First foray into pH checking, couple questions

[Beehemel]

I received a pH checker One of these for Christmas and I've just started taking measurements during my mash so I can get an idea of what additions I will need to make down the road. I brewed a Maris Otter/El Dorado SMaSH a couple weeks ago, and tested the pH of the mash about 15 minutes after doughing in. The meter read 4.96 which I have read is too low, but I know there is some temperature correcting that needs to happen. I have calibrated my pH meter with the correct solutions and it's reading correctly. My question is, does the temperature correction put me in the right range? Temp of the mash was 152 F, and I understand the readings are supposed to be taken at 77 F. If the temp correction doesn't bring me up to the correct range, should I have added some baking soda to bring the pH up? I've tried using the spreadsheets and calculators online, but it's all a bit over my head and I haven't had time to dig in and really figure out what to do with my water yet.

 

[dogslapbrewery]

From my understanding you want to be between 5.4-5.6 at room temp. Lower pH will give you a dryer beer where higher pH will give you more of a maltier beer. My water always leaves my pH high, so I hit it with a gram or two of calcium sulfate. If I'm too low I always go for baking soda because it works better in the mash where chalk has issues dissolving into the wort. I always plug all my numbers into Palmers spread sheet to give me a rough idea where I'm aiming but you'll have to fine tune from there once you start to mash.

 

[SpeedYellow]

It shouldn't be possible to get a mash pH under 5.0 using nothing but Maris Otter pale malt. Did you add a ton of lactic acid or something?


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[grathan]

Yeah, that does sound abnormally low with just Maris Otter.


When you calibrate the Hannah Checker, you're gonna wanna leave it in the calibration solution for at least 10 minutes, if the numbers are changing around let it sit until it is stable before making any adjustments.


And the same when checking your mash, draw a sample that you let cool in a small cup and let the Hannah sit in it for 10 minutes.

 

[ajdelange]

For starters that particular meter has an abysmal accuracy spec. At first I thought it was a misprint because of the precision but checking the manual verifies that it is indeed 0.2. It is pretty weird to have accuracy 20 times the precision.

Given that it reads to 0.01 it can be calibrated to 0.01 unless it is very unstable (which is usually what limits the accuracy of inexpensive meters). Try the stability check described in the pH Calibration Sticky above. If the meter doesn't hold cal to any better than 0.2 pH standard deviation it is pretty useless for brewing. Let's hope it is actually better than that.

This meter is not equipped with ATC. Therefore you must calibrate it and measure samples with buffer and sample all at the same temperature or do the ATC function yourself.

 

[Beehemel]

Yeah, that does sound abnormally low with just Maris Otter.


When you calibrate the Hannah Checker, you're gonna wanna leave it in the calibration solution for at least 10 minutes, if the numbers are changing around let it sit until it is stable before making any adjustments.


And the same when checking your mash, draw a sample that you let cool in a small cup and let the Hannah sit in it for 10 minutes.

Ok, I've just been dipping it in until it stabilizes. I'll recalibrate it leaving it in for 10 minutes at a time and try again on my next brewday. I'm not terribly impressed with the accuracy either, but it was a gift and I don't have the money to buy a better meter currently.

 

[grathan]

I've got two Hanna Checkers. One was left open for a year. The other is newer. I also have a nicer meter. I always had problems so I bought a better meter, but then when I compared all 3 at once I noticed that the Hanna's just needed a little more time than I had been giving.