Using calcium chloride to reduce pH of beer

Thursday, August 16, 2018
using-calcium-chloride-ph-level

How to use calcium chloride to reduce a high pH level


An experienced brewer will be no stranger to the fact that the pH level of one's beer has a direct effect on flavour. A beer that is pH balanced will feel good to the palate meaning you've a drinkable beer.

If your pH level is too high, one way to reduce it is with calcium chloride flakes.

By adding salt chlorides to your beer, you not only reduce the pH level but have the benefit of the chloride ions working to promote the sweetness, or mellowness of the beer's taste profile.

Charlie Sheen would call that #winning. 

Using calcium chloride has a variety of benefits for beer production
  • reduce pH levels as needed
  • promotes the water hardness of beer
  • help preserve mash enzymes
  • assist with increase extract yield
  • improve yeast metabolism growth and flocculation (great for clear beer)
  • accelerate oxalate removal
  • also used in cheese making as a firming agent
  • can be used to pickle vegetables!

How much calcium chloride do I add to my water?


General instructions are usually to use one teaspoon per 23 litres / 5 gallons (or as required). It will dissolve best in cold water, especially if it's stirred or shaken quite vigorously.

When you think it's properly dissolved, check with a ph meter to ensure the level is as you desire. 

You can then proceed to use your water for mashing or sparging.

Pickling with calcium chloride


I recently discovered that you can also use calcium chloride to help make pickles! Have you ever heard of Ball's Pickle Crisp? It's a popular product for when pickling dill pickles - it leaves them firm and hard which improves the eating experience. 

You've probably figured out by now that the secret ingredient of pickle crisp is that it is one hundred per cent made of calcium chloride flakes. So if you want to save yourself a bit of money from the brand name product, grab a no-frills bag which will cost you less and get you more. 

#winning. 

Replace the pressure relief valve if your corny keg is losing pressure

Wednesday, August 15, 2018
corny keg relief valve replace

Is your corny keg losing pressure? Replace the valve


Are your poppet valves and o-rings doing their job properly keep your brew fresh?

If they are, chances are your pressure relief valve is failing and needs to be replaced. And it’s important you do so as flat beer is a real, first world problem that can be damaging to one’s stomach and mental health!

The role of a pressure relief valve is pretty simple and obvious if you can read its name, they exist to let out pressure should your corny keg become over pressured. So you need them as a safety measure.

The valve will release automatically when the keg itself is at a pressure point of around 800 kPa. This could potentially occur when for example you have a regulator fail and CO2 keeps getting sent into the keg. This may seem a bit of a far-fetched example...

More reasonably, if you need to open your keg for some reason, using the relief valve to remove the pressure is a smart move to avoid spraying beer everywhere. Only beer rookies make that kind of mistake and they only make it once!

So if you’re experiencing a faulty valve, you can replace it quite simply and cheaply by ordering the part on Amazon and take advantage of your free shipping with Amazon Prime.

But not all relief valves are the same. Some are made of plastic, some stainless steel.

If you’ve ever read any other post on this site, you’ll know we always recommend quality over cheap parts and given steel is more durable than plastic, we think that’s what you should go for.

The valves come in two styles, the pull-ring or the toggle. You can tell the difference as the pull ring literally has a steel ring that you can manually pull when it's installed on your Cornelius keg to release the pressure.

If you have bought a second-hand corny keg, you may wish to replace the valve just for peace of mind. You could also consider replacing the entire lid of the corny keg, which would include a new valve - but you may not have the budget for that and so the idea of replacing the poppets and relief value if they are tired seems like a sensible precaution to me.

How to choose the best brewing spoon

Tuesday, August 14, 2018
choosing the best brewing spoon

This next question might cause a bit of a stir but what is the most useful item to have when brewing?

Is it a big kettle?

A giant mash tun?

A ph meter?

Those are nice things to have and all but we think the most useful item to have ready to hand on brew day is a spoon.

That’s right, a big spoon.

A big spoon to stir everything up just right. A spoon to unstick a stuck mash tun. A spoon to stir in hops. A spoon to stir in yeast. A paddle to break up clumped together ingredients.

Spoon or paddle, it doesn’t matter but the best ones do have a few factors about them that make them ideal for using on brew day.

They’ve got to be sturdy enough to stir with. Too weak and they’ll snap. This is why some brewers like steel spoons. Many of them have a corrugated design to prevent bending.

The only drawback is the steel can scratch your gear. If that’s a problem for you, use a plastic paddle if it’s strong enough. 

If you do choose the plastic fantastic, then ensure it’s food grade quality and that it is resistant to heat. 
Some of those brews can get pretty hot so if they are not heat resistant, they are more liable to break. Some smartly designed spoons will have a small head on the top of the spoon which can fit inside the next of a carboy which can be quite handy if you want to mix things up.

