Discussion - Spirits, Essential Oils, Vinegar

Would you like to exchange your experiences about spirits, essential oils and vinegar with other participiants? Please observe our forum rules (see Helpful tips for use).

June 2018:

It has now been an unbelievable 16 years (!) since the last major change to the website and forums. When you think that two to three years are an eternity for the Internet sector, that is really something. In any case, there has been so much going on in terms of technology that it has become urgently necessary to completely redesign not only the forums, but also the entire website, from scratch and bring the programming up to date. Naturally, along with this we also introduced various new features; for example it was high time we allowed pictures to be uploaded with a forum post too or enabled users to subscribe to the forums via RSS feeds. And of course we have subsequently included pictures that are saved on external websites and were then integrated here using an img tag, so that no valuable information is lost. In any case, we hope you continue to have fun swapping experiences and trying things out.

Juni 2002:

At this point, we would first like to extend a big thank-you to all the users of our specialist questions for their lively involvement. Without you, we could never have developed such an informative and high-quality reference guide in such a short time (the first post dates from April 8, 1999). The large number of posts and high numbers of visitors made it necessary for us to develop the specialist questions ourselves using PHP and MySQL (at last no more annoying advertising banners!). During the course of this, we have hopefully introduced several improvements.

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So, that’s it. We hope you have a lot of fun swapping experiences, reading, posting and naturally also trying things out afterwards. Dr Malle & Dr Schmickl Dr. Malle & Dr. Schmickl

Calculating PH for the mash

Nikinoel am 31.03.2023 20:33:47 | Region: US

I live in the US and am using an acid blend to adjust the PH as it’s easier to get. How do you calculate the ph of the mash.

For example, I have 6 liters of purée (4 ph) and 2 liters water (1/3 if the purée). Sugar added as needed (doesn’t affect ph).

Does that mean that the ph is ((6l x 4ph) + (2l x 7ph)) / (6l + 2l) = 4.75?


It’s hard to get a good reading on dark purées like sweet cherry.


Thanks!

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RE: Calculating PH for the mash

Schmickl am 01.04.2023 08:00:06 | Region: Carinthia
No, this is not possible, since the pH is a common logarithm scale. Will say: pH 4 = 10-4, pH 3 = 10-3 etc. In fact, pH 4 is a tenfold dilution of pH 3. And if the pH is not an integer figure, it get's complicated pretty fast: pH 3.5 = 10-3.5. Thus: ph 4 = 0.0001, pH 3.5 = 0.00031623, pH 3 = 0.001.

But in combination with the natural containing organic acids of a fruit mash, an acid blend functions like a buffer solution. Therefore, an acid blend adjusts the pH to the right value by itself, because it's a blend. Hence it's not a must to measure the pH if using acid blends, just follow the indicated dosing instructions of the product.

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RE: Calculating PH for the mash

Nikinoel am 01.04.2023 16:58:53 | Region: US

Thank you for the response. I’m the states all I’m finding are powder blends that state something like add a teaspoon per gallon to lower it .15. No helpful when you can’t determine the starting ph.


Any suggestions on measuring the ph on a dark liquid?


Do you have a distributors or anyone in the US who carries the liquid blend?

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RE: Calculating PH for the mash

Schmickl am 04.04.2023 14:00:08 | Region: Carinthia
OK, I understand.
1) Measuring the pH value: as already said, from one integer figure to the next one it's tenfold more diluted or more concentrated. Therefore dilute your sample in a ratio of 1 + 9. If the pH is below 7, add 1 to the estimated read off, if the pH is higher than 7 substract 1 from the estimated read off.
2) The proposed dosage of the liquid acid blend is 300 to 400 ml per 100 liters of fruit mash (brand name "Biogen M", manufacturer "Oestreich GmbH"), no matter the start pH. You could make a saturated solution with your solid acid blend and add this solution instead. Hence dissolve as much as possible in lukewarm water, will say pour and stir until the new added solid parts are not dissolving anymore.
No, unfortunately I don't know any supplier of liquid acid blends in North America.

I wish mush success!

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