I am planning a German Pilsner soon. I have 100% pilsner malt..
I was advised to add Calcium and keep an eye on PH.. I have never done this before and have a few question on whats going on.
I got a PH meter.
I understand that I need to stay around 5.4 ish to get the best form the grain.
At what stage of the mash do I need to check and what type of Calcium and how much needs to be added to get to this number?
Thanks
Why don't you do a mash without any additions and test your pH so that you have an idea what is happening. Then you can plan accordingly
pH you need to check at Dough in ,
pH will change over the course of the Mash as the starch is turned to Sugar , but that isn't a problem and doesn't really need monitoring , but you need to get in around 5.2-5.4 starting pH to ensure good conversion and avoid some non lager flavours becoming evident later in the brew ... ( ales might be more forgiving of those flavours )
As to the calcium , if you're adding it , it would be to harden the water to a profile more like Plsen in Czech rep. You would do the addition to your water before adding it to your mash .
It serves ( if I recall correctly ) to give a more crisp hop profile in the beer ( as the calcium causes hop utilization to be improved in the boil )
You'd have to know how much calcium is in your water , then do the addition to exactly replicate the pilsener profile your looking for .
( I'd be more interested in looking after my pH though . the hop utilisation I'd sort out with more / different hops over a few brews to get right )
Disclaimer : I don't brew many lagers , but my Vienna Lager recently came in third in a SMaSH competition . I also brewed exclusively with Pilsener malt for the first two years I brewed ( I roasted it myself to provide colour and body in ales and porters )
I have pretty soft water where I live , and never had a problem with getting tasty beers out .
You could also work out your additions with this handy little tool :
http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash-chemistry-and-brewing-water-calculator/
Put your grist and additions in and it will give you the expected PH, you can make adjustments to suit your style.
It has the option to select a specific water target too, there's one there for Pilsen I think. But be careful, a lot depends on the make up of your own water
Dr Jacoby gave a great talk on this at Brewcon
The big question is the water report that I dont have.
I added 5g of calcium chloride just to be sure and my PH was bang on the money according to beersmith.
I have very soft water here which also helps.
The beer from that day is in a keg now. I think its tasty . Sharp.
Nice one !!
Once the beer is tasty , that's a win !!