Ph of Mash

[minesa1664]

Hello All

I was wondering if any of you knew what the Ph should be of my Mash. when i did Stout it was 6 and pale ale (inc 150g acid malt) 5.8

I live in Hampshire so very soft water. i have seen on the hop and grape website that they have lots of water treatment additives. would people recommend these?

Thanks

Will

 

[adomant]

Brupaks DLS does the trick for 23 litres 1 tblsp in the water and one in the mash (I'm from north Essex where the water is not so soft). I use litmus indicators and try to aim for 5.2 - 5.4. The important thing is to preboil the water to remove Co2 and other carbonates first. Good luck !

 

[TheMumbler]

have a look here, I believe a good deal of it was written by aleman who posts around here as well.

 

[Aleman]

Anywhere between 5.2 and 5.7 is fine . . .you need to use narrow range pH test strips general purpose ones or litmus are no use at all (in fact I don't get on with narrow range ones either, everyone's perception of colour is different )

Are you sure your Hampshire water is soft? Everywhere in Hampshire I've been has water so hard Judas could have walked on it

One thing I will say is that until you have a sound grasp of brewing water treatment is going to be of little benefit, and in order to do it properly you need to know what is in your water. Randomly throwing chemicals into water is not water treatment, its more akin to witchcraft!!

 

[WelshPaul]

Silly question, but do you mean the ph of the mash before it goes into the mashtun or before it goes into the boil?

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Silly question, but do you mean the ph of the mash before it goes into the mashtun or before it goes into the boil?

While it is in the Mash Tun, that is the only time it is actually the Mash. I normally test the pH about 10 minutes into the Mash.

 

[WelshPaul]

Cool, thanks.