nobeerinheaven
Active Member
I'm trying to use something readily available to lower the ph of my mash. I could wait to brew in a few weeks when phosphoric acid arrives, but I'd rather try something with what's on hand. What's on hand? Either citric acid from the canning section of a local Wal-Mart or star san.
I hesitate to use citric acid because my water is fairly hard (EZ Water estimates my mash ph to be, for this recipe, 6.15). That means, I think, that I will need to use a relatively high quantity of citric acid, and I'm worried about this hitting the taste threshold when the beer is done (though there is some information about yeast using citric acid at some point in the fermentation process, I've not seen anything about approximately how much they use, and how this affects the final product).
So that leaves me with Star san. I do realize there are surfactants in there, but I'm not worried about it (among other things, because people have added 1 oz of star san to 5 gallons of wort, only to get a slightly sour beer). The question would be: How much Star San is necessary to lower the ph of my mash?
Volume: 11 gallons mash / 4 gallon sparge
EZ Water estimation of mash ph: 6.15
Water profile:
Calcium: (no info)
Magnesium: (no info)
Sodium: 19 ppm
Chloride: 43.4 ppm
Sulfate: 61 ppm
Alkalinity: 360 CaCO3 ppm (though I do not have Ca/Mg in my Lafayette, IN water report, I do have solid numbers for total hardness).
Any ideas?
I hesitate to use citric acid because my water is fairly hard (EZ Water estimates my mash ph to be, for this recipe, 6.15). That means, I think, that I will need to use a relatively high quantity of citric acid, and I'm worried about this hitting the taste threshold when the beer is done (though there is some information about yeast using citric acid at some point in the fermentation process, I've not seen anything about approximately how much they use, and how this affects the final product).
So that leaves me with Star san. I do realize there are surfactants in there, but I'm not worried about it (among other things, because people have added 1 oz of star san to 5 gallons of wort, only to get a slightly sour beer). The question would be: How much Star San is necessary to lower the ph of my mash?
Volume: 11 gallons mash / 4 gallon sparge
EZ Water estimation of mash ph: 6.15
Water profile:
Calcium: (no info)
Magnesium: (no info)
Sodium: 19 ppm
Chloride: 43.4 ppm
Sulfate: 61 ppm
Alkalinity: 360 CaCO3 ppm (though I do not have Ca/Mg in my Lafayette, IN water report, I do have solid numbers for total hardness).
Any ideas?