6-Row (Briess)
Base malt, typically 1.8 °L (4 EBC). Malt color varies by lot — treat listed values as typical and adjust to your malt analysis.
| Type | Base malt |
|---|---|
| Typical color | 1.8 °L · 4 EBC |
| Distilled-water mash pH | 5.79 (measured) |
| Buffering (a1) | -45 mEq/kg per pH |
In the mash
Base malts form the backbone of the grist and largely set the mash pH floor: in distilled water most land between 5.5 and 5.8, and — as Troester’s 2009 measurements showed — color is only a loose predictor of where a given lot falls. On low-alkalinity water a pale base-malt grist usually needs only a small acid addition to reach the 5.3–5.4 range.
Build a water profile around it →Add 6-Row (Briess) to a grain bill in the calculator and the mash pH prediction updates live — with a per-lot DI pH override if you've measured your own sack.
pH data: Kai Troester, “The effect of brewing water and grist composition on the pH of the mash” (2009, braukaiser.com) (distilled-water pH only; class-average buffering applied). Lot-to-lot variation of ±0.1 pH is normal.