E-tree
Member
I'm having trouble coming up with the specific phosphoric acid additions I should be using for my pH adjustments. I've been using the approach specified in "Water" by Palmer and Kaminski, and the result of those calculations tells me that when using distilled water, a 1.4 gallon mash using 4.5lb Maris Otter w/ 3.1 mVal of Calcium (provided by 1 gram of gypsum and .3 grams of Calcium Chloride) would require about 24 mEq of acid to balance out at a pH of 5.4 I'm not exactly sure how to bridge the gap between 24 mEq of phosphoric acid and how many mL of my 85% Phosphoric acid solution I should be adding.
Another questions is assuming I am using distilled water, does the amount of acid needed change based on the volume of the mash? If I were to increase the volume to 2 gallons for some reason, I'm assuming the mEq of acid needed doesn't change because distilled water isn't introducing any new ions into the equation.
Also if I were to decide to treat my both my mash and sparge water volume all together, and then take from that the volume necessary for the mash, then I assume I would need more acid proportionate to the amount of sparge water I will be adding. If I had 1.4 gallons of sparge water it would require twice the acid since I will be splitting it up?
I've got myself so confused today, any help clarifying this would be immensely helpful to my sanity.
Another questions is assuming I am using distilled water, does the amount of acid needed change based on the volume of the mash? If I were to increase the volume to 2 gallons for some reason, I'm assuming the mEq of acid needed doesn't change because distilled water isn't introducing any new ions into the equation.
Also if I were to decide to treat my both my mash and sparge water volume all together, and then take from that the volume necessary for the mash, then I assume I would need more acid proportionate to the amount of sparge water I will be adding. If I had 1.4 gallons of sparge water it would require twice the acid since I will be splitting it up?
I've got myself so confused today, any help clarifying this would be immensely helpful to my sanity.