Thanks, I appreciate the advice. I brewed a stout once with my straight water and it had the most horrible flavor, really undrinkable.
It's hard to imagine the pH going so low as to lend a "horrible" flavor. That term sort of suggests infection. Can you describe it?
This was before I had a pH meter but I imagine the pH was very low. I don't think I can get away with this style without adding some alkalinity.
Now that you do have a meter you can check on mash pH. At least 2 of us here have similar experiences with stout made with modest to low RA and that is pH between 5.4 and 5.5 without the use of any alkalinity. I use 10% roast barley in my Irish stout and found that it would take 3 times that amount to get pH down to 5.2. If your pH is lower than 5.2 you must be using an awful lot of something as acidic as roast barley. But why speculate when you can do the measurement?
On another note, what do you mean by using sauermalz to "set" mash pH. I would think that it would serve to lower mash pH but to me set means that it would somehow buffer or lock it in to a certain range within reason. Is this what happens? Thanks
Guess "fix" was an unfortunate choice of words because it does imply buffering. That's not what I intended. Adding sauermalz is just adding acid in solid form. I should have said "control pH" or "adjust pH" or something of that sort.