What are you brewing?

[nzbrewer]

Since this is the most popular thread on the RealBeer.co.nz forum I thought I would start it here just to see what happens

[Dougal]

Brewed the first lager of the season today...let the waiting begin.

 

Bo Pils

1.055 OG, Mash at 67

Gladfield Pils 4.497 kg (93.7 %)

Wheat Malt 0.193 kg (4.0 %)

Melanoidin 0.064 kg (1.3 %)

CaraPils 0.046 kg (1.0 %)

 

Motueka 15 g @ 60

Motueka 15 g @ 30

Riwaka 24g @ 10

Motueka 24 g @ 0

 

Wyeast 2487-Hella-Bock

 

I need to try a different acid to adjust the mash, citric always seems to over adjust far too quickly even with tiny amounts. That's the whole pH buffering thing right?

 

[Ralph]

A little bit of citric will push the pH of a solution down pretty quickly even in small amounts. As food acids go, citric is reasonably strong.

 

This is not what people talk about with buffering. If the solution was buffered it would stay at almost the same pH until quite a lot of acid had been added.

 

There is probably something else you can use to get your mash to the correct pH that wont change the pH as quickly as citric will, but as I know some chemistry and only a little about brewing so far, I dont know what that substance might be yet!

[Dougal]

Hi Ralph,

Most people seem to use hydrochloric or lactic acid to adjust mash pH. My understanding of the chemistry is a bit limited, but laboratory tech friends tell me that different acids buffer solutions best at different pH ranges. 

Today's mash went something like:

Added .25 tsp of citric at start of mash with CaCl.
Checked- 5.8, added another .25 tsp
Checked- 5.6, added .125 tsp
Checked- 4.8. WTF?

I've had exactly the same non-linear correction thing happen a couple of times before on pale beers.

I'll try hydrochloric on the next beer (another pale lager) to see if it behaves differently. Another factor could the Gladfield base malt, which does always seem to need adjustment to get it in the range unless the beer is dark.

[denimglen]

That sounds like buffering, stays almost the same and once you go over the threshold it drops like nuts.

 

What's your water like to start with?  And how are you measuring pH?

 

Unless your water is stupid high in carbonates you should be able to adjust with salts - even small amounts that won't effect flavour in delicate beers like light lagers.

 

Tried using John Palmers spreadsheet?

[Dougal]

That sounds like buffering, stays almost the same and once you go over the threshold it drops like nuts.

That's what I thought.

Water is the usual Chch supply. Very low in everything except Carbonates at 52ppm. Normal pH is about 7.2. I've got a good pH meter and actually callibrated it this morning with proper buffers so I'm pretty sure it's not that.

Don't want to hate on Gladfields ($1.60/kg base malt rocks), but a lot of people who use them make acid additions or use acid malt. I think it might just be another thing you consider when using their product...

I will try that spreadsheet, though we'll see if the hydrochloric works too.

[Ralph]

Sorry, from your original post I thought you must have just been chucking a quarter teaspoon in and the whole pH was diving! Having the mash hold at a certain pH through additions of acid and then suddenly drop is a buffer in action.

 

A quick search reveals that malt has a number of substances that will act as buffers. A reasonable explanation of stuff over here  http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/A_simple_Model_for_pH_Buffers if you read from Mash pH and adjustments a little down the page.

[Dougal]

Thanks Ralph.

Good link too. Will relate my experience with hydrochloric once I've brewed.

Cheers

 

[JR]

I have to admit to cheating for ph correcting and I use a product called ph5.2 stabilizer from 5 star chemicals.  No measuring ph involved.  Some people dont like it and say they can taste it.  I have not detected anything when I have used it.

[jt]

Had a day of on Friday and did a few litres of roasted pumpkin soup in the little HLT (8 litre pot) - a more agreeable smell in the house acording to the family

 

Just mashed in a Little Pale, standard recipe 1033 85% Malteurop, 15% dark caramalt

 

cheers, jt

[JackoNZ]

How do you find that dark caramalt JT? I've just mashed in an American Stout with just 3% of it added. I'd like to try out more of it though, I see Kid Chocolate used it, maybe I'll try something like that with it next time.

[jt]

It's nice Jacko, though I'm going back to the lighter stuff after I've finished this lot. That's a personal preference for pale beers, not a comment on the malt. I'd just prefer my pales paler than this gives me

 

I used the lighter caramalt in the kid chocolate mild recipes, haven't tried one with the dark caramalt though.

You could probably use either to a very close effect. I think the Caramunich (or pale crystal) are is possibly more significant in that recipe ? Not too much seems to get over the whack of brown ....

[JackoNZ]

Yeah I don't think you can beat pale crystal or light caramalt in a pale ale. I thought dark caramalt would go well in the slightly darker english bitters, maybe more intense caramel more towards toffee? Actually I just noticed dark cara is lighter than the pale crystal I use. Not by much but still. I swapped pale crystal for dark cara in my stout today to get some lighter specs in there, not sure it'll get picked up with all the other malts but we'll see.