Is 1 percent acidulated malt enough to make a beer tart?

I recently brewed an all grain saison recipe, and added 2oz of acidulated malt for the hell of it. It tastes great, but it has a detectable tartness to it. I wouldn't quite say it is sour, just a bit tart. The problem is, I used a saison yeast blend from East Coast Yeast (ECY08) so I'm not sure if that's what may be bringing the tart. From now on, I really need to only change one thing at a time. I have no experience with acid malt, but I thought about 1% wouldn't be noticeable.

The grain bill was:

11lbs. Pilsner malt

0.75 munich

0.75 malted wheat

2oz CaraMunich

2oz acidulated malt.

I use acid malt in most of my lighter brews to help lower my pH. I generally use about 2ozs. Never noticed it in the final product.

It's not the acid malt. A lot of people put well up to 5% and don't get tartness in the finished product. I make a Gose using >20% acid malt, and it's only mildly tart, not something I'd call "sour". So the acid malt is most assuredly not the cause.

Acid malt is regular two row sprayed with lactic acid. It has very little acid on it. It's really only designed for mash ph adjustment, not flavor. If you want tartness but no bacteria involved, buy a bottle of lactic acid and add after fermentation until you are happy with the taste.

I'd try a different yeast before removing such a small quantity of acid malt in troubleshooting. Ironically, I have a Saison fermenting right now that I specifically want a tart sourness for, but I ended up doing a sour mash.

Thanks guys. I guess it is either the yeast blend or a really nice infection. The beer is actually quite good.

You need 4-5% before you'll notice any tartness. I use 2-3% on almost every batch for pH adjustment because I start with RO water.

Never heard of that yeast, but that could be it. Sounds good!