Adjusting ph post fermentation

[Dirty Horse]

Hi,

Has anyone ever tried to, and more importantly succeeded, in removing the astringent flavour caused by too high a mash ph once fermentation is finished?

I have been using a ph stabilzer and getting mixed resutls with it - my latest pale has come out increadibly bitter. Moving foward i am reverting to calculating my own additions, serves me right for being lazy and relying on the stabilizer.

So what i have done is taken a 100ml sample of the astringent beer and added a few drops of lemon juice to it. Whilt the beer had a lemony flavour the bitterness had reduced dramitcally. (i presume i have essentially just lowered the ph).

Does anyone know a substance i could use to reduce the ph without affecting the flavour? I really dont want to throw away 25l of beer with 300g of nice hops in!

Any advice appreciated!

 

[BOB357]

Lactic or Phosphoric acid will work. In smaller amounts neither will leave any distinctive flavors. Larger amounts of lactic will.

 

[Head First]

Hi,

Has anyone ever tried to, and more importantly succeeded, in removing the astringent flavour caused by too high a mash ph once fermentation is finished?

I have been using a ph stabilzer and getting mixed resutls with it - my latest pale has come out increadibly bitter. Moving foward i am reverting to calculating my own additions, serves me right for being lazy and relying on the stabilizer.

So what i have done is taken a 100ml sample of the astringent beer and added a few drops of lemon juice to it. Whilt the beer had a lemony flavour the bitterness had reduced dramitcally. (i presume i have essentially just lowered the ph).

Does anyone know a substance i could use to reduce the ph without affecting the flavour? I really dont want to throw away 25l of beer with 300g of nice hops in!

Any advice appreciated!

You haven't said what your ph is. Are you using a ph meter? If you are wanting to do water adjustments you need one.

 

[Nosybear]

Hi,

Has anyone ever tried to, and more importantly succeeded, in removing the astringent flavour caused by too high a mash ph once fermentation is finished?

I have been using a ph stabilzer and getting mixed resutls with it - my latest pale has come out increadibly bitter. Moving foward i am reverting to calculating my own additions, serves me right for being lazy and relying on the stabilizer.

So what i have done is taken a 100ml sample of the astringent beer and added a few drops of lemon juice to it. Whilt the beer had a lemony flavour the bitterness had reduced dramitcally. (i presume i have essentially just lowered the ph).

Does anyone know a substance i could use to reduce the ph without affecting the flavour? I really dont want to throw away 25l of beer with 300g of nice hops in!

Any advice appreciated!

You masked the flavor. Those tannins don't go away. But it worked! If your hypothesis is that acid will remove or mask the tannins, get some pure food-grade acid, phosphoric is the most neutral in flavor, and add it. But astringency isn't a flavor, it's a feeling. Think of the puckery feeling in your mouth if you drink tea that has steeped too long, or if you drink some wines. Wines are highly acidic but still have astringency.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Ph post boil sets up the wort for the yeast. 5.2 has been accepted as the proper ph post boil. After that the yeast takes over, high acid producing yeast can drop the ph to as low as 3.9, less acid producing yeast like US05 will drop it to 4.4-4.6. Dry hopping will increase pH by .2-.3 points.

That being said, adding acid post fermentation can improve a beer with a higher pH. It will round out the bitterness, some say it lowers it a bit. Malt flavor can improve and the beer will definitely be smoother. How much to add? You shouldn’t drop the pH to below 3.9. But an IPA with a pH of 4.4 will be smoother than a IPA with a pH of 4.8. It’s a fairly common technique and works very well. Phosphorus acid works best.