PH Balance for All Grain noob

[HokieHT07]

I am about to brew my first all grain batch, a Smashing Pumpkin Ale and I am worried about alkalinity. I only used store bought Spring water to make things easy for me. Should I worry about adding gypsum or other salts?

 

[Shred]

Nope. You'll be fine. The grain should get you to the 5.2 range. If you're really nervous about it, there's a product called "5.2" which claims to bring any mash to that desired pH range. I don't have any experience with it though.

 

[JonM]

This is a great place to start:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/brewing-water-chemistry-primer-198460/

And the consensus around here is the 5.2 stuff doesn't work the way people think it does. It's merely a buffer that keeps your pH from changing once you get it to the proper range. It does not make your mash BECOME 5.2 pH. And it adds stuff you don't need.

Read through the primer and check into some of the software like Bru'n Water and Brewer's Friend. You can input the grains and get an estimate of where the mash pH should land. The dark grains in that recipe might help to bring it to an appropriate range, but you might need to add acid to bring it down a little more.

 

[Denny]

Nope. You'll be fine. The grain should get you to the 5.2 range. If you're really nervous about it, there's a product called "5.2" which claims to bring any mash to that desired pH range. I don't have any experience with it though.

It's a terrible product. Doesn't work and degrades the flavor of your beer.

 

[Shred]

Good to know. I had no intention of using it but I can warn others now.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[HokieHT07]

Thanks for the info gents. After inputting the Arrowhead spring water stats into EZ water calculator I should be alright after some minor adjustments. Also, I will definitely stay away from the "5.2".

 

[Warthaug]

Since this is your first all-grain I would actually recommend not worrying about the pH. Getting your temps, timings and volumes right is more important than mash pH. It may take a few times to get those numbers dialed-in, and adding complexities like water adjustments may make the "dialing-in" process slower.

The time to worry about pH is one you have the basic elements of your all-grain system working consistently. In fact, if your tap water is anything but horrendous, you can probably use it for most beer styles without adjustment. For most styles & water types, water adjustments will have only a subtle effect.

Bryan

 

[Denny]

Since this is your first all-grain I would actually recommend not worrying about the pH. Getting your temps, timings and volumes right is more important than mash pH. It may take a few times to get those numbers dialed-in, and adding complexities like water adjustments may make the "dialing-in" process slower.

The time to worry about pH is one you have the basic elements of your all-grain system working consistently. In fact, if your tap water is anything but horrendous, you can probably use it for most beer styles without adjustment. For most styles & water types, water adjustments will have only a subtle effect.

Bryan

Good advice. I brewed award winning beers for over 10 years before I started doing anything more than adding a tsp. of gypsum for hoppy beers.

 

[RonPopeil]

If you brew from distilled water, 2tsp Gypsum, 2tsp CaCl is a kind of cheat to get you good brewing water quite painlessly. A little bit of acid malt would help a lighter beer but it's not necessary in any case when it comes to distilled and RO water when using store bought grain.