pH Raising Agent

[cestrin]

We currently use calcium carbonate for raising the pH of our mash and stillage.  What do y'all use as pH raising agents?

[Silk City Distillers]

Sodium Hydroxide works well.

[PeteB]

On 2/8/2018 at 11:25 PM, Silk City Distillers said:

Sodium Hydroxide works well.

I have tried it but it produces a strong alkaline smell in the ferment. How concentrated is the NaOH when you add it? If I use it again I might try diluting quite a bit.

[Silk City Distillers]

I've found that even just a few grams of NaOH dissolved in water can move a 500g batch a few tenths upwards.  I'm using granules, and not liquid, as It's relatively easy to find FCC/USP or Food Grade granules (aka prills or micro beads).  We're talking about relatively minor tweaking here, no?

Adjusting your starting pH at the onset of a batch - say if you are using a high backset percentage and have water a bit on the acidic side (or not acidic, but very little buffering capability), again should require a relatively minor addition.  Otherwise consider backing off the backset percentages a bit, or attempting to increase alkalinity/hardness.

 

 

[PeteB]

I was doing an experimental batch with very high % of acidic stillage so I would have used way more NaOH than normal.

Once distilled I didn't detect that alkaline odor.