Smoked wheat beer pH too low

dalecek · Jun 12, 2020

Hi. Brewed a smoked wheat beer 2 weeks ago. I adjusted alkalinity with CRS to 20 and there was 120g of acidulated malt in the grain bill which was a mistake. Mash pH was a tad low at 5.1. OG (1.052) has gone down to pH 5.05. Fermentation has now finished with FG 1.010 and pH just at 4.00. The beer is quite dry and really sharp. Is it gonna mellow out with conditioning?
Thanks

strange-steve · Jun 12, 2020

Your mash pH was a little low but I don't think that would have a huge impact on the final pH. Fwiw a post-fermentation pH of 4.0 isn't really unusual and shouldn't taste sour. What yeast did you use, I find some wheat beer yeasts do impart a slight tang?

peebee · Jun 12, 2020

Your mash pH only has a limited effect on fermentation pH, fermentation causes the pH to drop to about 4 (maybe a tad up on this in some circumstances). And mash pH always drops a smidge during mashing. So your results are pretty "text book" apart from having a lower mash pH than you might have wished.

My own mash pH is going through a phase of coming out a lot lower than yours: I aim for 5.3 and it comes out 4.9. Six months ago I'd aim for 5.3 and get 5.9. It's done it before, I never figured it last time and I probably won't this time (it's the water company larking about with some new dosing equipment they installed - that much I did learn). But I was still kicking out decent beer last time it happened, I've no reason to think it will be different this time.

Beer always mellows with a bit of time. If it didn't, we wouldn't bother waiting for it (and some brewers don't!).

dalecek · Jun 12, 2020

strange-steve said:
Your mash pH was a little low but I don't think that would have a huge impact on the final pH. Fwiw a post-fermentation pH of 4.0 isn't really unusual and shouldn't taste sour. What yeast did you use, I find some wheat beer yeasts do impart a slight tang?

It was WB-06 1st gen harvested and 2.5L starter. I'm gonna give it time and hopefully it's gonna come out good. Thanks

dalecek · Jun 12, 2020

peebee said:
Your mash pH only has a limited effect on fermentation pH, fermentation causes the pH to drop to about 4 (maybe a tad up on this in some circumstances). And mash pH always drops a smidge during mashing. So your results are pretty "text book" apart from having a lower mash pH than you might have wished.

My own mash pH is going through a phase of coming out a lot lower than yours: I aim for 5.3 and it comes out 4.9. Six months ago I'd aim for 5.3 and get 5.9. It's done it before, I never figured it last time and I probably won't this time (it's the water company larking about with some new dosing equipment they installed - that much I did learn). But I was still kicking out decent beer last time it happened, I've no reason to think it will be different this time.

Beer always mellows with a bit of time. If it didn't, we wouldn't bother waiting for it (and some brewers don't!).

Thanks. I had no idea there might be such a massive differences in pH swings. I'll just use rule no.2 Patience