This week my guest is Bob Hall. Bob shares with us some great tips for managing your brewing water and mash pH. Bob teaches biology and ecology at the University of Wyoming and has been homebrewing for 23 years.
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Topics in This Week’s Episode (35:56)
- Bob Hall is this week’s guest. Bob has been homebrewing for 23 years, and is a Grandmaster Beer Judge. He teaches ecology and biology at the University of Wyoming.
- Dr Hall explains the relationship between freshwater ecology and brewing beer
- We talk about why pH is so important in brewing better beer – especially in the mash
- Bob tells us why most groundwater is alkaline
- We discuss the control of pH in the mash and some methods for measuring and controlling pH.
- Bob also talks about the use of darker grains to control mash pH
- We talk about the use of buffers such as 5.2 stabilizer to control pH
- Residual alkalinity is explained and Bob offers some advice on alkalinity and residual alkalinity
- We finish by discussing some additional tips for making better beer
Thanks to Bob Hall for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
Thoughts on the Podcast?
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I have downloaded all of the podcasts, and listen to them in my car. I find it much more soothing than getting mad at NPR.
I really enjoy them. I find something I can gain from in almost all of them, even when they do not have much directly to do with what I like to brew.
There is only one little tweak I’d like to hear. When you talk about something coming up “this fall” or “next spring” there is no point of reference. It would be helpful if you would mention the original posting date at some time in the podcast, say right at the beginning, and maybe also at the end. So if a book you refer to is already out, I won’t be waiting til “next spring” to look for it.
Other than that very minor thing, I really love them. Most of them are worth listening to many times.
Thanks – I appreciate the kind comments and will work on adding dates!