5.2

[kdbentz]

Just curious if anyone has any experience using 5.2 mash ph stabilizer and how much of a difference it can make in your brew.....I have never tested my water without it and have never used it......any input?

 

[normonster]

Consensus is that it's a bs product good for nothing.

If you use RO water it's real easy to hit any water profile using Brew'n Water and some basic chemicals/minerals.

That said, I've use a ton of it and my beers all turned out pretty good except IPA. I'm done with it now though.

 

[Braufessor]

Consensus is that it's a bs product good for nothing.

If you use RO water it's real easy to hit any water profile using Brew'n Water and some basic chemicals/minerals.

That said, I've use a ton of it and my beers all turned out pretty good except IPA. I'm done with it now though.

^^^ Fact. It does not do what it claims to do.

There are simple ways to work with your water to make the best beers possible. It can seem a bit intimidating at first - but it is not that hard.
*Get a water analysis from Ward Labs (there is a home brewing test) or start with RO water.
*Use a water calculator of some sort - I use B'run Water, but there are others too, or check out the water primer in the brew science forum which gives some basic ways to work with water when starting out.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

I feel like I recall reading somewhere that it was designed for a specific brewery to get their water pH to 5.2 and then was mass marketed. So if your water is exactly like said brewery then it will work. Otherwise it is indeed, as discussed, a waste of money.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I used it for a while. I saw no appreciable difference when I stopped. I vote snake oil.

 

[TheMadKing]

Chemistry doesn't lie, it is not possible to do what this product claims to do by adding a single homogenized ingredient. You can raise pH with baking soda, or lower pH with phosphoric acid or lactic acid. You can't do both with a single product simultaneously.

If you added the same mEq of acid and baking soda to the same mash the net change in pH would be zero.

 

[oceanic_brew]

There's a knob in our studio, if you turn it it makes everything sound better.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

There's a knob in our studio, if you turn it it makes everything sound better.

Why not just make 5.2 the top number and make 5.2 louder?

These go to 11.

 

[TheBigLebrewsk1]

Just curious if anyone has any experience using 5.2 mash ph stabilizer and how much of a difference it can make in your brew.....I have never tested my water without it and have never used it......any input?

In my not so scientific experiments, brewing same grain bill and same water, I get a .05 increase in SG using the 5.2 stabilizer.