Conversely, steel spoons often have a bent top so they may be easily hung up on the side of a kettle or whatever. Else, they will have a hole in the top so they may be hung on a hook.

A great thing about stainless steel spoons is that they are easy to clean and will not retain odour. Handy if you’re also cooking crawfish or doing a turkey in a brewing kettle.

Wooden spoons can snap easily and can carry bacteria. No one wants a wooden spoon eh?

When stirring a mash, some prefer the paddle as they can be more effective in moving the grains around. 

You will of course what your brewing spoon to be a long enough length so that it can reach to the bottom of your kettle or drum. To that end, a 21 - 24 inch long brewing spoon should generally see you right for your stirring needs. Such spoons will work best with 4 to 10 gallon size brewing kettles.

As with all brewing equipment, you should only use a spoon that is clean. It doesn’t need to be sterilized when using before or after the boil as the heat should have killed any microbes that may have been lurking about. If however, you need to stir anything afterwards, then you will need to have sanitized your gear (we totally recommend you use sodium percarbonate for this task). This is especially true if you a simply mixing up a beer kit with some beer enhancer as there won’t be any heat to kill the bigs.

Check out some options on Amazon.

How to accurately use a refractometer to check specific gravity

beer brewing refractometer

What is a refractometer?


A refractometer is a tool used for measuring concentrations of aqueous solutions. It has many applications across food, agricultural, chemical, and manufacturing industries. A refractometer can be used to measure things like the total plasma protein in a blood sample, the salinity of water and even the amount of water content in honey.

They work by measuring the angle of refraction as light shines through the solution. Don’t ask me to explain the actual science behind it, I just work here man.

What I do know is the Brix scale is used as the means by which the measurement taken is assessed. Given we are talking measurements here, it should be no surprise that the Brix scale measures the sugar content of an aqueous solution.

This is when you might exclaim “Ha! I got you mate, wort is mostly malt sugars (maltose) and not sucrose so how does the Brix scale apply to beer?”

And I’d say you’d be right and you can account for this learning how to apply a wort ‘correction factor’. Frankly, this can be a bit of pain and is one of the reasons why some brewers prefer to use a hydrometer to calculate ABV.

Refractometers also only use a very small beer sample, especially less than a hydrometer which is why some brewers prefer them - especially if they are only brewing small batches of beer.

How is a refractometer used in homebrewing?


In terms of homebrewing, a refractometer used to measure the specific gravity of the wort before fermentation commences.

You probably already know what specific gravity is. If you don’t, a quick lesson from Wikipedia.

“Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a reference substance; equivalently, it is the ratio of the mass of a substance to the mass of a reference substance for the same given volume.”

Simple right?

In terms of brewing, one uses a refractometer to determine the amount of fermentable sugars which will be converted to alcohol.

What is the best refractometer to use when brewing beer?


There are many kinds of refractometers, and they serve different functions. As a brewer, you want one that is designed to measure sugar. Most brewers use is kind that fruit growers use to measure the sugar concentrations of their fruit to assess ripeness. This way you get a close approximation to wort, but it’s not exact and this needs to be factored when using the Brix scale as mentioned above.

Check out some options on Amazon.

How to properly calibrate a refractometer for testing beer


Just like when you use a pH meter, refractometers need to be calibrated.  There’s no way out of this.

Add distilled water (if you have it) close the plate. Ensuring the liquid to spreads completely across the prism without any dry spots. Allow 30 seconds so that the water can reach the same temperature as the refractometer.

This is important as the readings are temperature dependent.

You simply then aim the refractometer toward a natural light source. Look into the eyepiece and adjust it so that the scale is in focus.

Then adjust the unit’s calibration screw so that the refractometer reads exactly zero.

Now you are ready to sample your wort.

Testing wort with the refractometer


It’s fairly easy to use a refractometer, it’s largely the same process as setting up for calibration.

Once the unit has been properly cleaned of residue and correctly calibrated, place a small sample of wort on the glass. 

Shut the cover and take note that the glass is fully wet and has no stuck air bubbles. Give time for the same to warm to the same temperature as the unit.

Turn the refractometer to a natural light source. The refractometer should be held level with the window pointed at the light source. You can take the reading by checking via the eyepiece. Bob’s your uncle.

I should not have to advise you do look at the sun directly but as some of you drink and brew...

Check out some options on Amazon.

Bonus fact!


The first refractometer was invented by Enst Abbe. It was a complex device that included built-in thermometers and required a circulated water mechanism to keep the instrument cold. 

While the devices have been refined and digitised in the hundred years since Abbe’s invention, the principle of how they work remains the same.
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