Beer water PH etc - its important?

[Glass]

When reading on the topic of water PH what I come to understand is this:

When doing All Grains, the PH water at the mash stage is important. It should be 5.5> <6.0 ish. I think 5.7 is the preferred upper range.

A mash can change PH on it's own as part of the process and many times the PH ends up in the preferred range naturally.

An extract brewer - Kit O Beer brewing that I have been doing, the PH of the water is not so important because someone else did the mash for me.

Makes sense. But I have had cause to monitor water PH in the past and Hitchers thread here (http://gold-silver.us/forum/showthread.php?75513-Question-on-the-Propur-gravity-water-filter&p=688398#post688398) on his new Propur gravity water filter got me wondering. I used a berkey with royal doulton ceramic filters impregnated with silver - Sterasyl is the branding.

the Propur uses something along the same lines. Their product material says it produces water with a PH of 9.5.

I don't know what the Royal Doutons produce PH wise but I know the water is incredibly soft in the mouth, very tasty and everyone likes it. Compared to the tap water there is no competition IMO. I filter up 30L when I brew. I need 23L for the brew.

I bought a ph test kit. just from the pet store. It ranges from 5.5 to 7 so its a narrow range. Tap water comes in at perhaps just over 7. It's a bit darker blue than the color chart. My filtered water on the other hand is clearly off the scale and I'd guess close to or in the range of 9.

My beer tastes nice and is still soft in the mouth. I'm wondering if I am hindering carbonation with a high PH in the water. I will test a beer sample and see if I can pick some colour. Not sure thats possible though.

Not freaking out about it but I thought it was interesting.

[woodman]

When reading on the topic of water PH what I come to understand is this:

When doing All Grains, the PH water at the mash stage is important. It should be 5.5> <6.0 ish. I think 5.7 is the preferred upper range.

A mash can change PH on it's own as part of the process and many times the PH ends up in the preferred range naturally.

An extract brewer - Kit O Beer brewing that I have been doing, the PH of the water is not so important because someone else did the mash for me.

Makes sense. But I have had cause to monitor water PH in the past and Hitchers thread here (http://gold-silver.us/forum/showthread.php?75513-Question-on-the-Propur-gravity-water-filter&p=688398#post688398) on his new Propur gravity water filter got me wondering. I used a berkey with royal doulton ceramic filters impregnated with silver - Sterasyl is the branding.

the Propur uses something along the same lines. Their product material says it produces water with a PH of 9.5.

I don't know what the Royal Doutons produce PH wise but I know the water is incredibly soft in the mouth, very tasty and everyone likes it. Compared to the tap water there is no competition IMO. I filter up 30L when I brew. I need 23L for the brew.

I bought a ph test kit. just from the pet store. It ranges from 5.5 to 7 so its a narrow range. Tap water comes in at perhaps just over 7. It's a bit darker blue than the color chart. My filtered water on the other hand is clearly off the scale and I'd guess close to or in the range of 9.

My beer tastes nice and is still soft in the mouth. I'm wondering if I am hindering carbonation with a high PH in the water. I will test a beer sample and see if I can pick some colour. Not sure thats possible though.

Not freaking out about it but I thought it was interesting.
Absolutely right Glass. Very important. Certain beer styles call for diff ph from what I remember. Have to have Brewtech weight in on this. I remember reading about using gypsum, lactic acid, slaked lime, etc. Maybe use a different kind of water or mix them.