Great info here. I use RO water and I've been following the general guideline of 1 tsp of calcium chloride and 2% of grain bill being acid malt for my last few extracts and my first all grain which was a wheat . When plugging my all grain wheat beer values into this spreadsheet, I get aa good PH of 5.4.
I am brewing Raging Red Irish Red Ale this weekend so I plugged those variables into the spreadsheet. With acid malt included my PH is predicted to be low at 4.9. Removing acid malt brings me back to 5.2. I do not have a pH meter but plan to get strips to at least get a ballpark of where my RO is and where the mash is.
Does the 4.9 ph with 2% acid malt seem right? Everything I've read basically says I need acid malt for anything but a stout or unless using roasted malts. The grain bill and selected malt type additional details are below:
Batch Size: 5.5 gal
8.75 lb 2 - base malt
1.1 lb - crystal malt
0.55 lb Carafoam - crystal malt
0.5 lb Melanoidin - crystal malt
3.5 oz Acid Malt - acid malt
3.5 gallons RO treated with 3.5 g Calcium Chloride for the mash
4.9 gallons RO treated with 4.9 g Calcium Chloride for the batch sparge
Predicted ph using spreadsheet, selecting 100% dilution and is 4.9. I've input the sparge and mash water volumes, batch size, added grain bill, and calcium chloride.