Does pH need to be measured?

[dmtaylor]

When addressing professional brewers on the subject I ask "How many of you check pH and have never had more than perhaps a third respond that they do. I can't attest as to whether this group contained the best brewers in the room. I have also had professional brewers tell me "You home brewers take this stuff much more seriously than we do."

Well... for whatever reason, in this hobby, this is nearly a fact: about 1/3 of us are engineers (and other kinds of scientists?), 1/3 are IT guys, and the other 1/3 just want to make beer. The engineers and IT guys tend to overthink everything, that's what they (we) do. Real life commercial brewers on the other hand have a different mix. Engineers and IT guys might not want to quit their day jobs to become commercial brewers who make about 25-35% as much on average.

 

[brewbama]

I use a water calculator to get a guesstimate of mash pH. I’ve measured pH at various points in the process and have become accustomed to what to expect. Based on the information I have, if my pH meter probe breaks (again), I probably won’t replace it.

 

[philm63]

The available software for water adjustments is good to have - it gets you pretty close as long as you start with knowing what your water has in it, and use the inputs correctly.

Measuring your pH can certainly better inform you at each step but as far as I have seen it is not absolutely necessary. I do it, but I'm an engineer and I have to know! Does it make my beer better? Dunno. But I sure know (or at least I THINK I know) what's going on every step of the way...

 

[grampamark]

I stick my finger in the wort and then lick it. Been working so far.