Does pH adjustment make a better tasting beer?

Depends on what else you are fastidious about

 

Conducting a mash within the proper pH range will obtain 'better' mash performance (i.e., better mash conversion efficiency, etc.). I am not sure how to comment from a flavor perspective.

Cheers!

 

Yeah, I guess my response is... sure, pH adjustment is good, but it depends a little on how on top of water adjustments you are in general. Are you using a spreadsheet to calculate appropriate salt additions to achieve a good mash pH and the flavor ions that you desire? If not, my feeling is that that would be lower-hanging fruit. If you're already doing that, then I think measuring pH could be useful at the margin. From the way you frame your question, it seems as though maybe you're not big into water adjustments, in which case my view is that you would get more bang for your buck by focusing on water chemistry in the abstract rather than specific pH adjustments.

[Edited to add: Here's an attempt to be more helpful. My view is that a pH meter is a "nice to have," and that you absolutely don't need one to make excellent beer. Personally, I put a lot of faith in the models that underlie the various speadsheets you might see (Bru'nWater, BrewCipher). If you're diligently planning your water adjustments based on your malt bill, your local water reports, etc., then I believe you are already doing enough in terms of mash pH. pH meters aren't cheap and they aren't particularly durable. You would have to be pretty far along the quality curve before I would actually recommend buying a pH meter as a way of improving your beer. Others may disagree.]

 

pH adjustment alone won't make great beer, but improved water chemistry is essential to getting the most out of your efforts in nearly every other aspect of the process.

I'm fortunate to get regular guidance from a brewmaster at a brewery that puts out 45k+ barrels per year. His first two pieces of advice to me were:

1) Invest in a way to control fermentation your temperature
2) Learn and perfect your water chemistry

 

+1 for the spreadsheets. I only use my pH meter for verification now. The pH of every mash after adjusting the water chemistry based on the spreadsheets came in as expected. Of course you need to know about the water you are starting with. For that I use a LaMotte BrewLab water test kit.

 

Calcium chloride and calcium sulfate are both quite soluble in beer, so I don't see why you couldn't add them to the finished beer in the manner you describe. The bigger obstacle would be accurately measuring such small quantities (it would be a tiny fraction of a gram per glass of beer).

That said, I think there is essentially zero risk of inadvertently adding a bitter flavor to your beer through salt additions, if you calculate them properly. You could conceivably perceive an unpleasant bitterness if you add too much sulfate, but chloride presents no such danger. And even sulfate really shouldn't cause any problems unless it is used in extreme proportions. My advice would be to read up a little on water adjustments (How to Brew has a good discussion), and then make conservative adjustments to your next batch. Don't go crazy and try to replicate Burton levels of minerals, just make modest adjustments to dial in an appropriate mash pH and an appropriate level of the flavor ions. I predict you will not experience any unpleasant bitter flavors.

 

This pH measurement/infatuation thing has really gotten out of hand...most grains and water (mashes) will be in the ballpark with minimal intervention if just the most basic procedures are followed...rdwahahb. This can be rocket science if you want it to be...but it doesn't really need to be to brew excellent beer, imho.

 

A mash that is not within the proper pH range (e.g., 5.2 - 5.8 or so) can impact conversion efficiency. I stated this in my first post of this thread.

Cheers!

 

A pH meter is a valuable tool. I no longer use mine at every step of the process because I know what to expect from the initial readings. You have to start somewhere though. The cheapo meters from e.g. Milwaukee are really quite accurate (I compare mine to a bench meter at work). Their lifetime is only a year or two but at 30 bucks or so it hardly matters.

The first thing you need to do though is to find out what your water chemistry is. If you have municipal water the utility should be able to tell you. For well water, a few bucks spent on analysis is a good investment. At least check your hardness with a test stick if you don't want to pay a lab. If the primary bedrock in your area is limestone you probably have hard, alkaline water that will benefit from some acid. Some trial and error will be required.

The short answer to your initial question is "probably, but it's complicated."

 

Many of us tend to overthink things.

Brulosophy just ran a taste exBeeriment regarding mash pH a week or so ago. Guess what they found..... They did in fact see significant gravity differences.

I shoot for a range of 5.2-5.5. This is more for optimal mash conditions for the enzymes than for anything else.

 

I believe my beer quality has improved significantly once I start working with water, especially for lighter styles (IPA's included). It's not difficult with tools like Bru'n Water, as long as you know your base water (send it off to Ward for $26 or whatever...) and you are all set.

I tend to go lower pH for light styles with a target about 5.2-5.3... Darker beers I target a higher pH of 5.3-5.5... This has worked for me very well.

The Brulosophy experiment is interesting though... As it appears higher mash pH may lead to higher attenuation (which jives with what I have experienced personally).. Could be a good tool for drying a beer out further beyond mash temp and grist composition.

 

As someone said, most grains have a tendency to provide the right amount of pH regardless of what the water pH is. I don't worry too much about it and have no intention on purchasing an expensive pH meter that constantly requires expensive chemicals and replacement probes. The pH of our municipal water is a little high, so I just routinely add a quarter pound of aciduated malt to my recipes. Occasionally I will check the mash pH with inexpensive pH papers. They might not be overly accurate, but should be in the ballpark.

 

This is not true. Most grain bills combined with most water will not land you in the optimal (say 5.2 to 5.6) pH range. I'll even go out on a limb and say that more often than not, the pH will be too high (more often than too low). But it all depends on the grain bill and the water. Just as an example, pilsner malt in distilled/RO water will (at 1.5 quarts per lb) produce a pH of over 5.7. Substitute another water profile (that might reasonably be expected to come out of someone's tap) with some alkalinity, and it gets worse. Adding Crystal Malts and other toasted/roasted malts will bring the pH down, but there is no chemical imperative driving things in general toward the optimal range.

Put a slightly different way... whatever your starting water looks like, there are certainly some grain bills (think styles) that will hit the sweet spot for pH with that water, but there will be more grain bills that don't.

I agree that the starting water's pH isn't really relevant. But its buffers and Ca/Mg content definitely are.

ETA: Meant to mention...I agree with what's been said about using a mash pH model you can trust being more important than buying a pH meter.

 

Which is why most pale beers get some Acid Malt and Dark/Caramel beers get some Baking Soda when using RO water,imho.

 

I agree those additions move pH in the right direction. But re-reading the thread, I think @OldBrewer oversimplified what you meant. It was him I was replying to.

 

Well, I actually also mentioned adding half a pound of aciduated malt to ensure that the PH goes down enough to be in the right ballpark. Also, checking it with pH papers (plastic papers are better) is also a lot less expensive than purchasing a pH meter.