Mash 5.2

[plumber]

I will be doing my fourth all grain next weekend and was wondering what everyones opinion on Mash 5.2 is. The town I live in does not have a formal water quality report. I was told the water was a little alkaline around 7.5-8.0. Also have 14 grains of hardness and no iron, but that is all I could get. I tried to use phosphoric acid but hard to read the test papers and I realy dont want to buy a ph meter or mess with acid if I dont have to. Any input or personal experiance would be helpfull. Thanks.

 

[e lo]

Water pH before mashing in doesn't really have a lot to do with the actual mash pH at mash temps, if I understand Palmer correctly. I've used 5.2 for my 4 all grain batches thus far, and all except my last one had efficiencies in the 70 - 75% range (last one was a crush problem.) I'd try it if I were you -- try to replicate a previous beer exactly, other than the addition of the 5.2, and see if your efficiency goes up.

 

[Chriso]

I've used it in every batch so far. Seems to be great, I've not had anything below 72% efficiency.

Then again, I've never NOT used it, so I can't report on the changes therein.

FWIW Lincoln NE is rumored to have a public water profile almost identical to Burton-on-Trent. Spooky.

 

[malkore]

Yep, our Lincoln water is a little hard...its great for dark beers, as the dark malts help further acidify the mash. but if you want 'true' water for say a german pilsner, you'd need to 'fix' our chemistry.

5.2 should not cause any problems, so its worth trying if its in your budget, especially for lighter beers that want softer water.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I still don't have the means to measure pH, but the only batch I in which I didn't use pH 5.2 came out at 48% efficiency. I've consistently achieved upwards of 80% since.

 

[plumber]

My efficiency has been low 55-60, but I did find out my thermometer was low by 6 deg. I also have not payed attention to the crush of my grains. I crush them at the supply store so I would hope I'm getting a good crush. Also I dont know if my manifold I built is good for continous sparging so I am going to try batch and see what happens. Maybe with this extra knowledge I've gained from HBT plus finding the faults of equipment and adding mash 5.2 I can increase my efficiency.

 

[Chriso]

Also I dont know if my manifold I built is good for continous sparging so I am going to try batch and see what happens. Maybe with this extra knowledge I've gained from HBT plus finding the faults of equipment and adding mash 5.2 I can increase my efficiency.

Switching to batch easily added 5% eff. minimum to my brews. I really dig it. Much faster to boot.

 

[Jo3sh]

I've been using it off and on for a while. I don't tend to repeat recipes much, but a friend who does reports that it bumps up his hop bitterness as some mineral-rich waters do.

I like it because it eliminates worry for me. I've had good results without it, too, but this just seems like extra insureance, and the per-batch cost is low, so why not?

 

[Kaiser]

This is what we have on the Wiki for 5.2

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Understanding_Mash_pH#Five_Star.27s_5.2_buffer

Kai

 

[GrantLee63]

I've used 5.2 in the 3 AG batches I've made since moving to my new house which has very good tasting, but very, very hard well water. My efficiencies have been 70, 80, and 81%. I'm brewing again this coming Saturday and I'll use it again then as well ..... I'll post my efficiency on this thread afterwards.

- GL63