Mashing dark beers and pH

[SMOKEU]

I normally only make pale ales, but this time I'm going to make a porter, then a stout. I have no idea how to treat the water for pH.

Normally I use 2mL lactic acid in the strike water, then 1mL in my sparge water. My strike water volume is about double that of the sparge water.

The tap water has a total hardness of 45ppm (CaCO3) and a pH of 7.8. I know that dark malts are much more acidic than pale malts but I'm not sure how to deal with this. I have to find my calibration pH buffer solution for my pH testers.

 

[MikeCo]

Do you use a spreadsheet to calculate pH, like BrunWater or EZ Water Calculator? These will help calculate the pH and determine salt additions. You can add baking soda or pickling lime to increase the pH in a beer with a lot darker and roasted malts.

 

[Coastalbrew]

X2 for spreadsheet. I use been water and it is super easy to use.

 

[mabrungard]

When brewing a dark grist, its possible that mashing pH could be too low if the mashing water has too little alkalinity (ie: RO or distilled water). An overly low mashing pH will promote excessive proteolysis and the resulting beer can have less body and head than a brewer might prefer. So coordinating mashing water alkalinity is an important aspect in dark beer brewing too.

If a brewer has had success in brewing pale beers with a certain acid dose to their mashing water, its likely that that dose would be too much when mashing a dark grist. If brewing with a tap water that probably has alkalinity, it might be possible to mash with that water as-is (dechlorinated, of course). If a brewer uses RO or distilled water for brewing, then its almost certain that adding some alkalinity to the mashing water will help avoid an overly low mashing and kettle pH and improve the beer. Baking soda is an excellent choice for mashing water treatment.

In the case of sparging water, low alkalinity water is ALWAYS preferred and is helpful for beer flavor and perception. It appears the OP is probably taking care of that in their brewing and should continue that for this dark beer too.