Lowering ph

Indeed, adding a few oz of acidulated malt is fine also. I do this when using acidulated malt.

 

Depends on how precise you like to be. 4 ounces won't make a large difference in OG.

 

Thanks for the answers guys.

 

For anyone wondering this last week I brewed a pale ale and tested the PH vs Brewcipher prediction. I will say that Brewcipher does not take acidulated malt into consideration as the PH doesnt change when I add or take away the malt addition in the spread sheet. Here was the malt bill and predicted PH vs actual.

( 4 gallons into fermenter, 5.5 gallon preboil volume )

8 lbAmerican - Pale 2-Row

81%
1 lbBelgian - Munich

10.1%
6 ozAmerican - Caramel / Crystal 20L

3.8%
6 ozBelgian - Caramel Pils

3.8%
2 ozGerman - Acidulated Malt

Mash Salts: 4g CaSO4 ( gypsum ) 2g CaCl2 ( calcium Chloride )

Predicted PH 5.4/ Actual PH 5.2 ( tested with pocket PH meter ... not strips )

I would imagine if brewcipher used the acid malt addition into the equation the prediction would have been dead on.

 

On the water tab in Brewcipher there is a cell for Acid malt. It is on this tab as you should primarily consider acid malt an acid, not a malt. Cheers!

 

I have seen that before .. I am not sure what to put in the "strength" box for the acid malt so it doesnt calc.

 

From the mouesover comment on the acid malt cell of the water tab...
"If you use Acid Malt, enter the amount in this section, even if it's listed in your recipe grist."

If in doubt, you could try 3%, which is what's in the cell by default.

 

Excellent sir

 

I wasn't implying that the pilsner would clash with the rest of the base malt. Having used acidulated malt multiple times I have found it can contribute off-flavors compared to using lactic acid if one has to use more than 3% of the grist. Gauging how much to use can be tricky if the acid malt is old vs new and one might end up using more than the recommended 3%. (Your mileage may vary.)

 

If you mean that very old acid malt can harbor significantly more living lactobacillus cultures on it (thus producing more acid)... never heard that before. I'm not quite picturing why that should be the case. My understanding is that Lactobacillus is fairly dormant when it's sitting on grains stored under normal conditions. Any of our microbiology type folks know?