# Acidulated malt ?



## mongey (18/9/18)

ok So i'm planning my 4th all grain batch now. Gone from knowing nothing about grain to knowing a little .just enough to be dangerous

Doing a citra pale ale for the 4th . PH and all that is still a dark art. I understand the basics of it and why its important but in my journey aren't up to testing it and adjusting it yet

Is it worth just chucking some Acudulated malt into the mix as standard for pale ales/ipas ?

was thinking like 2% .is that enough to make a difference for the better ?

was thinking

82% pale ale malt
16% Munich light
2% acid malt


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## MHB (18/9/18)

We really do need to know a bit more, better to find out a bit more about your local water (I do wish people would fill in their locations). Locally my water is very soft, just down the road in Gosford, Carbonate is really high (all that sandstone), if you were in Newcastle Meh 2% wouldn't hurt, in Gosford not enough by a fair fraction.

Find out what you can about your local water, provide some more information and ask again and you are much more likely to get a useful answer.
Mark


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## mongey (18/9/18)

cheers. I thought my location was there. I'm in Thirroul .So Illawarra 

https://www.sydneywater.com.au/web/...ments/document/zgrf/mdq0/~edisp/dd_044722.pdf

Total Hardness 38-45
PH 7.5 - 8.0

not sure which ones are important


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## MHB (18/9/18)

Not too frightening, the big one is always Calcium and getting rid of Chlorine/Chloramines (both are being used)
Your water is very soft and will be great for brewing, add half a Campden tablet to your water to get rid of the Cl and make sure you add a minimum of 50-100ppm of Calcium, I would be adding 100-150ppm. Calcium helps lower the pH but I doubt it will get you down into the ideal range.
Whether you use Chloride or sulphate is entirely up to the style you are brewing.

The 10-90th percentile means that there is an 80% chance the water is in the range stated 10% chance it will be lower or higher (floods and droughts).
Might be worth looking at one of the online calculators, you have all the information you need from the water utility, but if you as above kill the Cl and add Ca you will be most of the way there.
Acid Malt will lower the pH by 0.1pH/1% of grist, so your proposed 2% would lower a 6.0pH beer to 5.8pH, not enough? use up to 5% Acidulated no problems, after that its safer to use acid.
Might be worth seeing if you have a local club, borrowing a pH meter or asking what other locals are doing (see club...)
Mark


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## mongey (18/9/18)

Thanks Man .appreciate it 

the 2% acid malt sounds like its not gonna do allot for now. I'll cheek with local guys and see what they doing


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## Sidney Harbour-Bridge (18/9/18)

As I understand it you need different pH in different pars of the mash and malt may contain some micro-organisms that will make lactic acid in your mash, for these reasons you need to measure and adjust pH for the purpose of the rest being done when it starts. Also I adjust (lower) the pH of my sparge water as it is supposed to reduce tannin take-up from the grain husks.


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## MHB (18/9/18)

Have a read of Braukaiser on mash pH, it might clear up some of the misunderstandings.
Better yet read all of Braukaiser, it's one of the best free resources out there.
Ferulic acid is the one that will produce a lower pH, but it takes hours to achieve much of anything, even then it has to be used as part of a step mash as it is inactivated at around 46oC.
From the OP it may be that this isn't really the best place to start asking complicated questions - more important to get the basics right than to sow confusion.
Mark


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## mongey (18/9/18)

Yeah I’m gonna forget all this for a while. Made 3 good beers so far and my last efficiency was just under 85 % in the kettle. 

I’ll get into all this stuff when I got the rest dialed.


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## rude (20/9/18)

It would be good if you had a ph meter then you could check where you are at then add some acid malt next time to lower it
20 mins into mash take a sample cool to room temp and check
Ph makes a difference to the finished beer 
Plenty of water calculators out there I like and use Brun


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