I'm working on a American Pale Ale that will be brewed with only MO and just a touch of Flaked Oats. In order to get my pH down to 5.3 without the use of acid I'm looking at an Ra of -87. Is there any reason to add baking soda to bring my bicarbonate and in turn Ra up then add acid to bring my pH back down? Starting with RO water.
Super low RA
- Thread starter GPP33
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Nope, no reason. Makes no sense actually. I personally use RO water plus calciumsulfate, calciumchloride and lactic acid.
If you made a stout or something very very dark, it could pull your pH down to much. That´s the only scenario where you should add acid buffers.
If you made a stout or something very very dark, it could pull your pH down to much. That´s the only scenario where you should add acid buffers.
I agree with FelixGER. I use RO water as well. Using the Pale Ale water profile in Bru'n Water I almost always end up within the acceptable pH range without even adding acid to the mash for my APAs and IPAs.
GPP33
Well-Known Member
My water profile is very close to the pale ale in bru'n water except for the bicarbonate. If I bring the bicarbonate level up to the ball park of the pale ale profile (even if I punch in the exact same numbers as the pale ale profile) I get a really high pH which requires acid to bring it down. The other option is just skip the backing soda and the acid altogether. I'm new to RO water so maybe it's just that the really really low RA is throwing me off, it's way lower than anything else on the Bru'n water table. I can't find anything that says I need to bring the RA up to typical levels but I also can find anything where a brewer references using water with such a low RA.
Thanks for the advice guys.
Thanks for the advice guys.
For a pale ale, when using RO Water, usually you just add calciumsulfate und -chloride to get the desired calcium, sulfate and chloride levels. That normally get´s your ph automatically down to 5.6-5.8. Then you add some kind of acid (not much) to the mash to get down to the 5.4-5.5 range. Yes, with pale malt that means the RA is pretty low.
It´s best to buy a good ph meter! Otherwise it´s pure eyeballing. With Ireks pale ale malt I get down to ph 5.6 without adding lactic acid. With maris otter malt I was at 5.8, same malt bill, just different pale ale malts.
It´s best to buy a good ph meter! Otherwise it´s pure eyeballing. With Ireks pale ale malt I get down to ph 5.6 without adding lactic acid. With maris otter malt I was at 5.8, same malt bill, just different pale ale malts.
