NEIPA ph schedule

[RabbitHole]

So after I went down rabbit hole on my Hefeweizen recipe and realizing that ph has so many different effects and needs and should be at different ph at various stages of the process.

-What do you guys shoot for for ph during various rests of the mash.
-What ph is best during the sach period.
-Where should the boil be at.
-What should the ph be into the fermenter.
-What’s your goal for finished ph??

Also what do you prefer for rests during the mash and why??

 

[couchsending]

As long as mash pH is somewhat in the 5.3-5.4 window or even slightly lower you’re fine. You’re not going to gain much of anything in a highly hopped beer by trying to optimize pH for different steps. Make sure sparge water pH (if not using Ro) is adjusted to 5.4ish.

kettle full pH 5.0-5.1
Knockout pH similar (might require adjustments might not)

I haven’t bothered adjusting final beer pH but I might start messing with it. Ideally pH should be between 4.2 and 4.4 before DH addition.

As far as steps I’m a firm believe in always doing a 20 minute rest at around 162 for just about every beer. Steps before that depend on grain bill and intended ABV/FG.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

Scott Janish had an interesting blog post about beer ph early in 2020 where he dosed some samples from his brewery with acid to drop the ph from around 4.5-4.6(where it finished) to ~4.2 or so. Did this on a couple samples and he found lowering the ph definitely changed the beer, for the better in some cases. Interesting read. I don't always think he's the be all/end all when it comes to beer but his posts are always heavy on scientific data which is really interesting whether any of the information is actionable to you or not. Ideally I don't think you want to be adjusting ph in your finished beer as a SOP, but if you figure out what your ideal finishing ph is you can adjust your mash/kettle additions accordingly.

A Look at pH in Hoppy Beers - Scott Janish

I got lazy with measuring ph the last 3-4 months of 2020 but I just got a much better meter for Xmas so plan to dive back into that aspect of brewing.