5.2 Sweetness?

[DaleJ]

Last Nov/Dec I decided to be lazy and try Five Star's 5.2 stabilizer.
Each of the beers where I used that have a strong sweetness in the finish.
I've been racking my brain to see what else I might have done consistently across these beers and that seems to be the common element.
I've since done a MaiBock using regular water treatments (gypsom, etc.) and no 5.2 and it is what I expect from my brews.

Any one else have this experience?

 

[the_bird]

Doubtful it's the 5.2; the only off-flavor I've ever heard anyone mention (it's rare and I've never picked up on it) is a mineral flavor. More likely is either recipes (too many crystal malts? Too few IBUs to balance the natural sweetness) or yeast underattenuating (lack of O2, underpitching, fermenting too cold, etc.)

 

[jpsloan]

I've used the 5.2 Stabilizer in each of my last six batches, and the only effect I've noticed is approximately a 10% bump in my efficiency.

 

[AnonyBrew]

Might want to double check the accuracy of the thermometer that's being used to measure mash temps.

 

[The Pol]

Yah, I use 5.2 pretty regularly... though I dont see much of a difference in my eff. numbers, I also dont see any difference in the flavor of the beer.

What was the OG?
What was the FG?

Sweetness, means sugar to me... so what were the SG readings?

 

[SnickASaurusRex]

Doubtful it's the 5.2; the only off-flavor I've ever heard anyone mention (it's rare and I've never picked up on it) is a mineral flavor. More likely is either recipes (too many crystal malts? Too few IBUs to balance the natural sweetness) or yeast underattenuating (lack of O2, underpitching, fermenting too cold, etc.)

This gave me an idea:

If the 5.2 is giving you better efficiency (more sugar) then the hops might be out of balance for any residual sweetness that might occur. Unless you took your brewhouse eff and GU:BU into account when rewriting the recipe to include 5.2.

It's a long shot, but that is what I thought of when I read this thread.

 

[The Pol]

Even if you increase your eff. by 10%... lets say...

It would take a 1.040 beer to 1.044

If you assume the same attenuation %, why wouldnt you, then your OG would shift from 1.007 to 1.008 if you had even 82% attenuation.

I cant see this making a noticeable difference in the percieved sweetness of a beer. Really. Definately not a "strong sweetness"

Still, interesting to see your OG and FG on these beers.

 

[Ewalk02]

I've been using 5.2 for quite a while now with no real percieved results (sometimes I forget to use it and I still get the same efficiencies) but I also have never noticed a sweetness that comes from using it. I guess in my case my water profile is good enough without 5.2 to be close enough to the right pH.

I'd be looking into my hop bill if I were you, either that or double checking my thermometer to make sure I wasn't mashing too hot.

 

[GunnerMan]

Yeah I tossed a bit of the 5.2 down the hatch when I first got it for "familiarization" purposes, it tasted kind of like baking soda and a acidy, almost metalic taste at the same time. Maybe your water you are using has a lower PH than 5.2 and so you are getting a bit more malt charachter out of the higher ph but the 5.2 is def. not sweet.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

So, been reading about 5.2 Stabilizer. Never used it though. So, most people notice no flavors from it? Just stabilizes the mash at 5.2 without adding a large salt flavor or anything? How well is it working for people with hard water?

And, I always thought the pH of the mash was supposed to be closer to 5.4, not 5.2. And even Palmer says it should be 5.2 to 5.6. So what gives?

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-3.html

This residual alkalinity will cause an all-base-malt mash to have a higher pH than is desirable (ie. >6.0), resulting in tannin extraction, etc. To counteract the RA, brewers in alkaline water areas like Dublin added dark roasted malts which have a natural acidity that brings the mash pH back into the right range (5.2-5.6)

 

[Edcculus]

I think its been agreed on since How To Brew was written that 5.2 is a good target pH. I believe 5.4 is better for darker beers, but 5.2 isn't going to hurt anything.

I taste everything that goes into my beer. 5.2 is definately salty. Think about it though. You are putting ~1tbl into what is going to end up being ~6-7 gallons of water, extracted malt sugar and hops. I doubt I'd be able to taste 1 tbl in 6 gallons of plain water to begin with.

 

[LibertyBrewer]

I used 5.2 on the last 2 batches I did. I checked the efficiency on the one I did yesterday, and it was up 9.9%.

The water I use is hard. It comes up out of the ground, since I have well water here. I have a softener in the house, because I got tired of scraping mineral deposits out of toilets. I use the outside spigots (hard water) to brew with. I put a tablespoon of it in 5 gallons of water yesterday, and tasted it. It tasted like hard water to me.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

I think its been agreed on since How To Brew was written that 5.2 is a good target pH. I believe 5.4 is better for darker beers, but 5.2 isn't going to hurt anything.

I taste everything that goes into my beer. 5.2 is definately salty. Think about it though. You are putting ~1tbl into what is going to end up being ~6-7 gallons of water, extracted malt sugar and hops. I doubt I'd be able to taste 1 tbl in 6 gallons of plain water to begin with.

Thanks for the info.