I gotta say, I found this one pretty surprising.
I guess the good news is there is no need to panic if your pH is off.
Martin always recommends to measure pH but not to try to adjust after measurement. Fix it next time.
Maybe brulosohpy should adopt a mythbusters approach and work to recreate the “myths.” Try the same experiment with a half pound of black patent.
So… No measure of kettle pH or the final beer pH?
It’s interesting that the conversion was fine at that pH. Enzymes are forgiving.
Final beers finished with the same pH (well, within 0.03).
Malted barley WANTS to become beer
It just seems crazy to me that out of 22 tasters, 15 people couldn’t pick the odd beer out.
I would think that even if the mash pH alone didn’t matter, there’d be some flavor pick up from the lactic acid or a perceptible difference between the final gravities.
Beer A
4.45 mash pH
19ml of 88% lactic acid in mash
FG 1.017
Beer B
5.31 mash pH
No lactic acid
FG 1.011
Ah I missed the part where they finished at essentially the same pH. The low pH mash was significantly less attenuated, so it’s possible that the final pH that both achieved was the limit where the yeast started to become inhibited.
Yeah, that was my thought, too. I’d think that might be well over the lactic taste threshold.
My guess is the Beta enzymes. That low mash pH didn’t allow beta to work as well.
That’s how reality works! 
jeez, 19ml of lactic acid…
Berliner weisse anyone?
Sits here quite, cause I can detect 1-2points difference in attenuation, a mash pH difference of .1, roastmalt % of .25%, etc, etc* :o
Maybe if you drank more than 10oz of beer a day, your palate would be assaulted enough to not be able to tell that difference!
I can pick out a Cream Ale from a CDA, about 25% of the time.
Take your sunglasses off in the bar.
Doh! I’ll work on that
;D
Barley HATES being anthropromorphized