Hi all , I´ve lately been having some troubles with my dark beers. I can not figure what is going on.The point is the last few batches of dark beers such as porters, stouts and IRAs have tasted not good enough.I have checked my notes through out these recipes and found no clue. They taste a bit dull, not pleasant,not yummy, they have only an excellent everlasting foam and very smooth mouthfeel. So I decided to take a beer Ph reading and found something very unusual... Ph of a stout is 5,10, far away from 4 - 4,5 .I brew using RO water plus salts additions, so I checked out my salts additions and found nothing wrong in them.For 5 gals of a stout I add 2 grs of Baking Soda and 4 grs of CaCo(it is only soluble in a half) , 4 grs of ClaCl and 2 grs gypsum altogether to the mash getting a mash Ph=5,4. I started to think my RO water system is not working properly but I can see the volume of water pumped out is very tiny as usual, if RO membrane would be clogged this voulume would be greater,I am not so sure. Any suggestion?
Esteban, hopefully somebody who is an expert on water chemistry will have some answers for you. You made mention of: “…altogether to the mash getting a mash Ph=5,4” Could you provide details on how you measure your mash pH? Cheers!
Jack , I have a Hanna digital Phmeter( didn´t calibrate it in a long time( 2 years)), I took several Ph readings to finished beers that taste fine and those readings were between 4,1 - 4,5
“Hanna digital Phmeter( didn´t calibrate it in a long time( 2 years)),” Are you confident that the meter is reading accurately? I am wondering whether your measurement of your mash pH value of 5.4 is accurate. My thought process is that maybe your mash pH is not in the proper range (e.g., 5.4 – 5.6) and that as a result this might be impacting the quality of your beer. I have absolutely no idea whether there is a metric of pH of finished beer which correlates to beer flavor. For example, I have no idea whether a finished beer pH of 4.1 – 4.5 relates to ‘good’ beer and a finished beer pH of 5.10 relates to ‘bad’ beer. I would also be concerned about how accurate your finished beer pH values are given that you have not calibrated your meter in 2 years. Cheers! Jack
if you havent calibrated your meter in 2 years, there is very little chance the readings are accurate. you should be calibrating every brew day - at a minimum! that being said, all things being equal, pH of darker beers are usually lower than lighter beers due to the acidity in dark malts - so your data doesn't exactly add up.
Have you tried dosing a tasting glass of the beers with some acid (lactic, phosphoric, blend) to drop the pH in the glass and see if that makes the flavors pop more? I had a Wee Heavy that tasted flabby, and after adding a drop or 2 of lactic acid to the glass it was much brighter. But, as mattbk said, pH should be plenty low with that acidity of dark malts.
I also use a Hanna pH meter and since I only brew once every couple of weeks I perform a two point calibration every time. I would not trust unusual readings from an uncalibrated unit. Additionally I do not measure finished beer pH, though some do. I shoot for 5.4-5.6 in the mash, with the reading taken on a sample cooled to room temp to save wear and tear on the probe. (If the measurement occurred at mash temp the targets would be ~0.2 lower.) EDIT: Just noticed you were using chalk. Its effect can be unpredictable. If you are starting from RO water you should not need both chalk and baking soda.
I think I ´ve made a mistake avoiding calibrations, I ´ve been thinking my Phmeter is very likely uncalibrated but in a minimum way because I use EZ water spreadsheet and my mash Ph is always very close to predicted one. The point is I live in a little town where it is not easy to find a reliable Ph buffer 4 and 7 because they sell them using bottling from bulk.I ´ve read somewhere that these buffers lose their reliability once you open the bottle.
you can get powdered buffer that will keep until you mix it. just add it to 500 ml of distilled or whatever specified. there has go to be an online retailer that will ship to Argentina. I hope so. the buffer will keep for a good while but not forever. for brewing, you want to calibrate with 4 (or 4.01). your meter probably has a single calibration point. your RO discharge will slow down as it gets clogged. it is a mechanical filter, and contrary to common wisdom it becomes more effective as the filter gets loaded. up to a point. if you don't have one, a simple 10 or 20 micron pre-filter, pleated paper or spun, is a good idea as these are cheap insurance to protect your expensive RO filter. cheers.
pH buffers should be pretty stable unless you get microbial growth - which will happen eventually, but it usually takes several months. References like the Handbook of Chemistry & Physics and many textbooks have recipes for making your own buffers. They may have odd values like 7.4 or 3.9 but that's not important as long as you know the pH and calibrate your meter to it. I agree with other posters that your water treatment is probably making your water too alkaline and your meter is likely inaccurate. In commercial laboratories it is common to require recalibration of even very expensive meters every 2 hours while they are in use.
Powdered buffer is a great idea. OP should not have to have it shipped from the USA. Many lab suppliers have representatives in Argentina. Try these for starters: http://www.thermoscientific.fr/com/cda/article/general/1,,952,00.html http://www.biolaboratorio.com/fabricante/cole-parme
now im pissed. because i love 80s metal (high unintentional comedy potential) and ive never even heard of overkill! ive got my homework cut out for me. seriously though - pH probes experience a lot of drift. i work with $500 benchtop models that are calibrated several times a day - and still experience drift. the types of meters homebrewers typically use aren't nearly that robust. so no, i don't consider a 5 minute procedure to ensure you're reading accurate numbers overkill. and i aint nobody's fool.
LOL they were more of a thrash metal band, so perhaps a bit more respectable than say Cinderella Check out "Electric Rattlesnake", "Elimination" and "Hello From the Gutter" as starting points....
I might like select Glam songs/bands, but Thrash takes a piss on Glam every time.... Out of respect for the OP, I'll stop posting about 80's metal now.
