Shoud I adjust the pH of dilution water?

[hopdoc]

I almost always experience too much boil-off and this last beer I brewed is WAY too strong, I want to dilute it with 1 gallon of water to bring it to a total of 10 gallons.... My water pH is 7.1 and I assume I should adjust the pH level, before adding it to the finished beer. What pH should I shoot for? What pH should a regular beer end at?

HAHAHAHA, once I brewed a 15 gallon batch of wheat beer, by first brewing 10 gallons, then diluting in the keg. The diluted beer had a strange malty sweetness that I didn't like and had to add orange extract to every glass that I drank. Some people liked it though, I gave most of it away......

Thanks everyone!

 

[ajdelange]

It depends not on the water's pH but it's alkalinity. If the water has little or no alkalinity then you do not need to acidify it. If it has substantial alkalinity you do.

It is always safe to acidify to the kettle pH. In so doing you have attacked the problem in two ways. pH represents the potential for proton flow. If the pH of the dilution water equal the pH of the wort there is no potential difference to drive proton flow and there will be none. Secondarily, in acidifying the water to kettle pH you have already sated the proton absorbing capabilities of the water. There is, if you will, no more capacity for protons in the water and few would flow even were there a pH difference.

 

[hopdoc]

My total alkalinity is 104 ppm as CaCO3. I was planning on using Brun water to calculate how much lactic acid to lower the pH of the dilution water. I don't have a pH meter yet, so I don't know what the pH in the kettle was, or what it is at now. It is a good idea to bring the dilution water to pH 5.5?

What would adding this water with 7.1 pH and 104 alkalinity do to the final product if you added it in a large amount (33%) ?

 

[ajdelange]

Yes, it is a good idea to bring the water pH to 5.5 as that neutralized most of the alkalinity. If your kettle pH is 5.5 it neutralizes all of it. Strips are probably good enough for checking that you hit pH 5.5. I'm color blind so they are out of the question for me. If others disagree with this statement take their word for it not mine.

As kettle pH should be lower than 5.5 (more like 5.2) it would be better to acidify the dilution water to 5.2.

If you put high alkalinity water into wort it will pull the pH up. This is not a good thing as you want knockout pH between 5.0 and 5.3. How far it pulls it will depend on the buffering capacity of the wort, its pH and the buffering capacity of the water (its alkalinity) and its pH.

 

[hopdoc]

If you put high alkalinity water into wort it will pull the pH up

That's why that wheat beer tasted so funny, and why a couple drops of of orange extract in a glass improved the flavor so much!

Thanks a lot for all your help.
Cheers!