OzzyPeeps
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- Joined
- Nov 25, 2021
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So I finally bit the bullet and did my first all grain mash ...
I'll call it a pseudo Vienna lager as it was really just me experimenting with some grains I liked the sound of with Vienna as the base malt
I use RO water (which is reading at pH 6.5) and I added 2.1 grams of calcium chloride and 3.4 of gypsum to 24 liters/ 6.34 gallons of my strike water.
Method is BIAB.
I understand from my research that grains "try" to pull the pH down and that RO water has zero residual alkalinity (or alkalinity per se) to act as a buffer against that - and that CaCl and gypsum also both act to reduce pH -
But for the life of me I could not find any information on ballpark acid adjustments to RO/DI/distilled strike water for a given PH and style ...
And the last thing I wanted to do was take a stab in the dark and overshoot it and end up with a far too acidic mash, so...
I mashed in at 69c /156f, put a couple of jackets and a blanket on it (it's freezing here) and set a timer for 15 min
I understand the window for taking pH samples is around 15 minutes... Before that the pH hasn't stabilised and much later than that the bulk of conversion could have happened anyway rendering acid adjustments useless ...
I took and chilled and tested my sample: 5.6
Right on the edge of "probably just about OK" ... but not great.
I put in about 0.75 ml of 75% phosphoric acid, stirred a bit, took another sample, put the lid back on, the jackets, the blanket, chilled the sample ... PHEW ... This is getting like hard work ...
I tested the sample ... 5.4 ... YAY! thinks me, I didn't f#%k it up! that'll do nicely! ... Wait, thinks me ...
I took a sample from the ball valve spigot at the bottom of the kettle ... chilled it, tested it ...
Still 5.6
Obviously the acid was not sufficiently dispersed or integrated for the first sample and it's doubtful it was enough to do anything at all ...
At this point it's well past the window for taking any readings or making any adjustments as we are at least half an hour in.
Now that was a pretty torturous process.
If I had to do that every time I was trying a new recipe it would put me off all grain completely ...
Hell, just having to do it multiple times to dial in ONE recipe would drive me nuts.
I fully appreciate that mash PH is a complex function of the interaction of water chemistry and grain bill which are both meta-variables that contain miriad sub variables and that, to employ the vernacular ... It's some pro level ****
But SURELY there must be some sort of ball park guidelines on how much acid to add to RO strike water of a given PH for a given style...
I've searched all over for it but I must be using the wrong terms or framing ...
So say I have RO water with the following hypothetical numbers
6.34 gal / 24l RO water after salt additions is, say PH 6
Target mash pH is 5.2 -5.3
I understand (to over generalise a bit) that the acidity of grains generally increases with their SRM/EBC/Lovibond colour
So - ballpark - how many millilitres of 75% phosphoric to hit the target for the following broad categories with 24l/6.34 gal strike water and 6kg/13lb "average/typical/vanilla" grain bills
Light lagers / pilseners (my main thing)
Medium colour (Brown ales etc)
Really dark beers, stouts porters
Now again, I understand this is a broad generalisation and specific grain bills could change things a lot - but I really am just looking for a ballpark number of milliliters of 75% pa with which to kick off the inevitable experimenting and fine tuning ...
For example, hypothetically,
Light 12ml
Mid 8ml
Dark 3ml
Primarily I'm interested in light beers, lagers pilseners pseudo lagers, cold IPAs .. so even any info specific to light beers would be great
I understand there can never be a hard and fast answer to this with all the variables, I just want a better idea of where to start tinkering without having to risk entire brews to figure it out or do a mini mash for every brew ....
Genuine thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide
Ozzy
I'll call it a pseudo Vienna lager as it was really just me experimenting with some grains I liked the sound of with Vienna as the base malt
I use RO water (which is reading at pH 6.5) and I added 2.1 grams of calcium chloride and 3.4 of gypsum to 24 liters/ 6.34 gallons of my strike water.
Method is BIAB.
I understand from my research that grains "try" to pull the pH down and that RO water has zero residual alkalinity (or alkalinity per se) to act as a buffer against that - and that CaCl and gypsum also both act to reduce pH -
But for the life of me I could not find any information on ballpark acid adjustments to RO/DI/distilled strike water for a given PH and style ...
And the last thing I wanted to do was take a stab in the dark and overshoot it and end up with a far too acidic mash, so...
I mashed in at 69c /156f, put a couple of jackets and a blanket on it (it's freezing here) and set a timer for 15 min
I understand the window for taking pH samples is around 15 minutes... Before that the pH hasn't stabilised and much later than that the bulk of conversion could have happened anyway rendering acid adjustments useless ...
I took and chilled and tested my sample: 5.6
Right on the edge of "probably just about OK" ... but not great.
I put in about 0.75 ml of 75% phosphoric acid, stirred a bit, took another sample, put the lid back on, the jackets, the blanket, chilled the sample ... PHEW ... This is getting like hard work ...
I tested the sample ... 5.4 ... YAY! thinks me, I didn't f#%k it up! that'll do nicely! ... Wait, thinks me ...
I took a sample from the ball valve spigot at the bottom of the kettle ... chilled it, tested it ...
Still 5.6
Obviously the acid was not sufficiently dispersed or integrated for the first sample and it's doubtful it was enough to do anything at all ...
At this point it's well past the window for taking any readings or making any adjustments as we are at least half an hour in.
Now that was a pretty torturous process.
If I had to do that every time I was trying a new recipe it would put me off all grain completely ...
Hell, just having to do it multiple times to dial in ONE recipe would drive me nuts.
I fully appreciate that mash PH is a complex function of the interaction of water chemistry and grain bill which are both meta-variables that contain miriad sub variables and that, to employ the vernacular ... It's some pro level ****
But SURELY there must be some sort of ball park guidelines on how much acid to add to RO strike water of a given PH for a given style...
I've searched all over for it but I must be using the wrong terms or framing ...
So say I have RO water with the following hypothetical numbers
6.34 gal / 24l RO water after salt additions is, say PH 6
Target mash pH is 5.2 -5.3
I understand (to over generalise a bit) that the acidity of grains generally increases with their SRM/EBC/Lovibond colour
So - ballpark - how many millilitres of 75% phosphoric to hit the target for the following broad categories with 24l/6.34 gal strike water and 6kg/13lb "average/typical/vanilla" grain bills
Light lagers / pilseners (my main thing)
Medium colour (Brown ales etc)
Really dark beers, stouts porters
Now again, I understand this is a broad generalisation and specific grain bills could change things a lot - but I really am just looking for a ballpark number of milliliters of 75% pa with which to kick off the inevitable experimenting and fine tuning ...
For example, hypothetically,
Light 12ml
Mid 8ml
Dark 3ml
Primarily I'm interested in light beers, lagers pilseners pseudo lagers, cold IPAs .. so even any info specific to light beers would be great
I understand there can never be a hard and fast answer to this with all the variables, I just want a better idea of where to start tinkering without having to risk entire brews to figure it out or do a mini mash for every brew ....
Genuine thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide
Ozzy
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