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  • Low Mash PH

    HI Folks,
    It seems for the past few weeks we have been having trouble with low mash Ph resulting in low finished beer ph's. We have pretty soft water and had never adjust the ph of it. This is happening on all of our brews but most disturbing is on our lightest beer which is mostly base 2row. First off we calibrate our ph meter daily and have double checked it with our back up meter so they are working correctly. Our mash ph for our light is coming out at a 4.8 and our finished beer ph is 3.7. my question is what could be causing this and what steps can I take to rectify this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    thanks in advance

    Boden2

  • #2
    This happened to me once when I used malt that had been stored in high humidity. The slack malt seems to have harbored acidifying bacteria--my guess. I got rid of the malt and my mash pH went back to 5.35. Just a thought.
    Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--

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    • #3
      Give us some relative parameters: what were previous batches measuring? have all the mashes had similar increases in acidity? has your water analysis changed recently? If you don't do water analysis (assuming you have a municipal supply), contact your water dept. and see if the source has changed lately. Your ph is rather low to be solely due to water chemistry change though. All things being equal though, I would lean toward a change in your water's ion content.

      Jamie
      The Covey
      Fort Worth, TX
      ______________________
      Jamie Fulton
      Community Beer Co.
      Dallas, Texas

      "Beer for the Greater Good"

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      • #4
        Yeah, first step is to know the Ca,Mg,CO3,Cl, and SO4 content of your water. Ward Labs (wardlabs.com) will do an analysis cheaply. Meanwhile, I'd suggest adding slaked lime to the mash to raise the pH. The only place I know to get it gourmetsleuth.com but there's probably a bulk supplier somewhere.

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        • #5
          What's the pH of your naturally soft water? Have you checked with your regional municipality to see what their analyses show over dates in question? Is it ground water or lake/pond/surface water? Is it spring where you are?

          What is your current water treatment regime (ie what kind/quantity of brewing salts do you add)?

          Do you have a hot/cold liquor tanks? What's the pH in each? How often do you check? Do you have non-return/check valves on all of your water lines?

          Your low mash pH is concerning. Pretty hard to break the buffering of malt without serious water modifications.

          Good luck,

          Pax.

          Liam
          Liam McKenna
          www.yellowbellybrewery.com

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          • #6
            Originally posted by gitchegumee
            This happened to me once when I used malt that had been stored in high humidity. The slack malt seems to have harbored acidifying bacteria--my guess. I got rid of the malt and my mash pH went back to 5.35. Just a thought.
            Gitchegumee,

            Did this result in any strange off flavors in your wort, fermenting wort, or finished beer? I've been doing some preliminary brews with malt that I suspect has the same problem (highest mash pH I've seen is 5.15), and everything seems to have an acidic, citrusy, orangy flavor to it. BTW, the malt was purchased in 2006 and has not been stored optimally over the past 2 years. I guess I'm just looking for more reasons to decide what I've pretty much already decided (get rid of the old malt and start anew).

            Thanks,

            --Gabe

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            • #7
              That sounds like my problem. Consdering where you are, I'd bet on it. There was a slight tang to the taste, but the pH was where I could measure it. Lower than expected yeild and lower pH of the wort spells slack malt. Get yourself some fresh, crisp malt and you're back in business. I don't think there's a way to dry it again. Too much microbiological activity. Good luck!
              Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--

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              • #8
                Well, at least I got good practice with my equipment that's new to me. I had already made the right decision, as hard as it is to stomach, but thank you Gitche for helping me really feel better about it. "Tangy", that's a really good description for the off taste. Thanks.

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