?Alakalinity too low?

(That's water to the rest of us!) Beer is about 95% water, so if you want to discuss water treatment, filtering etc this is the place to do it!
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guypettigrew
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?Alakalinity too low?

Post by guypettigrew » Mon Mar 25, 2019 4:36 pm

Preparing for a brew tomorrow and I got a bit overenthusiastic with the AMS!

The mash will have 4.5kg pale malt, 300g caragold and 300g pale crystal.

The treated liquor in the HLT now measures 16ppm alkalinity. Will this be OK, or should I chuck some more untreated water in so the alkalinity gets up to about 20?

Thanks.

Guy

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Re: ?Alakalinity too low?

Post by Silver_Is_Money » Mon Mar 25, 2019 4:44 pm

Do you know your mash waters calcium and magnesium mg/L (or ppm) values? What is the volume of your mash water in Liters?
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guypettigrew
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Re: ?Alakalinity too low?

Post by guypettigrew » Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:37 pm

Hi S_I_M

The mash water has 102ppm calcium and 1.7ppm magnesium.

I ran about 50+ litres of my hard tap water into the HLT, then got a bit over excited and added 55ml of AMS. The alkalinity dropped from 204 to 16.

Silly me!

Guy

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simple one
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Re: ?Alakalinity too low?

Post by simple one » Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:45 pm

That'll be fine. Especially with a 2l to 1kg ratio.

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Re: ?Alakalinity too low?

Post by Silver_Is_Money » Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:18 pm

simple one wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:45 pm
That'll be fine. Especially with a 2l to 1kg ratio.
I agree! Your grist, alkalinity, and mineralization will work fine together.
Developer of 'Mash Made Easy', a free and complete mash pH adjustment assistant spreadsheet

https://mashmadeeasy.yolasite.com/

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Kev888
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Re: ?Alakalinity too low?

Post by Kev888 » Tue Mar 26, 2019 10:34 am

guypettigrew wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:37 pm
I ran about 50+ litres of my hard tap water into the HLT, then got a bit over excited and added 55ml of AMS. The alkalinity dropped from 204 to 16.
Shows the value of testing, it might not be as intended but you (a) realised and (b) know how far out it is. That little check has saved me from cock-ups a couple of times, whilst it is still easy and cheap to correct if necessary.
Kev

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Re: ?Alakalinity too low?

Post by guypettigrew » Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:10 am

Thanks everyone for the comments.

The mash pH this morning was 5.48 at 20 minutes. Not sure how valid the second decimal place is, though!

A bit higher than I'd have liked, but my mashes always are.

Sparging at the moment.

Guy

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Re: ?Alakalinity too low?

Post by Kev888 » Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:20 am

Assuming the pH 5.48 is at room temperature then thats a good result, spot on really =D>
(If the reading was at mash temperature then yes a little high, but even then not by a lot).
Kev

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Re: ?Alakalinity too low?

Post by guypettigrew » Tue Mar 26, 2019 12:29 pm

The pH was measured at 20°C.

It's boiling away vigorously now and I've just checked the mash efficiency using Graham Wheeler's Beer Engine. 91-92%. Fine by me!

Guy

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Re: ?Alakalinity too low?

Post by BarnsleyBrewer » Tue Mar 26, 2019 1:20 pm

Good luck with the brew, and as others have said it'll probably turn out fine. 8)
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