Imperial Stout pH

[Cloud Surfer]

I’ve started measuring pH throughout the whole process, not just the mash.

For my recent Imperial Stout, I had a mash pH of 5.42, a post boil pH of 5.02, and a post fermentation pH of 4.60.

Looking into this, seems 4.1 to 4.5 is a target bottled pH for most beer. Is that the general consensus? This Imperial Stout is sitting just outside that range. I can fix it with a bit of lactic acid, but I’ve never done that before, because I’ve never measured post fermentation pH before.

What do you guys think? Should I bother? Cheers

 

[mabrungard]

You didn't comment on where the final SG of the beer ended up. The slightly elevated beer pH suggests that the yeast didn't get the opportunity to acidify properly before they were exhausted.

If you're bottling, then I'd be a little concerned about the beer pH being a little high. But if it's going into a keg, then its less likely to have a future problem.