My Dubbel came out ok, but not good enough.What went wrong?

[spiderwrangler]

but I thought that batch sparging made ph a non issue. Is that the case? Or is that just internet brewing lore?

It's not that it isn't a concern, but that given the same inputs (grain, water etc), doing a side by side it will be much more difficult to overextract your grains with batch than fly, which is when bad things happen between pH and husks that can lead to astringency. Running your sparge too long, or issues with channeling will over extract if you are doing fly. With batch, it's all relatively homogeneous. You still want the appropriate pH in your mash for good conversion, etc. but by batch sparging, a lot of other stuff is left behind after you draw the first runnings off which keeps it from going to far off from where you want.

[Lupulin]

Maybe I missed it while reading through the thread, but what was your temp control like for the fermentation?

[grainman]

Maybe I missed it while reading through the thread, but what was your temp control like for the fermentation?

I use a ranco 2 stage with a chest freezer. I pitched at 64f and held it there for 2 days, then raised temp 1 degree per day till it got to 72f where it stayed for the rest of the ferment. Total time on the yeast was 3 weeks.

[Lupulin]

I have a fair bit of experience brewing Dubbels and I have found that that particular yeast will struggle to finish out unless you get it up to 75F and above. I don't think you underpitched at all. When was the last time you calibrated your brewing thermometers? I had an issue a few years ago with beers finishing high and found my thermometer was reading 6 degrees low at mash temps. It read correct at 32F and 212F, but not in the 150F range. I ended up figuring it out by testing it with a lab grade thermometer at 150F.

Also, did you measure your mash pH? Or final beer pH?

[grainman]

I have a fair bit of experience brewing Dubbels and I have found that that particular yeast will struggle to finish out unless you get it up to 75F and above. I don't think you underpitched at all. When was the last time you calibrated your brewing thermometers? I had an issue a few years ago with beers finishing high and found my thermometer was reading 6 degrees low at mash temps. It read correct at 32F and 212F, but not in the 150F range. I ended up figuring it out by testing it with a lab grade thermometer at 150F.

Also, did you measure your mash pH? Or final beer pH?

I have 3 alcohol filled thermometers that I typically use, and they are within 2 degrees of each other. No I did not measure the mash PH. I have read that the strips are not accurate, and I don't have a PH meter. Although I think PH may be the problem. I have pretty soft water and come to think of it I make great lighter color beers, but my dark beers all seem to be lacking something. For some reason I thought this beer would fare better due to the large percentage of pilsner malt, but I suppose there was enough dark malts to skew the PH. I do use the BRUIN WATER program, but I must admit I don't fully understand how to properly use it.
I just brewed a belgian tripel that went from 1.084 to 1.012 and it came out great, so I think I need to focus on water PH. My water from the filtered tap is very close to RO so would a PH increase be in order for the mash?

[BigNastyBrew]

Hard to say if you need to increase if you're not sure what it is now. Before I stopped brewing a couple years ago, water was my pride and joy of brewing. Not saying I'm the brightest bulb in the box, but man it really made my beers shine. In general, yes you'd want to raise pH in the mash with a darker beer. I'll let the pros explain why. My understanding of it is that the darker grains are more acidic, pulling the pH down naturally.

[grainman]

Hard to say if you need to increase if you're not sure what it is now. Before I stopped brewing a couple years ago, water was my pride and joy of brewing. Not saying I'm the brightest bulb in the box, but man it really made my beers shine. In general, yes you'd want to raise pH in the mash with a darker beer. I'll let the pros explain why. My understanding of it is that the darker grains are more acidic, pulling the pH down naturally.

here is my ward Labs water report :

pH 7.9
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est 71
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.12
Cations / Anions, me/L 1.0 / 0.8
ppm
Sodium, Na 9
Potassium, K 2
Calcium, Ca 9
Magnesium, Mg 2
Total Hardness, CaCO3 31
Nitrate, NO3-N 0.5 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 4
Chloride, Cl 9
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 16
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 13
"<" - Not Detected / Below Detection Limit
Bus: 308-234-2418 4007 Cherry Ave., P.O. Box 788

[grainman]

Thanks to all who have chimed in here to help so far. Without this forum I would be absolutely lost.