Who's doing it, how and why? I've been working around it for years and wanted to see what others were doing. The only time I really need to raise my mash pH is when brewing porter/stout. My work around is to increase mash time to 90 minutes. The first 45 are without the roasted grain, then the roasted grain is mixed in for the final 45.
I always use Pickling Lime when I need to raise on Porters/Stouts. Its a simple addition and you can buy it at he grocery store. I'll also add the roasted grain at vorlauf for some of my non-imperial stouts which is more for the flavor factor than worrying about PH.
I use baking soda in my stouts. I add some to the mash if needed for pH but then more while bringing up to the boil, for flavor and to prevent tang in the finished beer. I recently heard about pickling lime and will begin incorporating that where needed to avoid excessive sodium which can taste metallic and bitter in high concentrations, whereas pickling lime will be flavor neutral.
