Final Gravity Misses High

[BarbarianBrewer]

Thanks for al the above replies!

I will be brewing this exact recipe in a couple of weeks and will certainly lower my mash temperature. I have been curious, though, if fermenting 2-1/2 gal of wort in a 5-6 gal fermenter would cause any trouble. I'm pretty sure the CO2 fills the entire space as oxygen bubbles out....but thought I would ask the gurus of BrewersFriend if this could cause any trouble at all.

Todd

The only time you need to minimize headspace is if you are moving the beer to a secondary vessel (for bulk aging or other purposes) because there likely won't be enough fermentation activity to consume the O2 introduced during the transfer. However if you flush the receiving vessel with CO2 and do a closed loop transfer then I don't think head space would be an issue there either.

 

[Donoroto]

@Dave Y
I'll check PH of the Ozarka on the next brew day. I also clean with PBW and use Star-San religiously. My only change on brew day next will be mashing in at a lower temp, 152*F as you suggest. I do want to add that the pre-conditioned beer did have a good flavor, though just a tad sweeter than I would like.

Todd

The pH of the water is not that important, as it has little buffering power: just a small amount of acid or base will change the pH easily and significantly.

Check online, Ozarka may publish the mineral content of their water.

 

[J A]

@Dave Y , the way I handled the dark additions was to top up the late additions separately so that, when added, both the worts were the same gravity. The IBUs were diluted slightly in the darker beer but still in the proper range. End result was 2 worts, same OG, one all base malt (and mashed fairly low) and one with a fair percentage of less fermentable stuff.

 

[Craigerrr]

The pH of the water is not that important, as it has little buffering power: just a small amount of acid or base will change the pH easily and significantly.

Check online, Ozarka may publish the mineral content of their water.

Absolutely, pH of beginning water is relatively inconsequential, I personally use acidulated malt to get the pH down into range in light colored beers. Usually only 20 to 80 grams, or less than 1% of the grist. In a dark beer, you typically need the opposite, baking soda will bring the pH up into range. I used under 4.8 grams in the stout I brewed recently

 

[Dave Y]

I'd probably go with water next - go to distilled and add chemicals just like you would with R/O water and set the pH to between 5.2 - 5.4.

@Dave Y
I'll check PH of the Ozarka on the next brew day. I also clean with PBW and use Star-San religiously. My only change on brew day next will be mashing in at a lower temp, 152*F as you suggest. I do want to add that the pre-conditioned beer did have a good flavor, though just a tad sweeter than I would like.

Todd

I just want to clarify here that as others have pointed out, it's not so much the water you want to take the pH on, it's the wort ! A few minutes after mash in, get a sample, cool if you need to. I usually calibrate the meter while the sample is cooling because the service life of my meter is reduced with very hot samples. get your reading, adjust if necessary and go.

I suppose if your water was really far above 7.0, there could be an issue? but I doubt you'd find that with the water you're using.