To get a mash pH of 6.37 you would need a water total alkalinity in the range of 600+ mg/L as CaCO3. If your alkalinity was around the same as Adelaide water averages of 44 mg/L as CaCO3 and your Ca level was a low 15 mg/L and Mg a low 5mg/L, your mash pH should have been around 5.75 or to be conservative 5.8. If your water has 0mg/L of anything (distilled water) this would give a mash pH of around 5.7. You don't state the brand of Vienna, but I'll assume the Lovibond is the same as Gladfield's at 3.7L.
I question your mash pH reading of 6.37 due to the following you state 36L of mash liquor and 8.3 kg of grains. I will assume Sydney Prospect North water is typical for Australian surface water and not that high in total alkalinity. I emphasise needing accurate figures for your water volume, total alkalinity, calcium content and grist content. Of course the buffers in the grain resist the raising of the pH and need to be taken into account, but a good calculator with good accurate input data will predict a fairly reliable mash pH for you.
You want to figure out an accurate figure of your water's total alkalinity (which consists of the buffers that will resist a lowering of your pH). In short 6 ml would be in the ball park.* Perhaps the 24ml suggested by BS was due to the acid setting being 10% rather than 96%?įirstly your water pH is fairly irrelevant (there is the exception of course). So my question, is the above expected and is >6ml phosphoric acid normal for double batches? I understand that there are a lot of variables, I just want to make sure I am on the right track.Įdit - Apologies, realised I should have put this in the water section, please move if needed. I left it there as I did not want to play around too much more as I would most likely bugger it up. I then added another 3ml, waited, and mash PH reduced to 5.6. Putting the actual mash PH figure into Beersmith, it recommended 24ml! I thought that just didn't sound right so I added 3ml, waited 10 mins and PH came down to 5.8. I forgot to get lactic acid last time I went to the LHBS but I do have 96% phosphoric acid which I used.
Brun estimated PH of 5.43 and Beersmith estimated 5.66. Last brew day I plugged all figures into Brun water and also Beersmith. I typically double batch BIAB with 36L stike water and dunk sparge with 14L. Bit of background, I am using Sydney Prospect North water and have just purchased a Hanna PH meter. So are you of the opinion that brewing salts, as you've mentioned here work well enough to change mash pH and boil pH? Once I get some feedback from someone with the values I'm after, I'll look at plugging that data in the Brun.I'm just starting to dabble in water chemistry and would like some opinions on some conflicting information re mash PH. Manticle, I have emailed a friend who works at Sydney Water here in Sydney and emailed Sydney Water through their website, telling them what I'm looking for. And Lactic acid will lower the pH I'm guessing? What do you like about using lactic acid to do that? I assume that's in a liquid form? Yes, do want to keep things simply, but make progress brewing better beer. MHB I didn't think to use the link option.
#Mash ph beersmith how to#
Just trying to workout how to keep making better beer, while trying to keep the bulk of the cashflow in the household/family etc. I think the strips I can buy are said to have a range of 3.8 to to 5.4. So you don't bother with brewing salts and just use bi-carb and acid malt to change your pH? Fair call on a pH meter. 7.9 Average of test results between 6.5 - 8.5 pH units YesĬheers Dan. What's going on there? Hope the below makes enough sense to those who reply here!ĭissolved oxygen % saturation greater than 85% 28 102.3 Here's the water report copy/paste style - couldn't see the attach option under 'more reply'. To give me an overview on how to start to understand this, what might you do with brewing salts to get the mash ph to suit the style? I'm thinking of brewing a few English beers in a bit, properly starting with a mild, then maybe a best or strong bitter.
I'll next look into plugging in what I have in that report to Brun. Attached is I think some of the details I'll need to plug into Bru'n next. I've gone to Sydney Water's website, and found my water supply is from Prospect North. Jack - I've recently started re-reading the all grain brewing parts of Palmers book, and now re-reading again the part on mash ph.