TungstenBeer
Well-Known Member
I've seen a couple of older posts here and there on this topic but nothing was really definitively concluded (from what I read). The threads also seemed to be more about "I just brewed and my mash pH was too low, should I be worried?" and less about possible unintended side effects. This isn't really a thread where "RDWHAHB" is appropriate, I'm just wondering if I should rebrew any of the batches from the past year to see if the flavors are different with a correct process.
Anyway, here's my story:
I've been brewing for about 5 years now - about a year extract, rest all grain. I have an electric HERMS system for mashing and boil with propane. I've got quite a few nice toys to pay attention to as many details throughout the process as possible. I've made a lot of great beers although not as many great ones in the past year or so.
I've struggled with mash and sparge pH for a while. My mash pH is often pretty stubbornly high, which I always attributed to our high alkalinity water. Not knowing quite enough about water, I didn't think much of it because I always thought I got good conversion (constantly hit OG and FG numbers based on Beersmith recipes).
Brewday often goes like this, so here's my transcript from my brew on Monday. I mash-in (includes 2:1 ratio of distilled water, brewing salts and ~6 oz of acidulated malt), pH reads 5.75. Add 1.5 mL of lactic acid, let circulate, pH reads 5.63. Add another 1.5 mL & circulate, pH again reads 5.63. It was after a third charge of 1.5 mL of acid I finally decided something was wrong. I may not have thought about this as much in the past because I typically brew low SRM beers, but this was a ~20 SRM strong ale and shouldn't have that type of problem. Acidifying my sparge water wasn't any better, and I couldn't get it to go below
So, I decided to dual-point calibrate my pH meter for the first time in... ever. (When I got it, I tested it in 4.0 calibration solution and it read 4.00 so I never touched it again). Post calibration, here were my readings:
Mash pH - about 4.6
Sparge water pH - about 3.8
!!!
Panic set in. I quickly convinced myself that it wouldn't be a huge deal because I've brewed literally all of my beers in the past year using a very similar process, and they were all average at worst and good at best. During the boil, I decided to finally download Bru'n Water (which I will be using everytime from now on) to double check what I was seeing. After finally learning how to use it, Bru'n Water almost exactly calculated what my newly calibrated meter was telling me.
What an idiot!
Having said that, I'm wondering what impacts this might have had on my beer in the past year. Here are some of the things I've experienced:
Do any of these seem like they could be caused by constantly having mash pH too low? I also thought a couple beers had a a very subtle but strange flavor which I attributed to a new yeast I hadn't used before (Super San Diego). Perhaps the yeast was not the culprit, though. Maybe it was how the yeast reacted to a higher pH of wort.
Anyway, here's my story:
I've been brewing for about 5 years now - about a year extract, rest all grain. I have an electric HERMS system for mashing and boil with propane. I've got quite a few nice toys to pay attention to as many details throughout the process as possible. I've made a lot of great beers although not as many great ones in the past year or so.
I've struggled with mash and sparge pH for a while. My mash pH is often pretty stubbornly high, which I always attributed to our high alkalinity water. Not knowing quite enough about water, I didn't think much of it because I always thought I got good conversion (constantly hit OG and FG numbers based on Beersmith recipes).
Brewday often goes like this, so here's my transcript from my brew on Monday. I mash-in (includes 2:1 ratio of distilled water, brewing salts and ~6 oz of acidulated malt), pH reads 5.75. Add 1.5 mL of lactic acid, let circulate, pH reads 5.63. Add another 1.5 mL & circulate, pH again reads 5.63. It was after a third charge of 1.5 mL of acid I finally decided something was wrong. I may not have thought about this as much in the past because I typically brew low SRM beers, but this was a ~20 SRM strong ale and shouldn't have that type of problem. Acidifying my sparge water wasn't any better, and I couldn't get it to go below
So, I decided to dual-point calibrate my pH meter for the first time in... ever. (When I got it, I tested it in 4.0 calibration solution and it read 4.00 so I never touched it again). Post calibration, here were my readings:
Mash pH - about 4.6
Sparge water pH - about 3.8
!!!
Panic set in. I quickly convinced myself that it wouldn't be a huge deal because I've brewed literally all of my beers in the past year using a very similar process, and they were all average at worst and good at best. During the boil, I decided to finally download Bru'n Water (which I will be using everytime from now on) to double check what I was seeing. After finally learning how to use it, Bru'n Water almost exactly calculated what my newly calibrated meter was telling me.
What an idiot!
Having said that, I'm wondering what impacts this might have had on my beer in the past year. Here are some of the things I've experienced:
- Muted whirlpool/dry hop aroma (compared to batches I had done before
- Thin tasting beer despite appropriate FG
- Lack of head retention
Do any of these seem like they could be caused by constantly having mash pH too low? I also thought a couple beers had a a very subtle but strange flavor which I attributed to a new yeast I hadn't used before (Super San Diego). Perhaps the yeast was not the culprit, though. Maybe it was how the yeast reacted to a higher pH of wort.
