BeerBorg

If I just use acidulated malt to bring my ph down, is there an advantage to using gypsum, epson and calcium chloride? Meaning, if the salts aren't needed to bring the ph down, is there any other advantage of using the salts? (mainly in IPA's and pale ales). I'm thinking why not just use the acid malt and not worry about the salts unless they add something to the flavor/aroma.
From the tons of reading I've been thru, it seems simply getting the ph to the proper level will take care of everything else.

The reason why I use acid/sour malt is b/c the balanced additions of salts and minerals alone may not be enough to 'correct' the wort's pH. Typical addition for Pales and IPAs using my well-water: 0.5 - 2 oz. / 2.5G batch-size.

Suggest getting a copy of Bru'n Water freeware and a Ward's Lab water test.
Adjusting mash and sparge waters improved my home-beers by an order of magnitude.

We quit using salts and only use acid malt to control PH

With my water profile, I have found the easiest and best way to adjust my pH down is adding Lactic Acid. Most of my recipes use only a few mL to the mash water. Then I use calcium chloride to balance the other stuff out. I will also say that I first dilute my mash and sparge water with some distilled water too. It all depends on the grain bill though. The EZWaterCalculator is my go-to tool to get all the numbers right.


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I use both calculators but like EZWater a bit more.
@herb, I had a water report done last year and have made great strides with my water. I notice much more aroma, some better flavor and in bitter beers, a more balanced bitter to malt flavor. But, it just seems easier to add 4 oz or so of acid malt instead of measuring out all the water salts. Being half Italian, I always look for the easy way.

Seem to recall recommendations about limiting the amount of sour malt to no more than ~2% of the grain bill.

Don't recall why.
Then again; at my age ... don't recall much of anything.

HerbMeowing wrote:Seem to recall recommendations about limiting the amount of sour malt to no more than ~2% of the grain bill.

Don't recall why.
Then again; at my age ... don't recall much of anything.

Too much and you start to notice it as sour. Sensitive folks (IE some judges) will think your beer is slightly infected even. You can use a lot more then 2% if you want to make a "lazy mode" kind of single noted pseudo-sour beer without the bugs.

Acid malt is fine, does the same thing as Lactic acid which it is made from. One thing is you might be able to control mash ph adjustments better with liquid lactic acid. Also, lactic acid will come in handy for acidifiying your sparge water and adjusting the boil ph (if you ever need to).

But to answer your question, yes you can rely on acid alone to hit your target mash ph...I do. I do adjust sometimes, maybe a little Gypsum for a hoppy beer or some Chloride/Sodium for a malty beer. But I don't get hung up on water profiles, that's not what is important. I have always been an advocate for using your tap water whenever possible. Carbon filter, adjust the mash ph, acidify your sparge water and "season" the mash or boil for a certain beer here and there. (Experiment on your own, see what you like or didn't like, see what makes improvements for what you want in the beer). I never do anything too crazy, I feel everyone's water is what makes their beers theirs...use it as such.

I'm going to try lactid acid instead of acidulated malt so since I BIAB, I guess I need to adjust the ph in the water before dough in but just about half the amount since the mash is going to change the ph anyway, right? Then I can use the meter to check the ph of the mash after a few minutes and make final adjustments then???????
I assume those that don't BIAB can always adjust the ph with the sparge water but since all the water is used at mash time, I think this is the best way to go but since I'm a lactid acid virgin..............

Beer-lord wrote:I'm going to try lactid acid instead of acidulated malt so since I BIAB, I guess I need to adjust the ph in the water before dough in but just about half the amount since the mash is going to change the ph anyway, right? Then I can use the meter to check the ph of the mash after a few minutes and make final adjustments then???????
I assume those that don't BIAB can always adjust the ph with the sparge water but since all the water is used at mash time, I think this is the best way to go but since I'm a lactid acid virgin..............

If you are using EZ water ( I think you said you do) and have a tested water report to go off you can just input your water volume amount in the mash box in EZ water and keep a 0 in the sparge box. Since you BIAB, that should work for you. You should be able to trust EZ water, I find it's ph adjustment always within .1 +/- to what my meter reads. But EZ water does indicate it gets less accuarate for ph estimation with higher grain/water ratios...something you will have to keep in mind. I dont BIAB so I can't help with that. You can split up the acid addition, check the mash ph, then adjust if needed. But that could cost you more time and effort waiting for sample to cool, waiting for more additions to stablize...etc. I would just add it all to the water as you are heating up, mash in, stir well and after 5 mins or so pull a sample to cool and check ph. If it's off, you can add more acid if it's high or add some backing if it's low to raise the ph. The thing to remember is your mash is a huge buffer so you might add acid, then add more acid, and more acid and not see a change or much of a change so you think well, add 2x or 3x as much and then bamn your ph drops like a rock when all you might have needed was one little drop to break the tipping point and start lowering the ph. It will take some playing around to get a feel for but if you enter accurate info into the water calculators such as your water report and the correct recipe grist and volume amounts you can put money on the ph estimation...there shouldn't be much need to worry about adjustment after that. (But for BIAB, sorry I can't vouch for that).

Just keep in mind and I repeat it all the time because there is confusion on the matter , bu all of the text data and suggested mash ph ranges are for actual cooled samples. So if you read you should have 5.2-5.6 for mash ph that is what you want your meter to actually read at room temp. You cant read mash ph at mash temps or too cold, you want a room temp sample to match the estimation you are shooting for in the software.

Your input is greatly appreciated.
This is fun. I guess I really am a beer nerd!


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Also, anyone who gets a Ward Labs water report when you look at Sulfate (S04) they give that measurement in SO4-S. I'm not sure what the difference is but to convert that to SO4 for EZ water you need to multiply that by 3. So like my report indicated SO4-S was 8, my actual SO4 I input into EZ water is 24ppm.

From EZ Water:
"If your water report gives Sulfate as Sulfur (SO4-S) such as a Ward Lab's report, multiply by that by 3 to get SO4"

Beer-lord wrote:Your input is greatly appreciated.
This is fun. I guess I really am a beer nerd!


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No problem, I like to help. Water is something I got into and although it seems overwhelming and a lot of brewers play around with it more than I do, it's really not that hard to wrap your head around, it's just another learning curve like learning to brew all grain and hit your OG, your boil volume...etc. Making my water better has made my beer better, with little effort or complication to my brew day.