PH

[MARMITE]

My water contains calcium 60 magnesium 13 sulphate 76 chloride 37 alkalinity 116.Last week I made a Fullers porter and my water treatment was 1 tsp calcium carbonate and .5tsp salt PH at start of boil 4.92.Unfortunately Ibroke a thermometer so had to throw the brew away. Exactly same brew this week but increased cal carb to 2 tsp and PH dropped to 4.83 at start of boil-the wrong wayPH mter recalibrated each time Any ideas please?

[MARMITE]

Thanks for your reply DaaB - just to be sure that I have understood you correctly. Are you saying that you agree I have got a problem or are you saying I am worrying about nothing?

[BigEd]

My water contains calcium 60 magnesium 13 sulphate 76 chloride 37 alkalinity 116.Last week I made a Fullers porter and my water treatment was 1 tsp calcium carbonate and .5tsp salt PH at start of boil 4.92.Unfortunately Ibroke a thermometer so had to throw the brew away. Exactly same brew this week but increased cal carb to 2 tsp and PH dropped to 4.83 at start of boil-the wrong wayPH mter recalibrated each time Any ideas please?

MARMITE, are you referring to the pH of the water or the mash here? If your mash pH is in the correct range I wouldn't worry too much about a boil measurement. A tsp or two of calcium carbonate seems to be about right for a porter with your starting water numbers. Calcium carbonate should be added directly to the mash where it will provide necessary buffering for the acidity of dark malts. It doesn't dissolve well in plain water. Seeing that your original chloride number is 76ppm I would be cautious of adding salt as you could easily get that chloride number over 100.

[MARMITE]

Big Ed - I am referring to the Ph at the start of the boil ( someone told me he took it then rather than checking the mash Ph and I 've been doing the same).
I did add the calcium carbonate to the mash. Regarding the addition of salt, the original chloride no is 37, it was the sulphate which was 76.

[Aleman]

Big Ed - I am referring to the Ph at the start of the boil ( someone told me he took it then rather than checking the mash Ph and I 've been doing the same).

The important pH is that during the mash as the enzymes have an optimum at pH5.3 . . . There is little point checking mash pH at the start of the boil as if its wrong then its too late to do anything about it. Generally take the pH 5 minutes after mashing in.

The pH of the wort in the kettle will be lower than the pH of the mash, even at the start of the boil, as the boil proceeds the pH will fall further.

[BigEd]

Big Ed - I am referring to the Ph at the start of the boil ( someone told me he took it then rather than checking the mash Ph and I 've been doing the same).
I did add the calcium carbonate to the mash. Regarding the addition of salt, the original chloride no is 37, it was the sulphate which was 76.

What Aleman said. Check the mash pH and don't fret the boil. Re NaCl, unless you are making an arcane style like Gose I see no reason to add common salt. Sodium is not required for brewing and too much sodium or chloride can cause problems. If you want to add some chloride content I would suggest using calcium chloride.