gandolf wrote:First, thanks for the quick replies. Second, I usually filter and adjust the strike water ph the night before I brew. I have checked the ph in the morning and it's always right were it had been the night before. I don't think the alkalinity is rebounding "boomeranging" since I have checked the ph a few times during and at the end of the mash and the ph has never fluctuated more than a tenth.
I think I see a possible source of your problem. Your are trying to adjust the ph of your water rather than the ph of your mash. This can be done, and is done by many pro brewers, but requires a lot of work and good test equipment. If you know the exact chemistry of your water as it is when it gets to you, as opposed the the average chemistry reported by your water utility, you can compute the changes you need to make, taking into consideration that the chemistry can change on short notice. Also each recipe will vary in buffering ability due to the varying amounts of different grains.
Once you add grains to your "adjusted" water, the buffering characteristics of the grain will throw the chemistry out of whack again. By trial and error you can come up with the adjustments you need to make to the water for each recipe. It is much simpler to make the adjustment after you mash in and stir for awhile.
The pro brewers can get away with adjusting the water ahead of time because they are brewing the exact same recipe over and over. We change the recipes too much for it to be really practical.
The only adjustment I make to my water (very hard and high in carbonates) is to dilute with RO water and add some calcium chloride to bring the calcium up to a reasonable level. All ph adjustments are done after mashing in and taking a reading with the ph meter.
Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company