Aciduated Malt

Brewing Processes
1

I post this in beginners section because if I have to ask, I must be a newb…at least to this malt I am…
I want to build a good light beer and am considering additions of this acid malt to adjust my mash ph.
I have used 5.2 on most of my brews because my water ph is around 7ish, and very hard.
I have to get some ph measuring device(s) or strips or something to help with this I know.

I wondered what to expect from the additions of this malt.
Does it affect flavor profile?
Does it only reduce ph?
How much should you add to effectively reduce ph…even approximately
so I know how much to order…???

I mean 1 pound of this in a 5 gallon batch of lager style beer?
A ROT of a percentage for a basis 3%?? 5%??

Thanks in Advance

2

I use this malt as 2-4 % in my Pilsner malt  grists. The reason is that even at 0 residual alkalinity, the mash pH with Pils malt is still 5.7-5.8. Lowering the RA to -20-40 and using some acid malts brings the pH to 5.3-5.4.

At these levels I don’t detect any sourness from the acid malt in the final beer.

But I don’t think that using acid malt is a good fix for overly alkaline water because you may have to add too much to bring the pH down. Knowing your water and possibly treating it to bring the residual alkalinity down is still necessary even with acid malt additions.

BTW, at this point most of us are “Newbies” here :wink:

Kai

3

Thanks Kaiser,
I am thinking that I can perhaps utilize the 5.2 AND the acid malt to achieve good results.
I have an old ph meter that has not been properly stored so I hesitate to trust that.
I can get some ph strips to test the mash with but from my reading I derive that there
Is a margin of error built into those as well…anyhow this is all just in the planning stages
lagering weather has not arrived yet…and I like to utilize ambient temps as much as possible.

4

Don’t trust the 5.2 either. From my experience it doesn’t even buffer the mash at 5.2. I’d recommend testing the mash with colorpHast strips over the use of 5.2.

Kai

5

When I was using it my pales didn’t turn out too far off.  The dark beers were way too acidic.  Much better now that I manage my water profile.

6

Most likely b/c your pale ales would have been fine without it. :wink:

7

Probably true.

8

whoa am i lucky my water is moderate ph

9

I gotta say tho, even my 7ph water makes Great tasting beer!  Everyone that has
tried it likes it,  The water tastes great to drink out of the tap as well makes good
tea and coffee…it’s not so bad.  Bad is the amount of scale it produces on the
plumbing.

10

We must have similar water.  Everything would be just hunky dory without all those bicarbonates!