Mash PH / Burton Water Crystals

[Buzz]

Okay, I've done a handful of AG brews now and am happy enough with the results so far but, I thought the time has come to address the quality of the water, bearing in mind it's the biggest ingredient of any brew.

Thus far, I haven't done any water treatment at all but I've got hold of some PH strips and am shocked to find that the PH of my water is massively high. I knew we had very hard water but the strips go up to 6.8 and it's definitely at 6.8, if not higher

Anyhow, I've got hold of some Burton Water Crystals which suggest they should be added to the grist before mashing. But, it doesn't say how much - should I shove the whole 220g in for a 5 gallon brew?

The other question I have is, how do you measure the PH of the mash - do you do it at the end or half way through or what? As always, any advice is welcomed

[mysterio]

should I shove the whole 220g in for a 5 gallon brew?

Depends on your water. If you put any Burton crystals in without knowing what you're working with it's a bit like sprinkling salt over food prepared by somebody else that you've never tried.

I give the mash 5 minutes or so just for everything to get going, then take a small sample, let it cool then measure the PH. It's the mash ph you should be concerned about rather than the ph of your water.

[Aleman]

If you are consistently making good beer why bother fiddling with something like water chemistry? If you are not producing good beer consistently then water chemistry is unlikely to be the culprit.

OK First off the pH of your brewing water (liquor) is completely unimportant. The most important factor is the alkalinity - how much it resists changes in pH, which is related to how much Carbonate is present. Generally Hard waters have high alkalinity and soft waters low alkalinity.

Ideally for brewing pale ales a water with low alkalinity is desired, and for darker beers a water with higher alkalinity is better (The dark grain contain sufficient acid to shift the pH of the mash towards the ideal mash pH)

Burton salts do nothing to contribute towards this reaction. What they do provide are calcium ions which react with phosphates released from the malt (along with H+ ions) to form calcium phosphate which is insoluble. The pH of the mash falls because of these free hydrogen ions.

Burton salts also provide sulphate which serves to increase the perception of hop bitterness. (And I suspect a bit of magnesium as well)

How much to add - how long is a bit of string?

The general advice I give to people regarding water chemistry is very simple. Reduce the alkalinity to below 50 using acids (and measure the total alkalinity with a palintest kit first, random additions of acid do more harm than good), then add calcium chloride (to accentuate the malt profile) or Calcium sulphate ( to Accentuate the hop profile) to bring the level of calcium in your water up to around 150ppm . . . I use promash or brewater to calculate how much to add. Of course you can add a mixture of the two depending on which way you want the profile to swing Hops or Malt. You can't do that with Burton salts as you do not know the amounts of salts that have been used.

You could try a teaspoon added to the grist, if this makes a big difference to a beer you have brewed before and know well then reduce it next time.

Measure the pH of the mash when you have doughed in and all the dry spots have been eliminated. You should end up with a pH around 5.3, if its higher you could try adding another tsp of salts , if the pH doesn't shift then your alkalinity is high and you need to look at reducing that first.

[Buzz]

If you are consistently making good beer why bother fiddling with something like water chemistry?

I've only done a handful of AG brews and each one is getting better. As I haven't addressed water treatment before I just wondered if I could get the brew even better. I keep reading threads on here suggesting that a stable mash ph will help prevent haze, which does seem to a be a problem with my beer when it is chilled.

Anyhow, thanks for the feedback. Clearly a lot more to it than just chucking in a few salts I'm brewing again next Wednesday and will take a ph reading of the mash and go from there.

Cheers again.

[landy813]

Taking into account all that has been said above do i need any chemicals on standby for my first AG attempt to adjust the mash ph.
Also i dont use test strips i use an electronic meter which i calibrate with buffer solution at 20 oC does the mash temp cause problems for ph accuracy on these meters or is that all taken care of by the electronics?

[Aleman]

i use an electronic meter which i calibrate with buffer solution at 20 oC does the mash temp cause problems for ph accuracy on these meters or is that all taken care of by the electronics?

Measure the pH at room temp you will seriously shorten your electrode life if you bung it in the mash at mash temps. . . . . you will seriously shorten the life of the electrode if you measure the mash pH . . . The proteins can really gum it up and do not wash off easily.

First All grain - Water chemistry is not something to worry about, concentrate on getting the process correct. remember beer just wants to be made, you will make better beer than kit or extract anyway

[Horden Hillbilly]

Anyhow, I've got hold of some Burton Water Crystals which suggest they should be added to the grist before mashing. But, it doesn't say how much - should I shove the whole 220g in for a 5 gallon brew?

Here is a link to Brupak's information on water treatment. You may also need to find an analysis of your water from your water supplier. Here is an example of one, this is the one I use from Northumbrian water.

Here is a thread which some members have posted links for local water reports, it may be worth having a look to see if the information you would like is already in there.

[DRB]

I bought some burton water crystals today as they didnt have all the separate salts I wanted, I use around 2800g of malt for a 15 lt batch using around 6/7 litres water for the mash what sort of quantities would I add, as said above there are no instructions on the tub, my water is soft alkalinity of 50mg/l. I'm looking to do a nice pale and a bitter .