I just made the all grain Bavarian hefe and I did the step mash method for the hell of it because the kit instructions gave both step and single inf. I hit temps fine. I adjusted my water as I normally would for this color beer. My pH meter needs a probe so I haven’t been checking mash pH. I usually bring finished beer samples to work and check the pH. I was shocked at the hefe being 3.85 finished pH. This beer is around 3-4 srm and my 6 arm IPAs finish at 4.5. Anything jump out here as to why the finished hefe is so low? Is it because half the grain is wheat? Scratching my head on this one.
What yeast did you use? According to various brewing texts, yeast may contribute acid to the fermentation and thus final beer to help compete with various bacteria. Wheat malt may be slightly acidic which may have contributed to a lower than expected mash pH.
Could also be that the CO2 is lowering your pH, typically you carbonate to a higher volume of CO2. That or the yeast may produce a little more acid, I know a lot of hefeweizens have a little tat bite to them and this may come from an organic acid produced during fermentation.
Also, clove flavor is a phenol, which is acidic.
Edit: according to Wikipedia, the pKA of eugenol is 10.19. That means it will keep it’s proton until that pH is exceeded.
