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Hey all,

I made this recipe on the weekend and would like some feedback on lowering pH. The good news was that it was constant from first runnings of the mash to last runnings of the sparge. The bad news was that pH was 5.6 the whole time. I hit my OG, but pulled probably only 8-9 gallons out instead of the 10+ I wanted.

What are the impacts of the higher pH besides lower conversion? Can I expect off flavours?

Is that 5.6 at room temperature or at mash temperature?

With higher PH many things can happen such has tannins , astringent off flavours or cloudy beer. At 5.6 PH I don't think this will be an issue. I'm wondering why you would add chalk to increase mash PH (questionable how much will absorb) as well as calcium chloride and gypsum to lower it? On another note I'd add some more hops to that APA. Just my 2 cents.

There are some good threads here on mash pH. Really helped me out.

I add hops at 15/10/5/0/dry hop for my apa.
I keep my ibu around 38ish (sometimes less)

I've never brewed with that hop...but want to

eliminating that chalk from the mash will bring down the ph a touch for sure.

LiverDance wrote:eliminating that chalk from the mash will bring down the ph a touch for sure.

Also, nice choice on the hops. I've got a hoppy pale ale on tap now that's all Nelson Sauvin. One of my favourite varietals.

Woody wrote: On another note I'd add some more hops to that APA. Just my 2 cents.

I'm a big fan of 1/3 of IBUs at 60, and the rest at 15 min and later.

Thanks all, I was using Palmers sheet to get a good RA, I wasn't aware that chalk and gypsum work against each other. Clearly some more studying to do, or I didn't quite absorb the Water book as much as I thought

We are all working on our water chemistry my friend. Check out this article.

https://byo.com/hops/item/1493-the-power-of-ph" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Try and make your water work for you. Dark grain lowers your mash PH so depending on your water you may want to mash or even steep with it. You can manipulate your water with acids or other water treatments/seasonings. Some use reverse osmosis water. There is always something new to learn. The fun is in the journey. I like to figure out what treatment my water needs on brewers friend and predict my mash ph on EZ Water calculator. You can double check the prediction with a PH meter or test strips.


http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemi ... alculator/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good info. I just recently decided to focus more on my PH levels when a friend used my Pale Ale recipe using different water with lower PH and the hops just came through so much better. I think I'm going to use water from somewhere else just to see how it goes. Water chemistry is certainly the next area for me to obsess on ... I mean focus on.