Hey everyone,
Currently brewing my first stout and things got off to a rough start. For reference, here is the recipe I am trying to follow: . I did not follow his water additions since he does not use RO water (I believe).
Here is my recipe (2.8 gallon batch):
-4.00 lbs Pale Ale (LHBS did not have golden promise)
-0.9 lbs flaked barley
-0.45 lbs chocolate malt
-0.4 lbs roasted barley
Water Additions (I am using 5.33 gallons of water total, I add all of my salts to the total water)
-Gypsum: 0.5g
-Calcium Chloride: 0.5g
-Epsom: 1.1g
-Calcium Carbonate: 1.9g (probably should have used baking soda)
-Salt: 1.1g
-Lactic Acid: 1.5mL
Final Water Profile:
-Calcium: 53 ppm
-Magnesium: 5 ppm
-Sodium: 57 ppm
-Sulfate: 35 ppm
-Chloride: 49 ppm
-Bicarbonate: 122 ppm
-Predicted pH: 5.5
10 minutes into the mash I took a pH reading (I currently use pH strips, in past brews they have been reliable in telling me the ballpark which has been accurate to Bru'n Water predictions) and pH was apparently siting around 4.5. I added 2.75 grams of baking soda which brought the pH back up to around 5.5 - 5.7. There have been threads that suggest adding the roasted grains at the end of the mash to prevent a pH drop, but in the video he added everything at the beginning of the mash. I can't seem to figure out where I went wrong, normally my Bru'n Water predictions are dead-on to what I measure. So why did this one drop so low? I thought it may have been something about the dark colour of the wort that was maybe throwing off the strips, but then I watched videos that also used strips and it was giving them proper results, confirming that my pH was just that low. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated for my next attempt. Hopefully I can save this beer.
Currently brewing my first stout and things got off to a rough start. For reference, here is the recipe I am trying to follow: . I did not follow his water additions since he does not use RO water (I believe).
Here is my recipe (2.8 gallon batch):
-4.00 lbs Pale Ale (LHBS did not have golden promise)
-0.9 lbs flaked barley
-0.45 lbs chocolate malt
-0.4 lbs roasted barley
Water Additions (I am using 5.33 gallons of water total, I add all of my salts to the total water)
-Gypsum: 0.5g
-Calcium Chloride: 0.5g
-Epsom: 1.1g
-Calcium Carbonate: 1.9g (probably should have used baking soda)
-Salt: 1.1g
-Lactic Acid: 1.5mL
Final Water Profile:
-Calcium: 53 ppm
-Magnesium: 5 ppm
-Sodium: 57 ppm
-Sulfate: 35 ppm
-Chloride: 49 ppm
-Bicarbonate: 122 ppm
-Predicted pH: 5.5
10 minutes into the mash I took a pH reading (I currently use pH strips, in past brews they have been reliable in telling me the ballpark which has been accurate to Bru'n Water predictions) and pH was apparently siting around 4.5. I added 2.75 grams of baking soda which brought the pH back up to around 5.5 - 5.7. There have been threads that suggest adding the roasted grains at the end of the mash to prevent a pH drop, but in the video he added everything at the beginning of the mash. I can't seem to figure out where I went wrong, normally my Bru'n Water predictions are dead-on to what I measure. So why did this one drop so low? I thought it may have been something about the dark colour of the wort that was maybe throwing off the strips, but then I watched videos that also used strips and it was giving them proper results, confirming that my pH was just that low. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated for my next attempt. Hopefully I can save this beer.
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