New article about mash pH contol

I finally completed a new article that took almost a year to write. It took so long not only because I took a break from brewing and writing about it for a while, but most importantly I wanted to write an article that is well supported by brewing experiments and close observations of mash pH in batches of beer that I brewed over the last year. All too often get brewers caught up in the theoretical aspect of water and mash chemistry with the aim to calculate everything with the best precision possible. But what is commonly overlooked is that measurements are not precise enough to require this precision and, what is mots important, malt’s reaction to pH changes is not that predictable anyway. To capture that aspect experiments are necessary.

The objective of this article was to give the advanced brewer an insight in the major factors that affect mash pH and how it can be corrected. Based on experiments it also gives guidelines that allow the estimation of mash pH changes based on the water profile, water treatment additions or mash additions, without focusing too much on this aspect. Those are largely based on mash pH experiments I conducted including the data published in The effect of brewing water and grist composition on the pH of the mash.

With this article I also released a updated version of my water calculator. But more on this later.

Click here: Mash pH control

Kai

2 thoughts on “New article about mash pH contol

  1. Home come brewers limit themselves to baking soda and chalk when wine and mead makers use potassium carbonate?

    • That’s an interesting thought. I never considered potassium salts in brewing since potassium is not seen as a major brewing water mineral. However, malt brings in lots of potassium (Potassium in brewing water) and a little more from salts should not hurt. This seem to open the option of using potassium carbonate or bicarbonate for pH adjustment in brewing. I’ll have to ask around if others have experiences with this.

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