What is wrong with my mash?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by ghostinthemachine, Dec 26, 2015.

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  1. ghostinthemachine

    ghostinthemachine Initiate (0) Aug 14, 2015 Louisiana

    I use a couple ounces of acid malt in every batch because a lot of people in this area do. I havent gotten into water adjustments other than that.

    My last few recipes (cream ale, brown ale, IPA) took over 2 hours for the iodine test to not turn jet black. I have an ipa sitting in mash right now (90% 2 row, 4 percent torrified wheat and 4% cara20) for over 2 hours that is turning the iodine jet black and doesnt taste the least bit sweet. I do BIAB and stir every 10 minutes (I have it rigged where I dont have to remove the blankets to stir....i leave the mash paddle stikcing out). The grain bed temp at my last sample was 150 degrees.

    What is going on? here is a water profile from my area that somebody posted.

    http://brasseursalamaison.com/files/Baton Rouge Water Profile.pdf
     
    #1 ghostinthemachine, Dec 26, 2015
  2. ghostinthemachine

    ghostinthemachine Initiate (0) Aug 14, 2015 Louisiana

    I plugged the tap water profile into brew cipher and it is saying my mash PH with the acid malt addition is 5.94 and the desired PH is 5.5. is that enough to throw the conversion off this much?
     
    #2 ghostinthemachine, Dec 26, 2015
  3. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Your alkalinity is medium high, and you have very little in the way of Ca and Mg to help drop the pH down in the mash. Do you have a pH meter? My conversion went much faster after I got the right pH. For some beers you might want to add gypsum or CaCl2 for both the Ca and flavor ions. The rule of thumb that Weyermann has for acidulated malt is that 1% of the grain bill will drop the pH by 0.1. You might need more to get it down.
     
    #3 hopfenunmaltz, Dec 26, 2015
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  4. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    If you are at 5.94 the conversion is not going well and the efficiency has dropped off the table.
     
    #4 hopfenunmaltz, Dec 26, 2015
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  5. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    #5 hopfenunmaltz, Dec 26, 2015
  6. ghostinthemachine

    ghostinthemachine Initiate (0) Aug 14, 2015 Louisiana

    Thanks for that. I'll be the first to admit that I am completely ignorant of how the water here messes with the mash. I havent gotten into it yet.
     
    #6 ghostinthemachine, Dec 26, 2015
  7. ghostinthemachine

    ghostinthemachine Initiate (0) Aug 14, 2015 Louisiana

    So from that chart I am mashing in the beta amalyse temp range but my PH is closer to the alpha amalyse range?
     
    #7 ghostinthemachine, Dec 27, 2015
  8. Brew_Betty

    Brew_Betty Initiate (0) Jan 5, 2015 Wisconsin

    You want to be in the 5.2-5.6ph range otherwise conversion suffers.
     
    #8 Brew_Betty, Dec 27, 2015
  9. ghostinthemachine

    ghostinthemachine Initiate (0) Aug 14, 2015 Louisiana

    Will it convert or will I be waiting for nothing?
     
    #9 ghostinthemachine, Dec 27, 2015
  10. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    If you are at 5.95 you are at the right edge of the graph, out of the range of all the enzymes.

    It might convert if you have enough time, I don't know how long that is.
     
    #10 hopfenunmaltz, Dec 27, 2015
  11. Brew_Betty

    Brew_Betty Initiate (0) Jan 5, 2015 Wisconsin

    You could try an overnight mash and check it in the morning.
     
    #11 Brew_Betty, Dec 27, 2015
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  12. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    If you have some gypsum or CaCl2, plug some amount into Brewcipher and see where it predicts. A tsp of gypsum won't hurt at this point.
     
    #12 hopfenunmaltz, Dec 27, 2015
  13. Brew_Betty

    Brew_Betty Initiate (0) Jan 5, 2015 Wisconsin

    Or anything you can do to lower the pH, like more acid malt.
     
    #13 Brew_Betty, Dec 27, 2015
  14. ghostinthemachine

    ghostinthemachine Initiate (0) Aug 14, 2015 Louisiana

    I wash just asking one of my buddies about that. Will it sour? It is at 148 degrees after 2.5 hours of mashing. I think itd be fine. He thinks itd sour
     
    #14 ghostinthemachine, Dec 27, 2015
  15. ghostinthemachine

    ghostinthemachine Initiate (0) Aug 14, 2015 Louisiana

    I don't have any of those :/ the lhbs closed at 4 today. It's weird none of the other guys there ever mentioned doing other than adding acid malt to their water. maybe they keeping secrets from me haha
     
    #15 ghostinthemachine, Dec 27, 2015
  16. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    How much do they add? What grain bills do they use? Crystal malts and roasted malts are more acidic. Do they add gypsum or CaCl2?
     
    #16 hopfenunmaltz, Dec 27, 2015
  17. GetMeAnIPA

    GetMeAnIPA Pooh-Bah (2,559) Mar 28, 2009 California
    Pooh-Bah

    Lactic acid is great at reducing ph without adding flavor. You could do as I do when doing pale beers is build my water profile from mostly all DI water. A lower ph for pale beers allows for better flavor. With pale beers it's better to be on the lower side like 5.2 than on the higher side like 5.9.
     
    #17 GetMeAnIPA, Dec 27, 2015
  18. ghostinthemachine

    ghostinthemachine Initiate (0) Aug 14, 2015 Louisiana

    Sooo after a 4 hour mash i hit a 1.062 pre boil OG at 7 gallons. Should i add some of the hops i have in the freezer for dry hopping at 30 minutes or jsut go with the plan? My pre boil OG was supposed to be 1.054 and I was doing 10z magnum at 60 minutes, 3 oz galaxy at 5 minutes and an ounce of amarillo and an ounce of citra at 1 minute. I think my grain bill is simple enough to where what I have will work, especially since i mashed low
     
    #18 ghostinthemachine, Dec 27, 2015
  19. GetMeAnIPA

    GetMeAnIPA Pooh-Bah (2,559) Mar 28, 2009 California
    Pooh-Bah

    Are you checking the gravity during preboil or just using iodine for conversion? There should be no need toash for 4 hours.

    Are you asking if you should bump up the hops since now you'll have a higher ABV beer? If so I would run the new info though your recipe builder. A 1.062 should be about what 6.5% ABV? I would target @70 Ibus so it all depends what your original ibu calculation was.

    Also, any decent LHBS should have calcium chloride and sulfate available.
     
    #19 GetMeAnIPA, Dec 27, 2015
  20. ghostinthemachine

    ghostinthemachine Initiate (0) Aug 14, 2015 Louisiana

    I use iodine to check conversion. I dont check gravity until i get a rolling boil. 1.062 preboil is going to be about 1.072 post boil into fermentor. I have more volume and more sugar than anticipated. I was hopping to about 70 ibus in my original recipe.
     
    #20 ghostinthemachine, Dec 27, 2015
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