MadBrewer wrote:I have found using EZ Water that its ph estimation was usually .1 higher than my actual just like you show in your post. Have you noticed the same using EZ Water?
@MadBrewer In a word, yes. Although until very recently, I have never been able to understand why there was any difference at all. I'll explain. For the past several weeks I have been devoting an extraordinary amount of time to my digital pH meter. I've actually cleaned the bulb and calibrated the meter every night after dinner for well over a week. I learned that leaving the pH meter, storage, cleaning and calibrating solutions out in plain sight would remind me to spend the extra 10 minutes fussing over my meter. As it turns out the more often a pH meter is calibrated the more responsive to pH change and accurate it's readings become. Thanks to the extra effort and time spent calibrating the meter I am now more confident than ever that I'm getting the true pH readings.
I've also taken another closer look at the EZwatercalculator instructions too. Especially the legend showing the distilled water pH values of the different grains that are available to choose from when entering your recipe. Among the most obvious were the large differences in pH, of the same type of grain when sourced from different maltsters, each of them had significantly different pH values. For instance the default pH for US 2-Row malt is 5.70, while the pH value of Rahr 2-Row malt is 5.56 for a difference in pH of 0.14 which is greater than the 0.10 difference stated earlier.
From EZwatercalculator:
"The above values are used to calculate mash pH. They may vary depending on maltster or other factors - for example Rahr 2-Row has been found to be 5.56. Modify if necessary."
On of the first things I found out, while developing software for fun and profit, is that eliminating variables is the surest way to produce reliably consistent results. I think it's safe to assume that EZwatercalculator uses the same internal formulas when solving for pH, leaving the pH of the grain used in a recipe as the only remaining variable. As with most things in life ' trust but verify' and confirm your actual mash pH using a meter to be sure.
