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bignath

"Grains don't grow up to be chips, son"
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Hi all,

have been reading up on water chemistry of late and trying to get my head around it..

a question about water pH. I understand it's the mash pH that is the most important thing, but does anyone know or have an opinion on what a suitable pH for your household water should be before you even start using it for brewing? I brew mostly ales, i live in mt gambier in south australia where we have "hard water" (every house here has a water softener). Unfortunately, I don't know the other stats about my water chemistry though.
Not sure how i go about finding that info out....
I have measured my pH of the household water supply using a spa/pool testing kit, and it comes in at 7.8-8.2, so i'll guess it pretty much 8.0 out of the cold tap.
I have been trying to get into all grain, and for the most part think i have a good/decent handle on the whole process, but as smoothly as my first two or three attempts have gone (i've pretty much hit most of my targets), i have been underwhelmed by the quality of the beer produced. Probably important to mention that up to this point, i haven't been able to test the pH of my mash, so no idea what it actually is once grains are in there..

Could it be the pH of my water? I am assuming (rightly or wrongly) that the further away in both directions your pH is to start with, that when it gets used for mashing or sparging your beer gets worse??

have been looking at the 5.2 stabilizer you can add to the mash and wondering if it's a good idea for my situation.

hope someone can tell me if i'm on the right track..
 
Hi all,

have been reading up on water chemistry of late and trying to get my head around it..

a question about water pH. I understand it's the mash pH that is the most important thing, but does anyone know or have an opinion on what a suitable pH for your household water should be before you even start using it for brewing? I brew mostly ales, i live in mt gambier in south australia where we have "hard water" (every house here has a water softener). Unfortunately, I don't know the other stats about my water chemistry though.
Not sure how i go about finding that info out....
I have measured my pH of the household water supply using a spa/pool testing kit, and it comes in at 7.8-8.2, so i'll guess it pretty much 8.0 out of the cold tap.
I have been trying to get into all grain, and for the most part think i have a good/decent handle on the whole process, but as smoothly as my first two or three attempts have gone (i've pretty much hit most of my targets), i have been underwhelmed by the quality of the beer produced. Probably important to mention that up to this point, i haven't been able to test the pH of my mash, so no idea what it actually is once grains are in there..

Could it be the pH of my water? I am assuming (rightly or wrongly) that the further away in both directions your pH is to start with, that when it gets used for mashing or sparging your beer gets worse??

have been looking at the 5.2 stabilizer you can add to the mash and wondering if it's a good idea for my situation.

hope someone can tell me if i'm on the right track..

Taint rocket science Nath, best place to start is requesting a water chemical analysis from your local water board/council. Lucky you.......hard water!

Cheers,

Screwy
 
Taint rocket science Nath, best place to start is requesting a water chemical analysis from your local water board/council. Lucky you.......hard water!

Cheers,

Screwy

cool thanks screwy!

"lucky"? really? excuse my ignorance, but is that good?
 
If the sparge water is high pH then you can end up extracting polyphenols. You may need to pre-treat your water if it is giving you problems, to get the pH down to something more like 6-6.5 (ideally). I've used 8pH water to brew and sparge but we treat the first with salts and the second with lactic acid.

Do you treat your water at all? Are you brewing darker beers? Dark grains will naturally drop the pH of you mash, and once the pH of the mash has stabilised it has an epic buffer capacity which makes it tough to change. Even if it is just a borrow, you should get some equipment to measure the pH of your mash and then see if the beer turns out similar to your previous batches. Not perfect, but somewhere to go at least.
 
have been looking at the 5.2 stabilizer you can add to the mash and wondering if it's a good idea for my situation.

The 5.2 would be your easiest option to adjust your pH and I would make this your first port of call but there may be other issues with your water which need to be identified to brew spcific styles of beer. As Screwy said get a water report for your area and then read the chapter on water treatment and residual alkalinity in 'How to Brew' (John Palmer).

The other trial you could do, would be to halve your next batch with town water and rain/bottled water to see if you get results more to your liking.

Cheers,

TS
 
Currently, no i don't treat my water at all. I have had a feeling for a little while that i might need to, as i have been dissappointed with the results from my AG attempts. I am not expecting this to be the "be all and end all" type of fix, just was wondering if it's another thing i need to adjust to get the results i am after.

Typically i brew ales, but nothing darker than amber/golden ales etc.. Sometimes lagers too. I have a 38lt cylindrical esky mash tun, which i usually pre-heat, mash at 66 degrees for an hour, recirculate until clear, sparge at around 75-80degrees, into boiler (urn).
I have ordered the 5.2 and test papers in the appropriate range from CB as at time of ordering they were out of pH meters. Not sure how reliable these papers will be but i will try them out.

Will definitely get the water report - from my local council i guess?

Just wanted to know how far out my water is (if at all) before the brewing process even starts compared to other peoples water.

Thanks for all of your help peoples!
 
Some people don't treat their water at all and make awesome beers. Luck of the draw really. Good luck and let us know how your next brew goes!
 
just did a quick check of my rainwater pH.

On a paper strip, it is reading between two markers of 6.2 and 6.8 - so 6.5pH?
This is backed up by my spa test kit which also measures it at a touch below 6.8

With the exception of not knowing what my chemical analysis of either my rainwater of housewater, is this a better starting point for brewing ales, or would i generally be better going with house supply at (this stage) above 8pH?
 
just did a quick check of my rainwater pH.

On a paper strip, it is reading between two markers of 6.2 and 6.8 - so 6.5pH?
This is backed up by my spa test kit which also measures it at a touch below 6.8

With the exception of not knowing what my chemical analysis of either my rainwater of housewater, is this a better starting point for brewing ales, or would i generally be better going with house supply at (this stage) above 8pH?


I just did a similar test and got similar results (with plain tap water). Does that mean our water is acidic?
 
I just did a similar test and got similar results (with plain tap water). Does that mean our water is acidic?


unless i'm mistaken, acidic is below 7 or 7.2 and above that (my tap water @ 8 or a touch above) is alkaline.
 

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