Increased Efficiency

[dcott]

Hi All,

My wife and I bought a new house a couple months ago, and the first few brews I did had me hitting around 58-62%% efficiency. Since we have well water (very hard, at that), I was suspecting that it might be a pH problem, so I decided to try White Labs 5.2 adjuster on my brew this past weekend. My efficiency shot up to 78% and i hit my projected OG and FG within .002 (on the higher side).

My question is, is it really likely that the pH adjustment made that huge of a difference, or could it have been some other factor?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[ChillWill]

If that was the only variable then it must have been.

I've noticed since mashing thinner and doing some mineral additions I've gone from 65% to slightly above 75%

 

[dcott]

The problem is, we'd been living for 8 months in an apartment where I wasn't really able to brew due to space limitations (hence my massive absence from HBT), so I wasn't sure if I was just rusty on the first couple batches in the new house, or if it was something else.

Does anyone have experience using the pH adjuster, and if so, does it affect flavor at all?

We're looking at getting a water softener installed, at which point I figure I'll get the water tested and adjust from there. Any advice on that? (this may belong in the Brewing Science forum, not the AG forum).