Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Easy way to raise he pH is aeration

Don't reckon you want to be aerating a wash mid way or towards the end of a ferment due to infection.

Doubleuj wrote:Ok what's going on here then? Tpw put down yesterday
Tap water ph8.1
Water and sugar ph8.1
Water/sugar/tom paste ph 6.0
25L water/ 5kg sugar 200g tomato paste 1/4tsp citric ph 5.2
Pitch yeast still ph 5.2
SG of 1.070
All sounds normal to me

Check it today.... Ph of 3.3 ~x(
Still bubbling away happy as larry

According to my new book normal finishing pH for rum is 3.3 if that's any help sorry my mistake 4.3

It says start with ph of 5-5.2 and aim for a fermenting ph 3-4 so seems your 3.3 is good for fermenting. It goes on to say for a higher ph fermentation it needs to be sterile to prevent bacterial infection :handgestures-thumbupleft:

That's good because I don't bother sterilising nowadays and my ph always ends up low.

I have adjusted pH with sodium carbonate, calcium carbonate etc, use buffers like sodium/potasium citrate etc and now dont bother at all. Adjust pH at the start of fermentation with dunder or citric acid and let it go. Yes the pH will crash. Thats fermentation

Buffering pH had better results than adjusting but required large quantities and i have found unnecessary.
Theses day i rarely check pH and then only if something strange has happened.

If i have a stalled ferment due to low pH i found splitting the wash and diluting worked best. Adding extra sugar/mollasses and yeast as necessary.

hi I've found in my fermenters that i lower my ph to 5.8 from 6.8 from tap and keep constant temp with fish tank heater 30 degrees celcius and insulation a 60 litres wash with 8kg sugar and corn meal , lowans yeast ferment out in 7 days constantly but if i start my fermentation at ph of 5 which is optimum for fermentation from my research it ends up taking 10 to 12 days and ends up very acidic at around 3 so starting slightly higher ph and going through the sweet zone seems to keep yeast happier for me dont fully understand it but its consistent and works for me i lower ph with dunder but its only 200 300 mls to get to 5.8 if that make sence :handgestures-thumbupleft:

The pinned newbie thread about fermentation suggests what you have is perfectly fine, check it out:

http://aussiedistiller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=6336

A ph of around 4 seems to be ideal for a ferment, this works for yeast health and in most ferments of different products,
As a ferment continues the ph can change i think it gets more acidic but i am a bit hazy on this,