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Author Topic: Switching to all grain: krausen and head issues  (Read 3290 times)

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Switching to all grain: krausen and head issues
« Reply #15 on: February 22, 2018, 07:15:00 pm »
I'm honestly not sure if oxygenation helps dry yeast.  Things I've read from numerous sources say that it doesn't.  However, I've never run any experiments to find out for myself.  My guess is that, like I said before, dry yeast is so friggin happy, we don't need to do it any favors at all.
Dave

The world will become a much more pleasant place to live when each and every one of us realizes that we are all idiots.

Offline Robert

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Re: Switching to all grain: krausen and head issues
« Reply #16 on: February 22, 2018, 07:19:47 pm »
And I say this is never bad advice to a homebrewer:  Try things and see for yourself!  (And if you learn anything, share it on the forum.)
Rob Stein
Akron, Ohio

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Offline MYR

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Re: Switching to all grain: krausen and head issues
« Reply #17 on: February 24, 2018, 09:10:22 pm »
So today I made a new batch of brew (Hefeweizen) and experimented a bit on my water. Measured with ph paper, my filtered tap water from Miami was about 7, the bottle spring water (zephyr hills) I used to use up to 50% when doing extract was about ph 8. So today I decided to do a 1:1 use of filtered tap and bottle spring water to mimic what I used to do in terms of water when doing extract. Mash ph was about 6-6.5. Not sure if that’s good or bad since I’m new to that. Again that ph paper is very approximate anyway. So what I’m sure is that the bottle water is quite different from my filtered water, and I’ll report soon to see if I get a nice Krause or not this time. FYI, I mashed at 66C and mashed out at 75C for 10 min. I also followed your previous advice and was able to pitch at 20C. Fingers crossed :-)


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Offline Robert

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Re: Switching to all grain: krausen and head issues
« Reply #18 on: February 25, 2018, 05:29:17 am »
You want a mash pH between 5.2 and 5.5.
Rob Stein
Akron, Ohio

I'd rather have questions I can't answer than answers I can't question.

Offline MYR

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Re: Switching to all grain: krausen and head issues
« Reply #19 on: February 25, 2018, 05:40:06 am »
So this morning I have a nice Krausen like I used to! But not sure if it’s because of the bottled water I used or because of the lower pitching temp... Also this time I did not use the stone for aeration with my dry yeast. So from what I saw the bottled water had a higher ph and resulted in a better krausen, but I now know that I need a lower ph for mash so I’m confused.
Robert, how do you measure ph? With paper? When do you measure mash ph, at the beginning or at the end? I’d like to look further into my water chemistry to make the appropriate adjustments. Any recommendations on the first steps to follow? Thanks again for all the help!


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Offline Robert

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Re: Switching to all grain: krausen and head issues
« Reply #20 on: February 25, 2018, 05:52:40 am »
So this morning I have a nice Krausen like I used to! But not sure if it’s because of the bottled water I used or because of the lower pitching temp... Also this time I did not use the stone for aeration with my dry yeast. So from what I saw the bottled water had a higher ph and resulted in a better krausen, but I now know that I need a lower ph for mash so I’m confused.
Robert, how do you measure ph? With paper? When do you measure mash ph, at the beginning or at the end? I’d like to look further into my water chemistry to make the appropriate adjustments. Any recommendations on the first steps to follow? Thanks again for all the help!


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To be really accurate, you use a pH meter, but they are expensive and you may want to stick with papers for now.  Whenever you see references to mash pH, we're talking about a sample cooled to room temperature: the pH of mash actually behaves differently at different temperatures.   Also, wait until about 15 minutes into the mash to take out a sample and cool it:  it takes some time for the mash pH to settle in.

And I'm glad to hear your beer is chugging along normally this time!

I highly recommend you check out the Bru'n Water website. The Water Knowledge page will tell you most everything you need to know about water chemistry and pH,  and there is a spreadsheet that can help you adjust your Water to not only hit the right pH, but also adjust for flavor in different styles of beer.
Rob Stein
Akron, Ohio

I'd rather have questions I can't answer than answers I can't question.

Offline MYR

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Re: Switching to all grain: krausen and head issues
« Reply #21 on: February 25, 2018, 05:57:21 am »
Excellent thanks Robert I’ll check that website. Looks like I did not took the mash ph correctly (took it warm) I’ll correct that next time. Thanks again for all the help, and yes I’m very happy with my first all grain that exhibit a decent krausen! Have a great week end!


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