when to pH adjust

[mendodistilling]

Hello guys,
I have some panela on its first day, during the cook, I brought it to 180, let it sit for 30 min which brought it down to 150, it was pretty cold. Then I pH adjusted it with 75% phosphoric acid down to 3.8, which I waited, stirred and checked 2-3 more times, even going so far as cooling some down in a copper cup. Somehow when i finished it was at 5.8. My water is unusually high in pH this year at 8.0 because of the drought. Normally its a solid 6.4 year round.

When do you do your pH adjustments, during cook, after chilling but before pitch? Can you add in the acid withoit affecting the yeast? I didnt want to add it while the yeast were going through log phase so I was a little hesitant to mess with it but now i'm reconsidering. My other batches were not pH adjusted because i forgot. I'm going to check them now but they are going on 10 days @ 68F and are only at 7.5 brix and falling. They started at 16-19.5 brix because i went a little crazy on the pour while not compensating for temperature while taking brix samples. I overshot pretty good. I was aiming for 9%abv.

Love to hear what pH you shoot for and how things turn out. I'll be doing my first double distillation later this week or next week even at this rate. I was aiming for pH of 4. Hoping to keep it in the 3s during fermentation.

[bearriver]

If you were mashing, I think the PH should be withing tolerance before starting that process. Most beginners will just let the PH do what it is going to do. If you are interested, check out "How to Brew" by John Palmer. It will give you a better idea about the relationship between PH and fermenting all grain, and how to control it.

For a wash, I adjust prior pitching and call it good. If it gets out of whack, I try a different buffer program on the next ferment. TP and I were talking about trying coarse ground oyster shells. Hoping maybe it can leach "PH up" slowly during the ferment to prevent PH crashing using birdwatcher's recipe.

Isn't a PH of 3 really low? I'm not so sure that is a good target. My impression is that yeasties do not like it that acidic.

Edit: From the parent site

A slightly acidic environment is enjoyed by yeast, and also inhibits the development of bacterial contaminants. The pH of the brew should be adjusted to between 4.0 and 4.5 prior to fermentation, using citric or lactic acids.

[T-Pee]

TP and I were talking about trying coarse ground oyster shells. Hoping maybe it can leach "PH up" slowly during the ferment to prevent PH crashing using birdwatcher's recipe.

BR: Check this out. A little experiment along the oyster shell line: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 2#p7217192

Let's discuss oyster shell over there, k?

tp

[bearriver]

My bad, I didn't make my point correctly.

I've had better product letting a wash finish out, instead of trying and correct the PH issue after pitching when it's all out of whack. Less off flavors from my limited experiences. Then try a different PH control method on the next ferment.

I wasn't suggesting the OP try oyster shells to fix this issue. It was just an example of how I would try something different next time when having a similar issue.

[mendodistilling]

I indeed did pH adjust after finishing the temperature hold for 30 minutes. Pitched, added nutes, warmed it up to 75 to let it get started, then later i'll move it inside, we'll see what happens.

[bearriver]

Sounds a tad on the cold side for baker's yeast. I've heard as high as 85 would be more ideal.

[Prairiepiss]

I don't adjust Ph for a panela ferment. Sometimes things can be over thought. And over did. Ph adjustments should really only be done if it won't ferment without a Ph adjustment. Less crap added to the wash. The better off you are. In my opinion. Even after adding dunder to my panela ferments. I still haven't had the need to adjust Ph.

And 75 is low for bakers yeast. It may work. But it will be slow. 80 deg f is a good temp for bakers yeast.

[mendodistilling]

I was using lallemand notingham yeast that I use for beer. I am going to try and maybe get ahold of the lallemand distilamax RM but I am just starting to think this direction so I haven't looked into it much. I bumped up the temps to 75 to try and finish them off, tried to bump one up to 80 with an immersion chiller coil that I ran some 140 degree water for 5 minutes or so. Worked like a champ, the 75 is holding steady. The 80 I didn't check temps on today, I'll do it tomorrow. When you run the panela at 80 do you find that it takes on flavors that are more pleasant or do you see better flavors from more consistent temps.

[Prairiepiss]

If you are using notingham yeast. I would stick with the 75 deg. 80 is good for bakers yeast.