using crs

[rodneygullick]

not quite sure if I am doing this right when I make a stout or porter the dark malts will drop the ph down to an exceptional ph level in the mash tun (question) do I have to add acid (CRS) to the HLT to bring it down to 6 ph or less or do I not have to put any acids in at all

[vacant]

Probably no or very little CRS for stout/porters.

Brupaks water treatment is a straightforward guide. You measure the carbonate level first which is easy to do with a Salifert carbonate test kit (enough for dozens of tests).

[rodneygullick]

I've got a recipe for a Irish red besides the 5.1g pale malt it calls for 2 kinds of crystal 1at 40% lovebond and 1 at 120%lovebond 170g of each also roast barley at 170g now the roast barley should alter the ph somewhat how do I get over this

[steve crawshaw]

Rodney
you probably want to reduce the pH a little bit with the water we have as it is fairly alkaline. If it were me I would just use the tap water, campden tablet and brew the beer.

If it were a pale lager, then I would consider water treatment.
cheers
steve

[darrenw]

Hi,
Just playing around with PH this weekend, popped 5ml of 85% phosphoric acid into my 30l of water I was using for my brew and bought mash ph down to 5.5 (this was just a pale ale), assuming with Irish porters/stouts you need the higher end of the mashing PH level for more Malty flavours.
What I would do, if possible with crs? Is test the mash after its been going for 10min and see if it needs adjustment?

[I_used_to_brew]

Hi,
Just playing around with PH this weekend, popped 5ml of 85% phosphoric acid into my 30l of water I was using for my brew and bought mash ph down to 5.5 (this was just a pale ale), assuming with Irish porters/stouts you need the higher end of the mashing PH level for more Malty flavours.
What I would do, if possible with crs? Is test the mash after its been going for 10min and see if it needs adjustment?

What you need to do is understand fully what you are doing. You need an analysis of your water and some form of water/brewing spreadsheet.

Messing around and adding a few drops of this that or the other is not likely to end well.

Have you been measuring your mash pH for a variety of brews, have you been hitting your target pH?

[PMowdes]

Hi,
Just playing around with PH this weekend, popped 5ml of 85% phosphoric acid into my 30l of water I was using for my brew and bought mash ph down to 5.5 (this was just a pale ale), assuming with Irish porters/stouts you need the higher end of the mashing PH level for more Malty flavours.
What I would do, if possible with crs? Is test the mash after its been going for 10min and see if it needs adjustment?

What you need to do is understand fully what you are doing. You need an analysis of your water and some form of water/brewing spreadsheet.

Messing around and adding a few drops of this that or the other is not likely to end well.

Have you been measuring your mash pH for a variety of brews, have you been hitting your target pH?

I'm with Roger on this.

I'm happy to bring an alkalinity test kit to a meeting and have a chat about mash pH, alkalinity and water treatment.

Its fairly easy once you get your head around it, but I can understand that the chemistry is fairly daunting.