Wheat malt ph

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millsbrew

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I've spent some time searching and keep finding conflicting information about the ph of using wheat malt. Not the adjuct, but actual malted wheat. A bunch of posts have said it will lower my ph, but EZ water calc says it is higher (6.04) than the basic 2row malt using RO water.

My recipe is 8# of 2row and 2# white malted wheat with .75# of 60L. Any help calculating my pH would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
 
Malted wheat should have about the same effect on pH as other malted light colored base malt. I don't do many wheat beers, but I've never found it to push the pH down.

I find that EZ water is not all that accurate in predicting actual mash pH for me, and is usually very high (often by .3), so I'd try a different spreadsheet like bru'nwater, or Brewer's Friend which seem to get me very close each time to the actual pH.
 
I've spent some time searching and keep finding conflicting information about the ph of using wheat malt. Not the adjuct, but actual malted wheat. A bunch of posts have said it will lower my ph, but EZ water calc says it is higher (6.04) than the basic 2row malt using RO water.

My recipe is 8# of 2row and 2# white malted wheat with .75# of 60L. Any help calculating my pH would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

The DI pH of White Wheat Malt is 6.04 and is less acidic than most barley base malts with a DI pH of 5.56.

You can calculate the DI pH of your mash by using the formula given in Kai's paper (assuming a 1.25 qts/lb ratio):

8lbs 2-Row Malt = 74.42%
2lbs White Wheat Malt = 18.60%
.75lbs Crystal 60L = 6.98%

DI pH 2-Row Malt = 5.56
DI pH Wheat Malt = 6.04
Acidity of Crystal 60L = 51

5.56 * .7442 = 4.1378
6.04 * .1860 = 1.1234
-------------------------
5.2612
+
5.7 * 0.0698 = 0.3979

--------------------------
5.6591

51 * 0.0698 = 3.5598 * 0.14 = 0.4984 / 2.0679 L/kg = 0.2410

5.6591 - 0.2410 = 5.4181

So you should end up with a DI mash pH of about 5.4 according to that particular estimate.

(DI meaning Distilled - assumes you're not adding other salts to your water.)
 
The DI pH of White Wheat Malt is 6.04 and is less acidic than most barley base malts with a DI pH of 5.56.

You can calculate the DI pH of your mash by using the formula given in Kai's paper (assuming a 1.25 qts/lb ratio):

8lbs 2-Row Malt = 74.42%
2lbs White Wheat Malt = 18.60%
.75lbs Crystal 60L = 6.98%

DI pH 2-Row Malt = 5.56
DI pH Wheat Malt = 6.04
Acidity of Crystal 60L = 51

5.56 * .7442 = 4.1378
6.04 * .1860 = 1.1234
-------------------------
5.2612
+
5.7 * 0.0698 = 0.3979

--------------------------
5.6591

51 * 0.0698 = 3.5598 * 0.14 = 0.4984 / 2.0679 L/kg = 0.2410

5.6591 - 0.2410 = 5.4181

So you should end up with a DI mash pH of about 5.4 according to that particular estimate.

(DI meaning Distilled - assumes you're not adding other salts to your water.)

Thanks guys. I am using distilled water so this is helpful. However, using distilled clearly means I need to add salts to get the proper water profiles. I will give the other calc sheets a test and see how they line up. I'm guessing I will need to add some baking soda to get the ph back up after adding my gysum/CaCl and Epsom.

Appreciate the quick responses.
 
Thanks guys. I am using distilled water so this is helpful. However, using distilled clearly means I need to add salts to get the proper water profiles. I will give the other calc sheets a test and see how they line up. I'm guessing I will need to add some baking soda to get the ph back up after adding my gysum/CaCl and Epsom.

Appreciate the quick responses.

You shouldn't need to add baking soda- I can't imagine the pH being too low in a lighter beer even with distilled water. I'd double check that guestimate, as that doesn't seem right.
 
+1 to Yooper's comment. There is little chance that a pale beer grist with DI water would need alkalinity. A little acid addition is more typical.
 
Revisiting this old thread. The issue I'm running into is a how to balance my acid and salts. This recipe is very simple American Honey Wheat. 4.5# white wheat, 4.5# 2row, with 1.5# honey at flameout. I'm shooting for 75Ca, 5Mg, 20Na, 55SO4, 75Cl, with some (30?) bicarbonate since I'm worried the honey will make the beer thin/dry. I'm also adding .15# of acid malt and .5ml of Lactic 88% to help the pH at mash. Am I over-complicating this by adding NaHCo3 for bicarbonate?
 
Revisiting this old thread. The issue I'm running into is a how to balance my acid and salts. This recipe is very simple American Honey Wheat. 4.5# white wheat, 4.5# 2row, with 1.5# honey at flameout. I'm shooting for 75Ca, 5Mg, 20Na, 55SO4, 75Cl, with some (30?) bicarbonate since I'm worried the honey will make the beer thin/dry. I'm also adding .15# of acid malt and .5ml of Lactic 88% to help the pH at mash. Am I over-complicating this by adding NaHCo3 for bicarbonate?

Yes. Adding the baking soda and then adding lactic acid and acid malt to counteract the baking soda you're adding is counterproductive.
 
I only have data on one malted wheat. It's DI mash pH was 6.07 and it's linear buffering term -44 mEq/kg•pH (slightly higher than a typical pilsner malt). Typical Pilsner DI mash pH's are a couple 10ths lower than this (5.6 - 5.8) so you will need .3*44 to .5*44 i.e. 13 to 22 mEq more acid per kg wheat than you would with Pils.
 
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