Managing PH levels

[hoppyscotty]

Relatively early in my water chemistry career. Just using brewfather to establish what I need to add to strike water, though it seems with my water rarely any significant additions are needed for IPA style beers based upon my water report from the water suppliers (last 3 years of reports show its pretty stable).

But acid is another issue and I'm not sure how best to add acid to the water. My tap water is around 7PH out of the tap so usually add some acid to the strike water to bring down the PH to low 6's or high 5's (have a cheap PH meter and strips). But I know that when you add malts it acidifies the mash so don't want to add too much acid to the strike water and over acidify.

Is there a calculator or something that gives us an idea how long it takes after mashing in for the grist to reduce PH and by how much? Or is it just a case of taking a reading 30 mins or so into the mash and adjusting from there? The issue I have with that is that is potentially 30mins of mash time at a sub-optimal PH. I'm assuming this might affect the mash in some way.

Thanks

 

[The Baron]

I can give you a rough guide to start with
Add acidified malt at around 200g to a standard 23 Ltr brew or add 6 to 8 Ml of Lactic acid in the usual concentration 80 I think that is what it is sold in and that should get you mid 5.5 up or down a little then you can adjust with the next brew to suit exactly where you want to be

 

[RichardM]

Download Bru'n Water (brunwater.com) Bru'n Water includes acid additions as well as the usual mineral additions.

 

[Wiener Blut]

If you're using Brewfather it calculates the pH based on your water source, the grist and salt additions. On top of that it's got an acid calculator for both mash and sparge water that you can switch on under the water calculator.