Acid Malt and (very) Soft Water

[TheMumbler]

I'm going to brew Adnams Explorer from BYOBRA (so I won't post the recipe) tomorrow. It calls for about 200g of acid malt in a roughly 4kg grain bill. My concern is that the water here has pretty low alkalinity and a poor ability to buffer due to very low levels of pretty much all the salts used in brewing.

Will I be OK with this or is increasing the acidity of my mash basically a stupid idea?

I have CaSO4, MgSO4, CaCl2 (plus salt and bicarb of soda) for water additions.

23l brewlength

 

[Aleman]

I wouldn't worry about it, I've used acid malt in the past and have experienced very little shift in mash pH . . . (With a pilsner grist)

 

[TheMumbler]

Cheers

 

[evanvine]

I also have a soft water supply, haven't had a kettle "fur" up in 36 years.
I add 1 tsp gypsom, 1/2 tsp epsom and 1/4 tsp chalk to the HLT.
Don't take Ph readings any more as it always finished up in the low to mid 5's.

 

[Aleman]

Don't take Ph readings any more as it always finished up in the low to mid 5's.

Where it finishes is not important its what it is at the start of the mash that counts

 

[evanvine]

Quite right AM, just checked my records of years ago and that is what I did!
Don't know what made me say that utter rubbish above.
Still don't check any more as my water never changes and I use the same dosages each time.
I know that's probably irresponsible idleness, but the brew has always been fine!

 

[TheMumbler]

Thanks for the advice, I went with 1tsp of gypsum in the mash and 1tsp in the boil and overhopped a bit as my hops were old and I quite like a bitter beer anyway. Wort tasted promising enough so I think it all went OK. I'll post up something in the brewdays forum when I get the pics off my phone.

 

[craigevo]

Aleman - what kind of acid malt were you using that didnt change the pH much ?

Im wondering about trying this;

http://www.weyermannmalt.com/eng/produk ... &sprache=2

which claims to lower pH and provide other benefits to lagers.

I wont bother if your sure it doesnt lower the pH - how much % did you use ?