Beer Forum

So after almost 10 years I am still having trouble with figuring out water. I have the water book just havent had time to read it. Im planning to make a saison here soon and i have really soft water. Hco3 is like 34ppm and my ph is around 7.5 to 8. In the past ive just been picking an area of water and replicating. While i know this is a step in thw right direction, according to john palmer mash ph is really where its at. So 5.2 I know is a buffer but do but which way? I know i need to drive the ph down so would i use 5.2 to drive it down or would it keep the ph from going down? Do i add minerals to bring my hco3 up or should i use some kind of acid in the mash like citric acid or lactic acid, i dont know if i can get phosphoric... any help or step in the right direction would be helpful.

I tried 5.2 I wouldn't use it. Its designed for a specific commercial brewery. Its not a magic potion.

What is your malt bill?

12lbs pilsner malt and 1lb flaked oats. Sorry should have put that in...

Try distilled. Use about 8 grams Gypsum and 4 grams CaCl in the mash and maybe 2-3 ml of lactic 88% in the sparge water just enough to guard against tannin extraction

Well the amounts would vary depending on how much water you use and ive found the solubility of the minerals in water is not all that great. My water here is pretty neutral. I was just trying to get around using lactic acid and reduce the buffering capacity of the water. I figure something out. I prob just mash and measure the ph and the tritrate to get the right ph. I just gotta find the residual alkalinity

With that grain bill I guess I assumed it was a 5 gallon batch, maybe targeting 6 into the fermenter at about 1.050-1.055
Switch to 10% phosphoric if you're worried about the flavor.