What are you doing for pH?

[dsmith1279]

Folks, making a majorn upgrade in my brew system. Im trying to get smart on the effects of pH on the outcome of the beer. What are you doing for pH measurement? When are you taking them and what are you using? These fancy techno meters look enticing but arent strips just as good?

Anything you'd recommend reading to educate myself?

 

[Chrisl77]

From what i have read if your just trying to be in the pH range the strips could work, but if your trying to be in the sweet spot of that range you need something more accurate. I just ordered my first meter looking foward to reading what others have to say with more experience then me.

 

[Spunkmeyer]

Be sure to read Palmer's "How to Brew" chapters on pH:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15.html

 

[Chrisl77]

Here is the wiki i have read through sofar if it helps. http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

 

[sudsmcgee]

I started with strips but quickly moved to an electronic pH meter. Well worth it IMHO.

 

[BrewMU]

I've been using ph strips since I started brewing. To be honest, I've never had wort climb above ~ 5.5, but I keep checking. That being the case, I don't see the need to spend my hops and grain money on a device that is more precise than I need. All the standard brew-books cover this; basically they all say you don't want to let ph get above 5.6. The reason given is potential tannin extraction under more basic conditions. If your beer ever gets a mouth puckering orange-pekoe quality, high ph is probably the culprit. One situation where it may be more critical is during a decoction mash - high ph + boiling is ideal for tannin leaching.
There may be situations where more precision than the strips give is called for - I'd be interested in hearing from someone who uses a meter.

 

[Chrisl77]

Here is the meter that i have on the way. pH meter
For $65 and a +/- accuracy of .01 i couldnt pass it up.

 

[sudsmcgee]

I like the meter simply to attempt to gain better control and understanding of my brewing process, but that's just my personality type.

 

[kgoode25]

be sure to read palmer's "how to brew" chapters on ph:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15.html

+1

 

[Grinder12000]

PH is way over rated and is not what you want to learn to fix. Go to the brew science forums and read the primer. It's an eye opener.

Fixing PH is like having a one number chlorestrial number you know the number but not how it's made. I just spent a week obsessing over water.

You can have great PH and horrible water.c all PH tells you is how your mash is. Not the rest of the story for making good beer.

 

[Stauffbier]

I only have strips for now.. At what point do you check the mash with strips? Is a dark wort (like a porter) going to mess up the reading on the strips?

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I rarely use the strips in my mash so for me getting a meter would be pointless. I make salt adjustments to most of my mashes so I never seem to have a problem with the ph. I do use the strips for darker beers with dark kilned grains to make sure the ph isn't going too low.

 

[devilbrewer75]

I bought a meter recently to record the acidity of my sour beers and to use during brewing. I think for the most part you could do without it buy it's a fun gadget.

 

[mabrungard]

PH is way over rated and is not what you want to learn to fix. Go to the brew science forums and read the primer. It's an eye opener.

Fixing PH is like having a one number chlorestrial number you know the number but not how it's made. I just spent a week obsessing over water.

You can have great PH and horrible water.c all PH tells you is how your mash is. Not the rest of the story for making good beer.

The Water Primer on the Brew Science is a good resource if you're willing to use RO or distilled water for your brewing. That is a step that not all brewers want to do or need to do. You need to know what is in your tap water to assess if you really need to use RO or distilled water in your brewing.

Understanding your water is an important step to making a broad range of beers. This is due to the fact that most brewer's water is suited for a narrow range of beers unless they are treating the water. Its no problem for me to brew brown and black beers with the water here in the Midwest US, but its a lot tougher to brew a nice lager unless I do a lot of treatment.

Obsessing over water is not a good idea, but the subject is so technical and daunting that many brewers do find that its difficult to get a handle on immediately. Brewing water chemistry is not that difficult. A couple of rules apply:

1. Know what your tap water profile is

2. Be aware of what your water alkalinity is and how it affects Residual Alkalinity.

3. Be aware of any ions that are already at moderate to high concentration and don't raise them to excessive levels.

4. Know that the mash grist has an effect on mash pH. Crystal malts and Roast malts have more acidity than Base malts. Beers with little of these accessory malts must be made using low alkalinity water. As the percentage of crystal and/or roast goes up, the brewing water can have more alkalinity.

The Water Knowledge section of Bru'n Water provides guidance in understanding all the components mentioned above.