Acid malt

[BrewStew]

I've just read another thread where there was mention of Acid Malt and that got me thinking.

my water PH is 7.4 and i need to treat my liquor when doing pale ales (and some medium bitters too).

can i use this malt to "burtonise" my water instead of DLS and CRS?

if so, can someone point me in the direction of a formula for the correct weights to use to control my mash PH?

cheers :thumb:

 

[Aleman]

Acid malt is used by German brewers to counteract excess alkalinity in a Rheinheitsgebot manner. . . . . following malting the wet malt is inoculated with a lactic culture and held at just under 30C for 36-48 hours before being dried and kilned. for each % of acid malt in the grist it will reduce the pH of the mash by 0.1pH unit . . . the only problem is if you have an excessive alkalinity the amount you need to use actually passes teh taste threshold for lactic acid.

What the German brewers do is treat the liquor with slaked lime to remove the gross alkalinity and then make a small adjustment to the mash with the acid malt.

I wouldn't think about attempting to use this instead of acid treatment to reduce alkalinity and then gypsum/calcium chloride to adjust the hardness.

 

[BrewStew]

Thanks for clearing that up Aleman :thumb:

 

[jamesb]

I think it's the Brupaks guide to grains that say a small amount (3-5%) of acid malt is desirable in the mash with pilsner and lager malt.

I'm guessing that in the traditional lager brewing towns the water has a low alkalinity anyway. Just wondering why you'd want the acid malt.

 

[BrewStew]

I just thought it'd be a more natural way of bringing down the PH in my pales. but i realise now that it's not feasible

 

[jamesb]

Actually BS, I was asking for me. I'm looking at brewing a proper lager and I'm just in the middle of researching stuff. I'm not a fan of lager myself, but I thought I'd try one for the hell of it (and the missus).

 

[BrewStew]

oh sorry, i thought that was directed at me

some day i might taint my brewery and do a lager *shudders* :lol:

 

[tubby_shaw]

oh sorry, i thought that was directed at me

some day i might taint my brewery and do a lager *shudders* :lol:

Give it a try BS it'll certainly test your brewing skills as there's nowhere to hide any flavour faults in a pale lager :thumb:

 

[BrewStew]

oh without a doubt... i like a challenge

 

[Aleman]

I think it's the Brupaks guide to grains that say a small amount (3-5%) of acid malt is desirable in the mash with pilsner and lager malt.

I'm guessing that in the traditional lager brewing towns the water has a low alkalinity anyway. Just wondering why you'd want the acid malt.

Certainly its true of Plzen where the water is incredibly soft and low in alkalinity . . . and is the reason they can get away with huge hopping rates and get such a moderate bitterness . . . . they can' do that as easily in North German pilsners and certainly not in Munich. . . . . . Note that the hopping rate for Budvar is half the hop rate for the old Pilsner Urquell . . . I wonder if the water is different?

The Germans are the masters of water treatment however and I would suspect that they have to employ a combination of techniques to stay within reinheitsgebot guidelines. The sue of Acid malt is just one of them . . . I have used it in the past (Low alkalinity water) and was less than happy with the result . . . certainly I could detect the Lactic acid . . . I'm sticking with phosphoric or CRS as the taste thresholds are that much higher.