 

Well I'm a sample size of one and don't know any of the science. I have done quite a few batches without water adjustments and started doing water adjustments in the last year or so. I add a reasonable amount of acid to get my pH in range and have not measured an efficiency increase. I guess there are a lot of variables such as the maltsters - I generally don't do rebrews so my malt bills are all over the show.

I just noticed you posted this in general beer discussion. You may get a more detailed answer if you posted it in the brew science forum.

 

It does play a role but is of much lesser impact than the quality of your crush and other mash mechanics in play. These more important mash parameters in addition to the crush quality are temperature, adequate wetting of the grains and how effective your lautering process is.

The pH of your water is not of major concern assuming your tap water is safe to drink. It's the mash ph which is of importance.

Certainly controlling mash pH can improve the process but more so from a taste point of view rather than an efficiency one.


Lots of good info here

 

And here is more of Kai's work on mash parameters.

 

Having your mash pH in the right zone(5.2-5.6) will help the enzymes break down the starches into sugars more efficiently, thus increasing your efficiency. If you wanna learn all you need about water, read the Colin Kaminski book "Water". Use a highlighter and read it twice.

 

Efficiency as measured by gravity units is not significantly affected by pH. However, conversion of those starches to sugars is affected. I don't find that pH is all that important for efficiency.

As one of the individuals that had just about as much contribution to the Water book as Colin, I can assure you that the primary author is John Palmer. I'm hoping that our contributor from Arcata is just kidding about who's book it is.

 

Sorry, of course John gets most of the credit, I just listened to a podcast with Colin as guest speaker, so his name was sort of stuck in my head and he was talking water chemistry.