Mash PH

[fdb16]

I bought some PH strips to check the PH of my mash, thinking about refining even further. When are you supposed to check the PH? I am doing single infusion batch sparging.

 

[Bensiff]

One of your biggest areas of concern is keeping the pH of your mash in check to avoid extracting tannins and phenols and to maximize enzymatic activity. You also want to check your wort pH as mash pH impacts things such as protein coagulation, maillard reactions, and hop utilization. There are a lot of different ranges that different things work at during the boil so its not like you need to adjust your mash pH per se; however, it is a good note if you really want to know what's going on and to replicate your recipe exactingly. I don't because I don't care that much, but if I were brewing for a living I probably would take such notes.

 

[SC_Ryan]

I'm no expert but I have read that you want to wait 10 minutes after mash in to test the pH in order to give you an accurate reading.

 

[Patirck]

I"m sure there are lots of opinions but I would start out by checking the watery part of the mash 10 minutes after dough in and ten minutes before mash out or sparge. There are some variables but generally you want to see 5.2 - 5.8. Lower is generally better. You can also check the ph of the water you are using to ensure that you are not off the chart before you dough in. I checked my tap water after years of drinking it without noticing anything and my ph was 8.3. Now I brew with a water filter and about 1/3 to 1/2 bottled water. My beer has been much better since.

 

[Mustangj]

This may help, if you haven't read it yet.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15.html

 

[fdb16]

Thanks for the info. I check 10 min after dough in and was at 5.4, checked again at 50 min mark and was at 5.6ish. I don't plan on going crazy with ph balancing, just wanted to make sure I was in a good range. Thanks again for your help!