Mash pH not as predicted

The-Engineer-That-Brews · Apr 28, 2022

Brew_DD2 said:
Exactly the same with me. Apps all overestimate how much acid I need to hit mash pH.

Just a thought: is it possible this could be due to a mismatch in how alkalinity is measured? There is a factor of 1.22 difference depending on whether it is measured as ppm as bicarbonate (HCO3) or as calcium carbonate (CaCO3) ... but some tools and water reports just say 'alkalinity' without specifying which.

The-Engineer-That-Brews · Apr 28, 2022

AJA said:
I'd anticipate large swings in the pH due to any variabily if you have reduced alkalinity to very low levels, as there's nothing to buffer.

I do hear that the amino acids and phosphates in the grain act as quite a strong buffer - at about pH 5.7, IIRC ?

Pennine · May 1, 2022

The-Engineer-That-Brews said:
Well on my next brew I shall probably find out - I am now mashing in at about 55ºC so that I can do what Braukaiser calls the 'no rush pH adjustment': making any necessary adjustments to pH before reaching the enzyme activity zone.

That would be brilliant thanks If the tool wants the parameters for my tap water, the Affinity Water report says Ca 126, Na 19, Mg ??, chloride 31-44, nitrate 22-27, sulphate 18-31 and alkalinity (as HCO3) 333. I've just sent off a sample of my water to the redoubtable Neil at Phoenix Analytic so hopefully I will soon have some rather more concrete numbers...

I built out the water and recipe in beersmith to find out that he does not have crs in the program or a way to manually add it in that I could figure out.

I also discovered there is no czech saaz in the program? I probably need to do a reinstall.

Sadfield · May 1, 2022

Pennine said:
I also discovered there is no czech saaz in the program? I probably need to do a reinstall.

Have you installed the hop (and grain, yeast, etc) updates via the Add-ons tab? He's still not add CRS though.

The-Engineer-That-Brews · May 1, 2022

Sadfield said:
Have you installed the hop (and grain, yeast, etc) updates via the Add-ons tab? He's still not add CRS though.

The omission of CRS is annoying: I use BS3 for everything else but have to do the water with other tools.
Requests to add it do come up occasionally on the BS forums (e.g. AMS, DWB additions in water treatment.) but there seems to be no intention to do anything about them (not used in the US = doesn't exist / must be bad)

Sadfield · May 1, 2022

The-Engineer-That-Brews said:
The omission of CRS is annoying: I use BS3 for everything else but have to do the water with other tools.
Requests to add it do come up occasionally on the BS forums (e.g. AMS, DWB additions in water treatment.) but there seems to be no intention to do anything about them (not used in the US = doesn't exist / must be bad)

It's possibly not worth the effort researching, programming and releasing an upgrade if the majority of his customers are in the US, and not enough UK users asking for it.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/beersmith-3-0.77521/post-762618
Also, the easy work around is to work out your base water profile after crs addition and then input that into BS.