Mash Acidity

[coldlager]

Hey,

Can anyone give me advice on;
- the best way to to test and correct mash acidity
- the most cost effective way to test and correct mash efficiency


Thanks :)

 

[adomant]

Narrow band ph strips are cheap for testing, I use a Hannah atc probe(£70).

To get your mash ph in the 4.9 - 5.3 range you might get your brewing water to around 6ish with ams or other carbonate reducing agent / acid

To lower ph in the mash you might use calcium chloride flakes

The ph values may vary chording to what you are brewing and what your base water etc.. Is. You may need to do some experiments to see what works for your setup

 

[coldlager]

OK cool thanks for the advice. I will use ph strips to test the mash ph during my next brew day.

 

[mabrungard]

The best way to manage mash acidity is to know what your water quality is and use an appropriate model to predict how that water will mesh with your grist. The acidity of malts is moderately well known and they fall in fairly narrow ranges based on color ratings and malt type. Bru'n Water is one such model that allows you to input water and malt data and predict mash pH fairly closely. Using a model along with good guidance to avoid excessive mineralization will help your beers.

 

[Bignige]

Hi,

You need to think of water treatment and mash pH adjustment as 2 separate steps. Removal of carbonate/bi-carbonate in your brew water is one step. If you're not sure what you're doing then add AMS/CRS slowly, bit at a time to your hot water and keep stirring and test a couple of times to bring the pH to 6-6.2.

Next stage is to adjust mash pH by salt addition, either calcium chloride (for rounder sweeter note) or calcium sulphate (increased/enhanced crispness and bitterness). This will vary from recipe to recipe as the grain bill changes but couple of grams should get your mash pH in the 5-5.5 ballpark with 5.3 being the target.

This link will probably help too:

http://www.murphyandson.co.uk/BrewingAr ... ywhere.htm

Good luck!

 

[mabrungard]

Hi,

You need to think of water treatment and mash pH adjustment as 2 separate steps. Removal of carbonate/bi-carbonate in your brew water is one step. If you're not sure what you're doing then add AMS/CRS slowly, bit at a time to your hot water and keep stirring and test a couple of times to bring the pH to 6-6.2.

Next stage is to adjust mash pH by salt addition, either calcium chloride (for rounder sweeter note) or calcium sulphate (increased/enhanced crispness and bitterness). This will vary from recipe to recipe as the grain bill changes but couple of grams should get your mash pH in the 5-5.5 ballpark with 5.3 being the target.

This link will probably help too:

http://www.murphyandson.co.uk/BrewingAr ... ywhere.htm

Good luck!

Depending on the starting water quality, the advice above can quickly lead to minerally flavor in beer. AMS and CRS can overdose the water with chloride and continuing to dose the water with calcium chloride could further that potential fault. Be careful with the total sulfate and chloride added to the water. Using other acids such as phosphoric (and possibly lactic) can offer a brewer a way to avoid excessive chloride and sulfate. There are plenty of beer styles that will be adversely affected by excessive mineralization. For most beers, keeping Cl and SO4 below about 100 ppm is a good idea. If creating a hoppy beer and appropriately boosting sulfate, then you still want to keep chloride low. To avoid minerally flavors when the sulfate content is well over 100 ppm, then the chloride content needs to be further reduced. I suggest that keeping Cl down around 50 ppm is a good goal. Don't believe a water calculator that says its OK to have chloride over 150 ppm in any beer. There are NO waters from historic brewing centers that have Cl over 140 ppm. The combination of Cl over 100 and high SO4 is the recipe for minerally taste in beer.

 

[Bignige]

Hi,

You need to think of water treatment and mash pH adjustment as 2 separate steps. Removal of carbonate/bi-carbonate in your brew water is one step. If you're not sure what you're doing then add AMS/CRS slowly, bit at a time to your hot water and keep stirring and test a couple of times to bring the pH to 6-6.2.

Next stage is to adjust mash pH by salt addition, either calcium chloride (for rounder sweeter note) or calcium sulphate (increased/enhanced crispness and bitterness). This will vary from recipe to recipe as the grain bill changes but couple of grams should get your mash pH in the 5-5.5 ballpark with 5.3 being the target.

This link will probably help too:

http://www.murphyandson.co.uk/BrewingAr ... ywhere.htm

Good luck!

Depending on the starting water quality, the advice above can quickly lead to minerally flavor in beer. AMS and CRS can overdose the water with chloride and continuing to dose the water with calcium chloride could further that potential fault. Be careful with the total sulfate and chloride added to the water. Using other acids such as phosphoric (and possibly lactic) can offer a brewer a way to avoid excessive chloride and sulfate. There are plenty of beer styles that will be adversely affected by excessive mineralization. For most beers, keeping Cl and SO4 below about 100 ppm is a good idea. If creating a hoppy beer and appropriately boosting sulfate, then you still want to keep chloride low. To avoid minerally flavors when the sulfate content is well over 100 ppm, then the chloride content needs to be further reduced. I suggest that keeping Cl down around 50 ppm is a good goal. Don't believe a water calculator that says its OK to have chloride over 150 ppm in any beer. There are NO waters from historic brewing centers that have Cl over 140 ppm. The combination of Cl over 100 and high SO4 is the recipe for minerally taste in beer.

Have to say I've never found it to be that way myself with regard to mineral flavour notes over the years but could happen I suppose if it's overdone.

(BTW the advice was based on Brewlab's Advanced Brewing Course and the Institute of Brewing & Distilling's Diploma).

Anyway the link to Murphy & Sons is well worth a read though and might be useful as they are recognised brewing industry experts on water here in the UK. :)