Acid malt for a blonde ale??

[beer gut]

Hi everyone i hope you are all enjoying the world cup.I have a question about acid malt, iam going to brew a very pale blonde ale with a grav of 1047 for a wedding and iam a little comfused about how much acid malt to use? My total alkalinty for my water is 45 normally i just use C.R.S fluid but i was told that the acid malt gives a softer taste to the palet.I was thinking of using 3% of my grain bill wich is 138 grams, also does acid malt have any fermentable sugars?I was also thinking of mixing some acid malt and some C.R.S fluid would this be viable?

[Rookie]

I wouldn't use acid malt in a blonde ale, but there are probably people out there who would.

[beer gut]

Yeah iam not so sure about using acid malt either.Iam using pilsner malt about 30% of my base grain the other chunk xtra pale maris otter when i did my research on pilsner malt they strongly recomend using acid malt.The reason for the research is i have never used pilsner malt before caus i don't brew lagers.So i will just use C.R.S fluis instead thanx.

[Rookie]

Yeah iam not so sure about using acid malt either.Iam using pilsner malt about 30% of my base grain the other chunk xtra pale maris otter when i did my research on pilsner malt they strongly recomend using acid malt.The reason for the research is i have never used pilsner malt before caus i don't brew lagers.So i will just use C.R.S fluis instead thanx.

Maybe the acid malt is for 100% pisner malt beer. Although I've brewed 100% pils malt batches and other lagers without using acid malt and they turned out good.

[raiderman]

Isn't it all ph related? Acid malt is a lager thing and reduces the ph of the mash, so as a blonde or golden ale is a bitter possibly brewed with some lager malt and/or hops it shouldn't need acid malt. Having said that its got me wondering what happens if I brew a golden ale as a lager but pitch a top fermenting yeast.

[steve_flack]

The use of acid malt hasn't really got anything to do with it being a lager. You could use it in anything if you wanted. Basically it's malt that's been treated so that it contains lactic acid

It is primarily used to lower the mash pH when you don't want to (or aren't allowed to) use acid or salts to do the same thing. German brewers fall in to that category so it's particularly useful for them as they would often be brewing very pale beers with very little in the way of acidity from the malts they'd otherwise be using.

[mysterio]

CRS and acid malt essentially do the same thing for you, I doubt there would be any flavour difference and if so it would be negligible, CRS is also easier to measure and get predictable results. Paler base malts are less acidic so generally you will use some means to lower to pH (acids or using low carbonate water) to compensate. This means you won't have to use Gypsum to lower the pH of the mash which - all other things equal - should mean you get a 'softer' palate. Gypsum generally gives things an edge and makes things a bit sharper.

I would stick with the CRS and use a little more to get to your desired mash pH.