PH and Pilsner malt

[Motorbikeman]

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

[Simon_]

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

[wallacebiy]

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 .

[Acott]

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

[Motorbikeman]

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.         

[wallacebiy]

Nice one !!

Once the beer is tasty , that's a win !!