pH Help. Lactic Acid.

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Bonestar

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My local water runs in the 7'ns for pH. Neutral. Using Lactic Acid... does anyone have any methods for lowering the mash pH to 5.2 for a 5 gallon batch? This will be my first run at All Grain.

What is the best way to go about lowering the pH?
Do I adjust the HLT or the Mash?

:rockin:
 
Adjust the mash, but the grains will alter the pH, the darker the more acidic they are, the lighter the less acidic, if u use latic acid you lower the Residual Alkalinity significantly, until you learn about the brewing water I would not mess with lactic acid, I've never used the stuff but the people who make Star San make a 5.2pH buffer, which in theory "locks" your mash pH in at 5.2, like I said I've never used it but I've heard both that it works and that it doesn't. Its like 10 bucks. I thought about getting some but I don't notice a big pH problem. I use the chalk/iodine startch test and my mash seems to convert normally so I don't think my pH is off.
 
I use the 5.2 in the mash along with a tsp of gypsum, then I treat my sparge water with 1 to 1.5 tbsp lactic acid, depending on the recipe. Since I adopted this method , my beer improved a lot, no off flavors . I think mostly from the alkaline sparge water causing astringency.
 
Get a water report. Download EZ water. Use 1-2% acid malt. 5.2 stabilizer, from what I've heard, is a buffer, and won't lower your mash ph.
 
Get a water report. Download EZ water. Use 1-2% acid malt. 5.2 stabilizer, from what I've heard, is a buffer, and won't lower your mash ph.

Right. Do NOT use the 5.2 stabilizer without knowing what's in your water make up. (And even then, don't use it). I bought some, and used it twice and all it did was give my beers a bit of a salty flavor and didn't fix the mash pH anyway!
 
Check the Brew science forum. Sticky on brew water science. Its just a mind boggling beginning without a report.:confused::( Cheers:)
 
Right. Do NOT use the 5.2 stabilizer without knowing what's in your water make up. (And even then, don't use it). I bought some, and used it twice and all it did was give my beers a bit of a salty flavor and didn't fix the mash pH anyway!

Ditto. I bought some and also used it twice with my first two lagers. Both times, I had a noticeable off flavor in the beer. After aging for about 9 months, the off flavor had diminished, but was still there. After 2 brews, I stopped using it and the off flavor went away, but I did have to use some lactid acid to lower the mash pH.

-a.
 
Lactic acid can be a tricky thing to use, especially in the mash, but knowing what ph your mash will settle in at naturally will help determine what treatment(if any)you may need.for example;a mash made up of 11 lbs two row pale and one pound crystal 60L at 1lb/1.25qt with my water source will settle in at a ph of 5.5.To drop the ph .3, I would use about 3-4oz. of acid malt which is about 2.5% of the total grist(1% of grist bill per .1 drop in ph).To determine what ph your mash will be, make a mini mash for your yeast starter, 1 lb of base grain and 1.5oz of crystal 60 in 1.25+/- qts of water(scaled down from previous grist bill).Mash at desired temp and test ph after 15 min.At this point you could even make scaled down salt additions(i.e gypsum)to see if those would help.Trust me, it's better for your sanity to screw up a yeast starter than to screw up a 5 gal batch!!!Hope this helps.
 
Blindly throwing crap into your mash or water is a recipe for disaster. If you want to control mash pH, step one is to get a pH meter. Step two is to check out the water chemistry primer sticky in the brew science forum.
 
SC_Ryan said:
Blindly throwing crap into your mash or water is a recipe for disaster. If you want to control mash pH, step one is to get a pH meter. Step two is to check out the water chemistry primer sticky in the brew science forum.

+1.

Though I would say step one is to get a pH meter, step two is to read the pH calibration sticky, step 3 the water chemistry primer sticky.

;)
 
+1.

Though I would say step one is to get a pH meter, step two is to read the pH calibration sticky, step 3 the water chemistry primer sticky.

;)

No. Step one is to find out what is in your water! Then the brewer can start thinking about what their water may or may not need. A pH meter is a nice addition to a brewer's tools. But it is not truely necessary if they have a good understanding of their water and grain and how it works together.

If a brewer is not going to use RO or DI water exclusively, then the recommendations of the Water Primer may not be useful. I suggest that the Water Knowledge page on the Bru'n Water site may be more useful.
 
No. Step one is to find out what is in your water! Then the brewer can start thinking about what their water may or may not need. A pH meter is a nice addition to a brewer's tools. But it is not truely necessary if they have a good understanding of their water and grain and how it works together.

If a brewer is not going to use RO or DI water exclusively, then the recommendations of the Water Primer may not be useful. I suggest that the Water Knowledge page on the Bru'n Water site may be more useful.

Doh. Very good point, welcome words of wisdom.
 
I disagree. The spreadsheets don't always give you an accurate pH prediction, especially if you have alkaline water. My beers made a huge jump in quality when I went from mineral tweaking with spreadsheets to actually controlling my pH using the primer.
 
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