5.2 stabilizer

[jmcm_brew]

What are your thoughts on this? A tablespoon for 5 gallons of water to get the ph where it needs to be... I've done plenty of ag batches and loved the results without messing with my water.. Always went by if the water tastes good enough to drink its good enough to brew... But of course I'm trying to fine tune everything now so I may start altering my water... Just trying to get some opinions... Cheers

 

[Darwin18]

I've never used the product, however I have seen many posts on here about this being akin to snake oil. I would suggest that you need to do more research on your water to understand what and why you are adjusting.

 

[jmcm_brew]

I've done some research on my water and everything seems ok but the ph is 6.5 so I was thinking maybe this stuff was a good solution but I'm not very familiar with it

 

[RM-MN]

I've done some research on my water and everything seems ok but the ph is 6.5 so I was thinking maybe this stuff was a good solution but I'm not very familiar with it

It really doesn't matter what your water pH is, what matters is what the mash pH is. It isn't likely to help to add any minerals to your water until you know what is in it or at least what the mash pH is.

 

[Dan]

I'm with Darwin18 on 5.2. I've used it and didn't notice any difference in my beer. I don't have meter so don't know for sure what if anything it did to the pH. There has been quite a bit of discussion on the subject and it seems the guys who have a good handle on water chemistry tend to agree 5.2 stabilizer is not all it's cracked up to be.

Here's a link you might be interested in. It's a sticky in the brew science threads.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

 

[jmcm_brew]

Ok cool... I'm thinking if it ain't broke don't fix it... Thanks for the help guys!

 

[bob1852]

Learning how to adjust your water with modest additions of sulfate (gypsum, CaSO4), chloride (CaCl), and acid (if needed, either lactic or phosphoric) will get you much more accurate and beneficial results compared to the "5.2" product, which for me has only worked with one grain bill.

I really like the Bru'N water spreadsheet.

But, you need 1) a water report with as much info as possible (Ca, Mg, Na, S04, Cl, CaCO3, etc.), a scale capable of measuring to the 0.x gram, and 3) a pH meter to confirm what the spreadsheet models are telling you.