Brewin Water + 100% distilled = no acid

[Brewskii]

Have admittedly put a minimal amount of effort in getting all "Chemistry" in my brewing but I've read some stuff and I use the brewinwater spreadsheet .
I try to balance the pH with mineral additions only ( Epsom, CaCl, and Gypsum) while attempting to get good "Palmer" numbers. Usually I can achieve this with some leeway to skew the numbers to the more malty or more bitter side and still not require Saurmaltz or acid addition. In fact, most brews ( based on grain bill for 5.5 gal batch) tend to be on the acidic side.

Is that correct? I question it because I hear people constantly talking about the need to lower the mash pH but I don't seem to need to do that using distilled water as a base.

As a side note, I use around 10-15 grams on average total mineral additions ( obviously this has an effect depending which ones - but I'm speaking in general terms here). I always choose to add all the minerals to the foundation water and fly sparge with straight steam-Distilled-Ozonated-Filtered Water.

Beer seems good. Dose that make sense or do you think my mash pH is jacked up?

 

[MichaelBrock]

What styles of beer are you brewing? Beers with lots of dark grains (more acidic) will often not require additions to lower the pH. That said, you say that you're adding Gypsum, CaCl and Epsom and all of those will lower your pH.

 

[ajdelange]

Assuming you add 7.5 grams each of calcium chloride (dihydrate) and gypsum to 5 gallons of water (that's a lot of salts) you would depress knockout pH by 0.28 and mash pH by somewhat less than that, say 0.2. Given a base malt mostly beer with a DI mash pH of 5.75 your mash pH would be about 5.55. This is acceptable but you would probably find the beer better if you got it down a bit more. That's where the sauermalz or lactic acid comes in.

Don't put tall your trust in spreadsheet calculations. They are valuable planning tools but the proof of the pudding is in properly made pH meter readings of the mash. There is a sticky here dedicated to that subject. Most people find that most beers require some acid (probably because most people don't put as much as 15 grams of salts in their beers).

 

[Brewskii]

Thanks. I also have gone as high as 15 grams but that's as high as I've taken it based on the spreadsheet calcs.

I actually have a pH meter but never used it for my mash. If it was on the high side I don't think I'd know what to do about it. I suppose add a few drops of lactic acid, stir and re-test.

I always thought my numbers were lower due to using the distilled h2o.

 

[ajdelange]

I actually have a pH meter but never used it for my mash.

That is the main (and for some) only reason brewers buy pH meters.

If it was on the high side I don't think I'd know what to do about it. I suppose add a few drops of lactic acid, stir and re-test.

And, we hope, remember to use some lactic or sauermalz the next time you brew this beer so the pH will be correct.

It is a very good idea to make a test mash from about a pound of grist and mash temperature water. Find out how much acid to add to that and scale for the full brew length but be sure to check the pH there too.

I always thought my numbers were lower due to using the distilled h2o.

Most water (but there are exceptions) contains some alkalinity which pulls mash pH higher.