So I have been reading again (dangerous)… I understand that a sauce or drink that is too sour due to acid can be neutralized by a pinch of Baking Soda. For instance too much lemon in tea can be brought back to drinkability with a pinch of Baking Soda. Following a post I believe I read here that suggested adding a pinch of gypsum (I think) can increase bittering perception in a finished beer, I wonder if a finished beer that is too sour (say …due to lactic acid) could be tamed in the same way? I’ve always read if you have a lacto infection there’s nothing that can be done except to clean and sanitize better next time.
Yes, baking soda can.
But since we are now talking about stronger acids that are in beer, its also possible to use chalk to neutralize excess acidity in beer.
Lacto is no different than yeast, when they run out of food, they can’t continue to create their products. You should be able to neutralize the EFFECTS of a lacto infection.
I recently neutralized a lactic infection with baking soda and pickling lime. The pickling lime took longer to work but tasted better. The baking soda beer tasted like alka seltzer.
Interesting. Though I’ve not had a lacto infection, I guess a “pinch” is about 1/8 tsp so to correct an entire batch about a TBS of Baking Soda would be required. How much did you use? What was the Pickling Lime dosage?
Martin, What dosage of chalk for 5 gal?
Heck if I know. Add and dissolve and then taste. If not good enough, repeat.
Not specifically in regard to a lacto infection… but, I have done this successfully in a beer before. I brewed a scottish ale and I obviously screwed something up in my acid additions ( I used phosphoric and am thinking it was higher percentage than labeled). At any rate, when the beer was all finished and I kegged it - it was tart. I checked the pH and I think it was in the 3.9 range or so. It was noticeable, and not great.
I used B’run water to calculate a pH increase of .3. I added appropriate baking soda to the keg, came back in a week and it was great. It was a beer that I ended up sending in to NHC and it placed top 3 to move on out of its regional. It was not a good beer before I added the baking soda.
So, it definitely works as a flavor changer on a smaller scale for sure. Not sure how that would translate to balancing out a bigger shift in pH.
That’s cool braufessor. This was all theoretical in my mind until these stories from you guys.
I had a dark lager that was too low in pH. I used some Baking Soda and then some pickling lime to get the pH higher. It drinks much nicer now.