Desirable PH during fermentation

[Torskarr]

I suspect my light beers get some off flavors due to ... don't know really, but one thing might be water quality. I have a wheat in fermentation now, made yesterday. What kind of ph do I look for.


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[JonM]

Here's a great place to start, if you haven't read it already. Do you know any of the details about your water quality?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

 

[grathan]

I think 4.5 after fermentation is done. I haven't checked this yet on my beers, but my mash is usually ok. One thing I would like to try is to adjust my drinking water to 4.5 to see if that changes the flavor at all.


The biggest thing is mash PH if you're doing all-grain brewing. If you treat all the water you use for brewing to PH 5.5 ahead of time you'll be fine with light beers.


If you doing extract then I wouldn't worry about PH at all. Though perhaps you could brew with all bottled water one time to put your mind at ease..

 

[Torskarr]

Ok, tanks! My mashing is fine, between 5 and 6, but I read somewhere that the extra water added in the end (lauter/sparging) may unbalance the whole thing. I just measured it now, it is 4-4,5 on day one of fermentation.

Perhaps my skunky flavor comes from high temp. I ferment in a closed isolated box with temperature control for heating, not for chilling. Surrounding temp is 55F, so usually not a prob with too warm. Now have 2x25 liters in there, and it makes all the heat itself. I read 64F in the box, perhaps temp in center of wort is massively higher...!?

The off flavor is sulphury/skunky/bitter.


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[JonM]

You can put a few drops of lactic acid into your sparge water to reduce its pH. That way, it won't muck up the mash pH.

 

[Yooper]

Ok, tanks! My mashing is fine, between 5 and 6, but I read somewhere that the extra water added in the end (lauter/sparging) may unbalance the whole thing. I just measured it now, it is 4-4,5 on day one of fermentation.

Perhaps my skunky flavor comes from high temp. I ferment in a closed isolated box with temperature control for heating, not for chilling. Surrounding temp is 55F, so usually not a prob with too warm. Now have 2x25 liters in there, and it makes all the heat itself. I read 64F in the box, perhaps temp in center of wort is massively higher...!?

The off flavor is sulphury/skunky/bitter.


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"Between 5 and 6" for the mash pH is not fine, sorry to say! You really want to be at 5.3-5.5 at room temperature. 5.2-5.8 is acceptable, but even at 5.8, there could be some flavor impact. Over 5.8 is not good at all.

Your fermentation pH is really meaningless.

If you have a stick on thermometer right on the fermenter, you could probably get a good idea of what the actual fermentation temperature is.

A "skunky" flavor generally comes from light, while a husky or tannic flavor comes from a too high mash pH. A too-high fermentation temperature will usually cause some fruity flavors, like bubblegum or bananas, or sometimes a peach-ness. Stressed yeast will usually cause flavors like cloves or bandaids.

 

[grathan]

Not massively higher. perhaps a few degrees. As mentioned skunky can come from sunlight exposure. Sulphury can be incomplete fermentation? I have not used s33 yet, but perhaps your not letting things sit long enough? Bitter could be the tannins extraction. Your gonna want your sparge water below ph 6 (not just the mash). Another thought is chlorine/chloramine though I am not familiar with what water you're using.

 

[Calichusetts]

This sounds like a higher pH issue. In other words, if your darker beers come out fine, it is because they lower your pH for you with the grain bill. Higher pH with a lighter beer often appears muddled or nondescript. I like 1% acid malt in my very light beers and use gypsum to get me the rest of the way there.

I really like brewers friend mash calculator. Intuitive, not as intricate as brun water but its so visually easy to navigate. Great place to start.

 

[Torskarr]

Tanks all, gets me going here


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