Hey guys I'm doing my first all grain batch this weekend. I didn't have the time or money to get my well water tested. Im wondering what I should have on hand if my mash ph is out of normal range. I'm trying the whitetail Amber ale found on hbt.
Mash PH
- Thread starter Mustard
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skunkfunk
Well-Known Member
More likely than not it'll work fine. Keep the temp down below 170 or so (don't sparge above that) and see what your efficiency works out to be. If it's horrendous, you will need to adjust that PH and possibly other factors.
I've never tested my well water, but it tastes too nasty to brew with anyway.
My advice for a beginner, anyway. RDWHAHB.
I've never tested my well water, but it tastes too nasty to brew with anyway.
My advice for a beginner, anyway. RDWHAHB.
metanoia
Well-Known Member
If you don't have the money to worry about water testing/treatment, just brew with your water (assuming it drinks well) and see what happens through a few batches. You might not get A+ outstanding beer, but you'll probably end up with damn good beer and if you want to reach that next rung, water treatment could be something to address down the line, and even then you can get close to the right pH with a 5.2 pH stabilizer product.
skunkfunk
Well-Known Member
Be warned, I have been told by those with PH meters that this stuff is useless bull****.
metanoia
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I've seen the varying results around the forums. While it's certainly not going to work as well as getting a water report, researching different salts and minerals, buying those salts and minerals, and experimenting with those salts and minerals in your own water, it's a lot easier and cheaper to get you in a more acceptable range as a first step.
It doesn't work AT ALL, and can in fact cause unpleasant flavors. There are reasons it doesn't work, and there is more on that in the brew science forum. The synopsis is that it doesn't work, because it can't.
I'm wondering about the pH in the OP's mash. Dumb question, but if you don't even have a water report for $20, how do you happen to have a pH meter? I know some people have them for gardening and such, but it's unusual to have one if the water chemistry for brewing is unknown. If you're using strips, those are pretty worthless and inaccurate, so I would not adjust the mash pH based on that.
With few exceptions, the mash pH will probably be high as it would be unusual to use tap water and get a too-low pH, although possible with soft water and a grainbill like a stout so I'd be on the lookout for ways to ensure a lower mash pH, like darker grains or using soft water.
skunkfunk
Well-Known Member
Did you mean unsoftened water?
No, soft water encourages low pH because it has no buffering capability. I would replace about 1-2% of your base malt with acid malt to insure a low enough pH until you get the water tested. Well water can be very alkaline.
skunkfunk
Well-Known Member
The more you know! I guess maybe I'll use some softened water in the lighter beers, then. I've been using city water since my well water is basically just useful for cleaning.
Natdavis777
Well-Known Member
I think it would be best to use RO water until you can get a water report. Adding minerals and acids blindly is a crap shoot. If you are using well water, I would skip mineral additions bc you don't know your starting point. If you use RO water, you at least have a bearings as to where you are
SpankyMcBee
Member
Honestly, with this being your first all-grain batch, I would just filter your water if you think you may need/want to and see how it goes. This is what I did until I became completely dialed into the AG process and was able to focus on more of the "fine tuning" aspects of the process. Charcoal filtering my terrible city water made really good beers for me. Cheers!
City water should be ok, if you can deal with the alkalinity. Sometimes you can call and get a water report from the city.
If they use chlorine or chloramine, the water must be treated before using with malt, as the interaction causes terrible flavors (called 'chlorophenols').
You don't want to ever use softened water, like from a water softener. That water is "soft" because it removes things like magnesium and replaces it with sodium- terrible for beer.
skunkfunk
Well-Known Member
The one that is listed first is, but there is a HUGE difference between that first one and the other two. The second two are nearly unusable, depending on what you're making. The first one is ok, assuming there is no chlorine in it.
skunkfunk
Well-Known Member
Well crap. It's actually kinda tough to figure out which one I'm getting water from. I can get from downtown or a suburb, and the people at the utility phone number are useless for this kind of thing.
Unfortunately I think the report is incomplete - Bru'n Water didn't seem to have enough info to figure it out.
fartinmartin
Well-Known Member
this is such a wake up call , I live near London UK and take things like
Water for granted, it just comes out of the tap , like the light comes on when switched. I take it for granted that the tap water is as good as it's possible to be , accepting that the chorine and chemical words like that are necessary . Of course the the water changes throughout the UK , I naively thought that was just a taste thing, now getting deeper into this brewing hobby that's not the whole story. However I must be so lucky I don't need to anything with my water to brew good beer.
Water for granted, it just comes out of the tap , like the light comes on when switched. I take it for granted that the tap water is as good as it's possible to be , accepting that the chorine and chemical words like that are necessary . Of course the the water changes throughout the UK , I naively thought that was just a taste thing, now getting deeper into this brewing hobby that's not the whole story. However I must be so lucky I don't need to anything with my water to brew good beer.
BlueHouseBrewhaus
Well-Known Member
Read the Chemistry Primer sticky in the Brew Science forum. It has TONS of useful info. AJ and Martin are the local gods of water chemistry. They have forgotten more brewing chemistry than I will ever know. As others have said, start with RO water for now and build from there.
sky4meplease
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You could try mixing distilled (or r/o) water with spring water (or well water considering it is drinkable to start with) respectively.
<6 SRM 75/25
7-12 SRM 50/50
12-18 SRM 25/75
>18 SRM 0/100
Knowing what I know now that is what I would do if I didn't know what was in my brewing water.
<6 SRM 75/25
7-12 SRM 50/50
12-18 SRM 25/75
>18 SRM 0/100
Knowing what I know now that is what I would do if I didn't know what was in my brewing water.
