When to Measure pH?

I just got some colorphast strips and would like to start measuring the pH of my mash. But I’m not sure when to take the reading and make the necessary adjustments. Is it after the Sacch rest? After the Mash Out?

And I believe I’ve read that you need to let the wort cool to room temp before using the colorphast strips. Can someone please confirm?

You want to check it at the beginning of the mash so you can make adjustments if necessary, and yeah, it needs to be checked at room temperature.

Check about 10 min, after mashing in. Check this for important info about use and a correction factor…

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?ti ... me_brewing

[quote=“Denny”]Check about 10 min, after mashing in. Check this for important info about use and a correction factor…

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?ti ... me_brewing[/quote]

Does the addition of sparge water after mashing in not affect the pH?

Yes and astringency can creep in if oversparging occurs - that’s why the ruled thumb is to stop collection when gravity hits 1.010 or pH hits 5.8.

http://www.winning-homebrew.com/astringency.html

:cheers:

[quote=“Chris-P”][quote=“Denny”]Check about 10 min, after mashing in. Check this for important info about use and a correction factor…

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?ti ... me_brewing[/quote]

Does the addition of sparge water after mashing in not affect the pH?[/quote]

Yeah, it might, depending on the type of sparge you do and your water chemistry. But you said you wanted to check the pH of the mash, so you need to check it early.

[quote=“Chris-P”]
Does the addition of sparge water after mashing in not affect the pH?[/quote]

No, it will affect the pH, especially if you fly sparge.

Even if you batch sparge, if you’re like many of us, you may need to acidify your sparge water in addition to your strike water. Usually, you do this simply by adding equal amounts (e.g., equal in terms of grams/gal) of whatever you added to your strike water to your sparge water.

[quote=“Silentknyght”][quote=“Chris-P”]
Does the addition of sparge water after mashing in not affect the pH?[/quote]

No, it will affect the pH, especially if you fly sparge.

Even if you batch sparge, if you’re like many of us, you may need to acidify your sparge water in addition to your strike water. Usually, you do this simply by adding equal amounts (e.g., equal in terms of grams/gal) of whatever you added to your strike water to your sparge water.[/quote]

It all depends on your water. For me and anyone else who’s water isn’t extreme and batch sparges, it’s very likely that your pH will be fine without adjustment.

[quote=“Denny”][quote=“Silentknyght”][quote=“Chris-P”]
Does the addition of sparge water after mashing in not affect the pH?[/quote]

No, it will affect the pH, especially if you fly sparge.

Even if you batch sparge, if you’re like many of us, you may need to acidify your sparge water in addition to your strike water. Usually, you do this simply by adding equal amounts (e.g., equal in terms of grams/gal) of whatever you added to your strike water to your sparge water.[/quote]

It all depends on your water. For me and anyone else who’s water isn’t extreme and batch sparges, it’s very likely that your pH will be fine without adjustment.[/quote]

This has been my experience too.

[quote=“Denny”]For me and anyone else who’s water isn’t extreme and batch sparges, it’s very likely that your pH will be fine without adjustment.[/quote]Austin water is pH9.8 out of the tap - kind of a pain normally, but yesterday I used a large percentage of home-toasted malt and didn’t account for it in bru’nwater so mash pH was 5.1 Added a couple gallons of tap water to the mash and bingo - 5.4. :wink:

Pragmatic!

Sure it is a PITA but do yourself a favor and measure every step of the way including final beer on a few brews. Very informative. This is where I confirmed that I needed to acidify sparge water for batch sparges (120ppm HCO3).