Anavrin215
Member
Due to my local water (philly), I've shifted to using full RO water and have been having a hard time with dialing it in.
One of the things that throws me off is stripping back my starting pH from the average 6.8-7.2 to about 5.7-5.8~
Recently, I tried my stout recipe (grain bill & mash below) and have consistently been met with batch pH's dropping too low; fyi, I'm using an Apera PH60 reader that's pretty reliable and calibrated often.
Because of the low pH issues, in a recent batch I decided to add my roasted grains (chocolate & black pat) just before vorlauf and sparge. In previous batches, I'd mash with the dark grains in, so wanted to see how this turned out.
Note, b/c I wasn't adding the dark grains until close to sparging, I didn't add any baking soda or chalk to help boost the pH. Beersmith, considering just the Maris & flaked barley, was estimating 5.7, which I know is on the high side for sure, but I wasn't going to add any lactic, because I knew adding the dark grains would bring it down somewhat, even if adding towards the end of the mash. I did use the full volume of water as if using all the grain, so my liquor to grist ratio was 2.9 l/kg (as oppose to the typical 2.6 l/kg) for the majority of the mash.
I only treated the 3.16gal of mash water with .5g CaCl and 1.5g Gypsum.
When I pulled a mash sample and cooled – this was before the dark grains were added – the pH was 5.34, so significantly lower than anticipated. Post boil pH was then down to 5.2.
It's now fermenting away (I used 1x packet of Nottingham @62deg.), and the pH has dropped after 3 days to to 3.8. I know stouts are generally on the lower side, but I'm afraid it'll go below 3.7 at this rate, and not be pleasurable to drink. I feel if the mash pH was a bit higher, and therefore the starting pH into the ferm would be higher, this wouldn't be dropping so low. I don't believe there's any type of bacteria issue driving the pH down in the fermenter – I thoroughly CIP'd and sani'd my fermenter / equipment just before the brewday.
Would love any thoughts on why there's that discrepancy in the mash, or if you brew with full RO water, how do you treat your water when using dark grains?
Recipe (for 6.5 gal batch):
7# Maris Otter
2# Flaked Barley
12oz chocolate (450)
6oz Black Pat Malt (650-700)
Single infusion mash at 154, 60 min
One of the things that throws me off is stripping back my starting pH from the average 6.8-7.2 to about 5.7-5.8~
Recently, I tried my stout recipe (grain bill & mash below) and have consistently been met with batch pH's dropping too low; fyi, I'm using an Apera PH60 reader that's pretty reliable and calibrated often.
Because of the low pH issues, in a recent batch I decided to add my roasted grains (chocolate & black pat) just before vorlauf and sparge. In previous batches, I'd mash with the dark grains in, so wanted to see how this turned out.
Note, b/c I wasn't adding the dark grains until close to sparging, I didn't add any baking soda or chalk to help boost the pH. Beersmith, considering just the Maris & flaked barley, was estimating 5.7, which I know is on the high side for sure, but I wasn't going to add any lactic, because I knew adding the dark grains would bring it down somewhat, even if adding towards the end of the mash. I did use the full volume of water as if using all the grain, so my liquor to grist ratio was 2.9 l/kg (as oppose to the typical 2.6 l/kg) for the majority of the mash.
I only treated the 3.16gal of mash water with .5g CaCl and 1.5g Gypsum.
When I pulled a mash sample and cooled – this was before the dark grains were added – the pH was 5.34, so significantly lower than anticipated. Post boil pH was then down to 5.2.
It's now fermenting away (I used 1x packet of Nottingham @62deg.), and the pH has dropped after 3 days to to 3.8. I know stouts are generally on the lower side, but I'm afraid it'll go below 3.7 at this rate, and not be pleasurable to drink. I feel if the mash pH was a bit higher, and therefore the starting pH into the ferm would be higher, this wouldn't be dropping so low. I don't believe there's any type of bacteria issue driving the pH down in the fermenter – I thoroughly CIP'd and sani'd my fermenter / equipment just before the brewday.
Would love any thoughts on why there's that discrepancy in the mash, or if you brew with full RO water, how do you treat your water when using dark grains?
Recipe (for 6.5 gal batch):
7# Maris Otter
2# Flaked Barley
12oz chocolate (450)
6oz Black Pat Malt (650-700)
Single infusion mash at 154, 60 min