Greetings,
I was wondering if people check the ph of their finished beer. Everything I see is brewday measurements.
I do it sometimes. Here are a few examples:
Saison - 4.14
Dunkel - 4.35
Triple - 4.23
Single - 4.12
Dunkel - 4.13
Australian Sparkling Ale - 4.2
Triple - 4.2
Dunkel - 4.33
Never. I would only do this if my beers consistently tasted flabby, which they don’t. I’ll do pretty much anything to avoid having to dust off and calibrate that ol’ pH meter. It’s like cleaning the gutters: only do it if you have to.
The exception would be my sour beers, but only if they tasted unusually tart. But this admittedly isn’t very useful because pH is not a great predictor of sourness on the palate.
Commercial, yes. Homebrew - almost never
Absolutely!
I did it to a few beers only because someone here asked me to. Other than that all I check is mash pH at 20 min in.
Be sure to fully and aggressively shake de-carbonate your beer before taking its final pH.
Takes all of 90 seconds
If the mash/fermentation is done well, the main driver for final pH is the yeast strain. Dry hopping raises pH and higher pH’s sharpen bitterness (+4.5). Each strain has a “sweet spot” for finish pH.
I don’t always measure it, but I do time to time. Higher wort pitch pH can effect pH, but it has to be way out of line, 5.4-5.5 at pitch or higher.
A careful study of historical peer reviewed brewing industry dissertations (via sources such as the ‘Wiley Online Library’) reveals that for many decades now (nigh-on approaching the century mark) it has been settled that a room temperature measured pH of 5.2 achieved during the boil is the ideal pH at which to pitch yeast. And the same undertaking reveals that a mash temperature measured 5.4 pH (roughly 5.55 to 5.6 pH if measured at room temperature) is the ideal mash pH that was settled upon decades ago. This requires two pH adjustments. One best made pre-mash, and one made either pre boil or (perhaps best) during the active boil. The best hot and cold break, and the least ‘quantitative’ requirement for fining addition occurs at 5.2 pH as measured at room temperature.
IMHO, the 1980’s evolution of home brewing, and of the multitude of nigh-on worshiped non peer reviewed authors who support it, plus much of the micro-brewing industry that evolved directly from this homebrewing base, got the previous industrial level established and documented ideal 5.4 mash pH target wrong at the very onset simply by incorrectly presuming 5.4 to be a room temperature measured pH target. And the same generally tend to ignore the secondary 5.2 pH target criteria.
I have found that mash pH of 5.6 (room temp) generally produces a higher extraction rate, above or below that mark lowers mash efficiency. Homebrewers often ignore boil and pitch pH. That should land between 5.1-5.2 pH so the yeast hits the correct or natural finish pH in the beer.
This is what I shoot for as well. I just forget to test the finished ph a lot of the time.
I just plotted Mash Efficiency vs Mash pH for 75 of my batches and saw only a very weak correlation (0.18). For every 0.1 increase in pH (in the range 5.0 - 5.6) I saw a 1% increase in efficiency. This was hard to see because there is a lot of scatter and the standard deviation is 7%.
First of all, this is great info and it certainly inspires me to start thinking about managing my pH adjustments differently. That said, we need to be careful in qualifying what is meant by “ideal” pH, and also need to avoid over-generalizing from brewing industry research. The ideal values for a commercial lager brewery may not always lead to my ideal homebrewed NEIPA, West Coast IPA, Stout, Saison, etc. It certainly may, and it’s a good starting point, but I’m not quite convinced that there are universal ideal values.
Ideal mash pH would be to optimize extraction, boil pH would be for break formation and fining, and pitch pH would be for yeast performance and to target an appropriate finishing pH, correct?
Interesting point that I had never considered about dry hopping. I wonder if it’s worth targeting a lower pitching pH in heavily dry hopped beers to mitigate some of this potentially sharper bitterness.
That is, assuming pitching pH translates directly to finished beer pH(or ANY other process pH target for that matter). Which I (and most professional literature agrees) do not necessarily think it does.
The reasons pH targets are there is for the optimization of process at hand.
-Generalizations-
Mash pH targets
Higher (5.4+)Extract Considerations -Beta, alpha, others, LOX considerations
Start of Boil
Higher (5.4+) = More hop utilization, better break formation (larger flakes)
If applicable faster DMS removal
End of boil
Lower (5.1-) = promotes faster break removal, actually allows your kettle finings to work optimally, Allows yeast to work faster.
Fermentation-
Lower (4.5-) Yeast will move/buffer pH low, independent of what it saw at end of boil. Yeast will not start fermenting until buffering is at its desired level. If its lower, it has less to buffer, hence less lag time, and better fermentation (less reserves used).
End of fermentation- EOF pH levels are driven by yeast strain, and fermentation performance (faster the fermentation the lower the finishing pH normally). This is not driven off of any other pH levels. So targeting any levels above matter not. The curve ball is that there are factors that influence raising of EOF pH, hopping and autolysis are the primary ones. If fermentation/dry hopping pH will raise and it causes the beer to not be as “clean and sharp” as desired, and it will stale faster as well. It is desired that if you dry hop, especially large amounts as in NEIPA, you add some form of acid to bring the pH back down. This will help with making bright flavors, and stability. Autolysis is easily avoided.
Good stuff. Can I get the references you are citing?
This is supremely helpful! Lots to digest here, but this certainly helps to target specific issues. Thanks!
That was the summation and generalization of a plethora of brewing books, peer reviewed sources, and manufacturer data. This was a jump off point…
Lower pitch pH does not translate to lower finish pH, as others have stated. Certain yeast are high acid producers, like WLP029 and K97. Other yeasts like Chico strains, 1056, US05 and WLP001 are lower acid producers. 029 lands around 3.9-4.1 finish. 1056 lands @ 4.5 or higher. Add .1-.2 after dry hopping, it is not unusual to see finish pH on an IPA fermented with 1056 end up with a 4.7 pH. K97 makes a decent IPA and PA, but it is not at nice as WLP007. 007 finishes 4.3 or so and seems to be a nice compromise between a high acid and low acid yeasts. But if the bitterness is too sharp, a small acid addition helps a lot. I add up to 3/4 tsp of 85% phosphoric acid for a 7 gallon batch.
Using phosphoric acid to adjust beer pH after dry hopping can make a fairly big difference. The bitterness is smoother and the beer is just more enjoyable. I compete quite often and have adjusted pale ales with acid to tone down the bitterness. Many of those beers went on to win gold. The best way to try this experiment is to start with a commercially or homebrewed IPA. Taste it, add 85% phosphoric or lactic acid with a toothpick or dropper and taste again. The beer changes its bitterness and its brightness. You can add until you taste the acid, typically you would never add that much in whole batch, but it can give an idea of how much you can add and its effects.