Acid Malt and Pilsner malt

[Cheshire-cheese]

I read on the brupaks site that it may me advisable to use acid malt with pilsner malt.
Has anyone experience with these two malts and care to share their recipes or findings?

[mysterio]

A couple of questions,

- Do you know the residual alkalinity of your brewing water?

- If yes, do you use CRS or another method to reduce it?

The only reason I can think of for using acid malt is if you want to adhere to the German Reinheisegebot. If you're in an area with very low alkalinity water then theres no need for acid malt.

[Cheshire-cheese]

You know what, I've no idea as to the alkalinity and have not used anything to date to alter it.
I gather that a lower pH gives a cleaner flavour but that's the extent of my understanding.

[mysterio]

The general idea behind adding acid malt is that pilseners are on the whole, all base malt mashes, which tend to cause quite high (alkaline) mash pH's.

Bitters, pale ales and so on have some acidic crystal malts so tend to be alright with most water profiles.

Using acid malt without knowing the residual alkalinity of your water would probably be counter-productive. I would either a) forget about it and go ahead as normal, or preferably b) check the alkalinity of your water, refer to Chris' video for an easy way to do it

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=24442

You're looking to reduce your carbonate alkalinity to around 10 - 15, if you can do this with acid malt that's fine, but direct lactic acid treatment might be easier.

[Cheshire-cheese]

So, If I were to do an experimental mash with my tap water and pilsner malt and measure the pH, what pH would be too high and would suggest that an addition of acid malt / lactic acid would be required?

[mysterio]

Good idea. A pH of 5.0 - 5.5 is recommended. If you're in the upper 5's or 6's, then think about some lactic.

[mysterio]

Here's a useful chart btw. How much acid malt you need for a desired pH shift. The upper axis is your mash thickness.

http://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/index.ph ... _shift.gif

[Cheshire-cheese]

Thanks. I'll experiment.

I've got some Pilsner malt in the shop and am now wondering whether I should also stock acid malt or lactic acid.

[Aleman]

Thanks. I'll experiment.

I've got some Pilsner malt in the shop and am now wondering whether I should also stock acid malt or lactic acid.

No! And . . . . . No!

Most of the water in the Liverpool area has quite a low alkalinity so Acid treatment is not required . . . I made a pilsner on Monday with no acid treatment and got pH5.23 so it really isn't required . . . and then you will get the punters that bung 10ml or so in without measuring any bl**dy thing and wondering why the final beer tastes off . . . Incidentally I can taste 6ml of lactic in 40L of liquor . . . so it has quite an obvious flavour profile

[lancsSteve]

See thread here which has some really good info on acid malt:

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=26662&start=0&st=0& ... alt+lactic

[Cheshire-cheese]

No! And . . . . . No!

Most of the water in the Liverpool area has quite a low alkalinity so Acid treatment is not required . . . I made a pilsner on Monday with no acid treatment and got pH5.23 so it really isn't required . . . and then you will get the punters that bung 10ml or so in without measuring any bl**dy thing and wondering why the final beer tastes off . . . Incidentally I can taste 6ml of lactic in 40L of liquor . . . so it has quite an obvious flavour profile

Excellent, so I was right (by default ) to just get in the Pilsner without the acid.
I'll still do the experiment, but will scale it up with the confidence that the mash pH shouldn't be too high.

[Cheshire-cheese]

Thanks for the link LancsSteve