Readjusting pH after lautering?

[ocwo92]

I currently adjust the pH value of the mash so that the mash has a pH value of about 5.2.

But, it occurred to me that once I've lautered the mash, I'll be adding water before boiling and this will increase the pH value. Should I readjust the pH value after diluting the wort so that the acidity of the diluted wort also has a pH value of 5.2 before starting the boil?

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Why are you adding water directly to the wort before boiling? How much are you adding? Does the water you are adding have some level of alkalinity?

I would suggest doing an additional batch sparge whereby to introduce additional water pre the boil. That way the mash grist will buffer the waters pH. You may want to knock this additional sparge waters pH down to between 5.4 and 6.0 before adding it to the grist.

 

[porterpounder]

When lautering, you should be putting all of your water through the grain rather than adding more water to the kettle directly, unless you need to lower the gravity to adjust for efficiency surplus. One of the best ways to control final pH of the lauter/sparge is to adjust our sparge water to about 6.0. pH adjustment in the mash is most important to create an ideal environment for enzyme activity, then after mashing not allowing the sparge to raise the wort pH too much to avoid excess tannin extraction from grain husks. The boil pH of the wort isn't terribly important for most beers and you can always adjust acidity after fermentation to brighten a beer up.

 

[ocwo92]

I'm sparging, too, so the additional water I use to top up the boil to achieve the expected bottling volume accounts for about one-thirds of the liquid. But since the pH value of the sparge water is also above 5.2 the acidity of the wort should be expected to rise (depending on how stable the mash buffer is).

So the question remains regardless of adding tap water directly or sparging everything I pour into the pot: should I adjust the pH value of the wort to 5.2 before boiling?

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

So if I'm reading this correctly you are consistently under calculating your sparge volume by about 1/3. Wouldn't the logical solution to this be to increase your sparge water volume?

 

[ocwo92]

So if I'm reading this correctly you are consistently under calculating your sparge volume by about 1/3. Wouldn't the logical solution to this be to increase your sparge water volume?

Sure, but that doesn't answer the question if the pH value should be adjusted to a pH value of 5.2 afterwards.

 

[mongoose33]

I don't have a direct answer to your question but you may find some value in this brulosophy exbeeriment:

http://brulosophy.com/2017/01/30/wa...he-impact-of-low-mash-ph-exbeeriment-results/

In the exbeeriment, Jake Huolihan compared mash ph values of 5.33 and 4.5, to see what difference it made.

Shockingly (to me at least) the final PH measures of the completed beers after fermentation were 4.14 and 4.17. There was an apparent difference in OG (1.054 to 1.050), and in FG (1.017 and 1.011). Each number here has the low PH mash first, normal PH mash second).

And when it came time to test whether there was a difference a panel of 22 tasters could discern, only 7 could pick out the odd beer in a triangle test, a figure quite consistent with random guessing.

Now, there are all the usual caveats with this (specific recipe, specific panel of tasters, would it be different if things were different), but I look at this and scratch my head a bit.

The low PH beer had better efficiency, it also had a higher final gravity. Perhaps the lower initial PH caused some yeast to drop out before it was done, who knows?

I've been looking at post-brew PH a bit lately wondering what if anything I might do to it. Not yet sure, but I'm a little less concerned about that after seeing this exbeeriment. It's only one time and all that, but it also caused me to be a little less concerned about hitting an exact mash PH.

YMMV, offer void where prohibited, you pays your money and you takes your chances.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Sure, but that doesn't answer the question if the pH value should be adjusted to a pH value of 5.2 afterwards.

The yeast will determine the pH, and they will modify it to their particular strains liking. You don't need to modify it. Final pH of the brew will likely be about 4.2 to 4.4 when you are drinking it (or perhaps up to 0.1 lower due to carbonation effects). Whether you attempt to adjust it or not, the yeast will have the final say.

 

[porterpounder]

Sure, but that doesn't answer the question if the pH value should be adjusted to a pH value of 5.2 afterwards.

No, you shouldn't. There is no obvious reason to adjust pre-boil pH short of kettle-souring a beer.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Sure, but that doesn't answer the question if the pH value should be adjusted to a pH value of 5.2 afterwards.

What benefit are you hoping to gain from such an adjustment?