cshulha
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone my mash was 4.7 for an IPA. not happy but i forged on. After sparging i hit 5.2. Should i dump it?
mash ph 4.7 for ipa should i dump my beer.
- Thread starter cshulha
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Silver_Is_Money
Larry Sayre, Developer of 'Mash Made Easy'
No, it will likely be fine. How did you manage to get the mash down to a pH of 4.7? Did your OG come close to your OG target?
SunsetBrewery
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Absolutely not! It’ll be fine. It May have a little sour taste to it if you went overboard on the the lactic acid. Only time will tell. It may not be the best beer you’ve made but should still be drinkable. Hell, I brewed a ipa that hit 4.9 & turned out great. Like Silver said you prob didn’t hit your OG target
If it ends up tasting kind of tart, add a couple tablespoons of baking soda, and call it good.
Definitely do not dump it. It'll be fine. If this were some kind of etherially light lager, yeah, you might notice something not right, but IPA levels of hops will cover up any minor off-flavors from the low mash pH.
Gotta ask - are you sure it was 4.7? Meter recently calibrated and all that stuff?
Gotta ask - are you sure it was 4.7? Meter recently calibrated and all that stuff?
I wouldn't dump it. I have been brewing for 6 1/2 years and have never taken a pH reading. I don't have any idea whether my pH has been good on all of them but in that time I only made 2 bad batches and both were experiments. And that is with 94 batches.
HomeDrewBrew
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You must have really forgiving water.
pH gives something for nerds to nerd out about. Myself included. But I too didn't measure pH at all for about the first 75 batches or so, and they turned out just fine.
Same here - I never measured mash pH or paid attention to water until I made a batch of Centennial Blonde that was absolute crap. I figured if everyone loves this recipe, why does mine suck, and then I got the light bulb about how it must be the water chemistry.
I think I did. I hear about cloudy Starsan, scum films etc, that never happened.
But I have moved. The first batch is ready to bottle. I used both a water filter and Campden tablets. We'll see. Still no pH readings and only a couple attempts at water treatment.
Update: Bottled the batch in question. It of course was flat but it tasted very good. I have high hopes that it will be above my average after conditioning. This was my Collaboration Red Ale that is in a tread I started.
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Don't dump it. Whether it turns out good or bad, you'll learn something.
I have to think this is true since I have never taken a pH reading and I think that my beers rate well to any mid priced commercial craft brew. And better than a lot of them.
bonecitybrewco
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We all think our own beer is great, even if it is flawed. I will agree that there is a lot of huff made about efficiency, however, pH is pretty dang important. My brews went from good to great (as verified with multiple brewing friends) when I started monitoring pH calculations and by the same token treating my water.
My friends are always complementary of my beer as well, that’s what friends are for. I’m also sure you brew excellent beer,
I look back to the many experiments the brulosophy, and experimental brewing do and still don’t believe beer judges let alone the average beer drinker can tell, with any real confidence, the difference between beers, I can’t and I’ve been drinking 40+ years.
That being said we will all gravitate to a process that were comfortable with and that is a great thing.
I do use distilled water now to eliminate the chlorine but no additives and no PH stress, and I’m fine with this.
Others prefer the extra steps and that’s great as well.
The goal is to brew great beer and offer our opinions to help others decide their journey
Brew on
I look back to the many experiments the brulosophy, and experimental brewing do and still don’t believe beer judges let alone the average beer drinker can tell, with any real confidence, the difference between beers, I can’t and I’ve been drinking 40+ years.
That being said we will all gravitate to a process that were comfortable with and that is a great thing.
I do use distilled water now to eliminate the chlorine but no additives and no PH stress, and I’m fine with this.
Others prefer the extra steps and that’s great as well.
The goal is to brew great beer and offer our opinions to help others decide their journey
Brew on
Are you sure of the pH and how did you measure it? 4.7 is not ideal, but you'll still end up with beer. Don't add any alkalinity until you've tasted the final beer.
cshulha
Well-Known Member
sorry for the delay. I did not dump the beer and jow am fermenting it. If it tastes tart at the end should I add a little baking soda? The ph went low because I added a little too much acid malt.
Definitely wait. Conditioning and carbonation will change the flavor quite a bit, so I’m not a fan of messing with a beer while it’s still in the fermenter. If it’s tart (which I don’t think will be noticeable) try adding a touch of baking soda to each glass as you pour it.
Besides, I bet all those hops will mask any potential off-flavors.
Besides, I bet all those hops will mask any potential off-flavors.
cshulha
Well-Known Member
beer turned out awesome no off flavours
I think I might go back to ignoring mash pH. My beer hasn't gotten any better or worse for measuring and trying to control it.
Brulosophy did a mash pH experiment where they compared beer made with an out of whack pH to beer made with a good pH. As I recall, tasters couldn't tell the difference. That's just one trial, but it's interesting.
I'm going to continue fussing with pH though, and I will tell you why. I'm interested in the minerals' contribution to flavor, which is undeniable. As long as I am developing mineral profiles in Bru'n Water, the extra work needed to nail pH is trivial.
It's possible we're making too much out of mash pH but I'm going to stay the course and let others prove if that's the case.
OP, glad you waited and the beer is good!
I'm going to continue fussing with pH though, and I will tell you why. I'm interested in the minerals' contribution to flavor, which is undeniable. As long as I am developing mineral profiles in Bru'n Water, the extra work needed to nail pH is trivial.
It's possible we're making too much out of mash pH but I'm going to stay the course and let others prove if that's the case.
OP, glad you waited and the beer is good!
I always measure pH because it is a variable that the brewer can control, just like temperature. When I make a particular recipe I want it to finish with the beer I intended, not a beer that just "came out fine". Control everything you can.
I will say again, I have never measured pH. My beers are not just good. My friends tell me they are better than most mid priced commercial craft beers and ask for more. They are not the types that would say that just because they are friends.
Some day I will measure pH to see if I can make my very good beers even better. But I don't expect a very big change.
Some day I will measure pH to see if I can make my very good beers even better. But I don't expect a very big change.
BrewMan13
Whole Nother Level Brewing
I measure it just because I love numbers and keeping track of all possible variables, but I haven't taken steps to adjust it on the fly, yet. But I would never dump a batch just because one of the numbers was off.
When i first started full volume biab my light beers had a astringent bitterness, just nasty
I started using ez water for the next dozen batches to try and calculate it out but without having a ph meter I couldn’t tell the ph for sure other then my beers started turning out much better, I don’t even bother with a spreadsheet now
Now for all pale malt beers i add 1oz of acid malt per gallon of finished beer, beers that are in the amber and lighter range i use .5oz and dark beers I don’t add anything
my version of KISS and it works for me
Edit: Also I generally add a teaspoon or less of calcium chloride too all my beers because my water is slightly low in calcium (which I determined using the gh kh test and calculator on kaiser’s page)
No precision tests for me lol
I started using ez water for the next dozen batches to try and calculate it out but without having a ph meter I couldn’t tell the ph for sure other then my beers started turning out much better, I don’t even bother with a spreadsheet now
Now for all pale malt beers i add 1oz of acid malt per gallon of finished beer, beers that are in the amber and lighter range i use .5oz and dark beers I don’t add anything
my version of KISS and it works for me
Edit: Also I generally add a teaspoon or less of calcium chloride too all my beers because my water is slightly low in calcium (which I determined using the gh kh test and calculator on kaiser’s page)
No precision tests for me lol
