City changed my water ph.do I need to adjust mash/sparge ph

[amber-ale]

Recently my municipality changed my tap water ph from about 7.6 to about 8. (maybe slightly higher)

I have never before needed to adjust my mash or sparge water ph. Do I need to reconsider now?

1) I live in the Canadian pacific north west and we have very soft water

2) I usually brew medium to dark ales, but now want to try a blond ale spiced with spruce tips and cascade hops.

3) I have been stumbling around brewers friend and it says that just my grain bill will decrease my mash ph to ph 5.65 and the addition of 5 grams (0.2oz) acidulated malt will decrease it down to 5.6. Is this difference significant? Useful?

4) I do BIAB with 75% of the water in the mash and 25% as a sparge after letting it drip/
Or squeezing the bag if I feel energetic.

Does the ph of the sparge water have to be adjusted also?

Thank you for your opinions

 

[DBhomebrew]

Water pH means practically nothing. You need the new mineral composition.

Sparge pH does matter, unless you use very low or mineral free water such as distilled or RO.

In both cases, it's about buffering capacity.

 

[jdauria]

What DB said. the pH of your tap water is not the main focus to be concerned about, it's what makes up the water. It's mash pH that you need to be more concerned with, with a 5.2-5.6 range as the sweet spot, with lighter colored beers usually at the low end of that range. 5.6, after 5 ounces of acidulated for a blonde ale, while technically in range, is too high in my opinion, I would try 3-4 ounces of acidulated (I mean 0.2 ounces is not really doing much) and try to get down between 5.2-5.3 for a blonde.

If you are sparging with BIAB, which I don't and using your tap water to sparge, it's recommended to adjust the sparge water to a pH below 6.0 and you would need lactic acid or phosphoric acid to do that. Before I was doing BIAB, I would adjust mind down to 5.5. if sparge water pH is over 6 and your water is too warm (over 170F), you risk extracting tannins which will make the beer astringent.

 

[Indian_villager]

If you are willing to share a copy of your city's water report, preferably before and after. I'm sure we could provide more pointed advice.

 

[Hoochin'Fool]

My vote is for just brewing with RO water. Buy some Calcium Chloride pellets, some Gypsum, steal some Baking Soda from your kitchen pantry, and possibly get some Phosphoric acid. Not sure I've noticed any of my lighter colored beers needing acidification when using RO water, so check Brewer's Friend recipe predictions. And kiss that acidulated malt goodbye forever!

 

[AlexKay]

If you in fact have very soft water — you did and you still do — then I would ignore the (minimal) pH change. If the change is from a significant increase in minerals, then not so much.

If you have a municipal water report, that’s great. Or you get your water tested (which of course will not tell you about any future changes.) A thrifty approach might be to grab a cheap TDS (total dissolved solids) meter. If it measures low enough (your water is as soft as you think it is), it likely doesn’t matter what the dissolved solids are. (If it measures high, then it matters very much.)

 

[mabrungard]

The water supplier probably adds a caustic to the water supply to help the soft water avoid corroding the pipes. That minor increase in pH is not really a big change, but you should recognize and treat the water since it now includes a bit more alkalinity. It's still soft, but with brewing, its alkalinity that's the most important component to treat for.