Acid Additions

I'm brewing a Munich Helles and will probably need an addition of an acid to bring the pH down to the acceptable range for mashing. My question is which acid to use. I have some phosphoric acid that I picked up from my HBS, but the worry with its use is that it will reduce calcium. I have heard that lactic acid can add sour flavors to a delicate beer like the Helles. Palmer recommends hydrochloric acid, but my HBS does not sell this. In your humble opinions, what are the best acids to use to bring down pH that are also neutral in flavor? Where do you get your hydrochloric if you use it? How much do you add? Thank you very much.

I have used acidulated malt before (lactic acid), and the flavor is noticeable later on.

I don't have a good answer for you, sorry!

hydrocloric acid is powerful stuff. i'd be careful with it.

i've used lactic acid in a hefe, never noticed any sourness. usually you're only using a mL or two.

i think its best to add acids to your strike water and mix thoroughly before adding malt.

German brewers are barred from using hydrochloric (or any other mineral) acid and so use lactic acid either in the form of sauergut (wort which has been fermented by lactobacillus) or sauermalz (malt which has been innoculated with L. Delbruckii or sprayed with sauergut). The latter is a good way to go for homebrewers because one can count on pretty close to an 0.1 pH drop for each percent of sauermalz in the grain bill, because most home brew suppliers carry it, because it is easy to weigh out and finally because it lends subtle flavors to the beer which are a definite plus (IMO). The alternative for homebrewers is lactic acid sold by home brew suppliers. You can figure out how much to use based on the 0.1 per % rule of thumb, the fact that sauermalz contains, on average, 2% lactic acid by weight and that most HBS lactic acid is 88% by weight and weighs about 1.21 gram/cc. You'll have to find a means of accurately measuring out a few cc (syringes are good for this) and, of course, you don't get the benefits of the flavor qualities of the sauermalz. Ultimately, the amount of lactic acid, sauermalz or sauergut to add is the amount which sets your mash pH correctly. You must calculate the amount you think you will need, add a portion, check pH, add more etc. until it gets where you want it to go. One of the nice things about the sauermalz is that the rule of thumb is pretty good. If you use 2% you'll probably get about an 0.2 pH drop. But you should check this. If the result is less than 0.2 pH use more next time. If more, use less etc. Keep in mind that mash pH tends to climb as the lactic acid washed off the surface of the malts move into solution and then reacts with the buffers in the mash so check pH over the course of half an hour or more to see where it finally settles.

Hydrochloric acid can be obtained from many sources, not the least of which is the hardware store. It is not, of course, food grade. ACS stuff from a chemical supply house is as pure (or purer) than FCC grade but has not been processed in FDA food handling facility. This is another reason to use sauermalz or lactic acid from the LHBS.

I believe using saurmalz would be the traditional way to bring down the mash pH of any German-style beer. This is because of the Reinheitsgebot, which doesn't allow the brewer to put additives such as acid in the mash. It also has the advantage of being a rather less concentrated acid than things like winemaker's acid blend or phosphoric acid, so you can fine-tune the pH more easily, whereas with concentrated acids tiny differences in quantity can effect things a fair amount.

The acid content of saurmalz comes from lactic acid. In proper quantities, it doesn't seem to add sour flavors to the beer, otherwise we'd get a lot of sour german beers.

Rule of thumb with the stuff is that each 1% of the grist lowers pH by 0.1, though WMMV. It's often called Acidulated malt.

I didn't think of homebrew wine acid blend. Winemaker's acid is a blend of malic and tartaric acid, I believe? So you could look into those maybe.

I've used winemaker's blend before. If you think saurmalz will give off flavors you could try it; I didn't notice any flavors from either, myself. But it is pretty touchy, easy to overdo. Measure carefully.

Malic acid is "rough". That's why vintners do a malo/lactic fermentation (Leuconostoc eats rough malic and excretes smooth lactic acid). It is not used in brewing (nor is tartaric). You will find citric acid mentioned in old home brewing texts (the ones that recommend equal parts of malt extract and cane sugar and recommend boiling the hops separately in water) but even they note the citrusy taste of citric acid. Citric isn't used any more AFAIK.

For brewing the choices are generally lactic (continent), sulfuric and hydrochloric (UK) and phosphoric.

I do have acidulated malt in my grain bill, and it makes up about 2%, so I could expect around a .2 drop in my pH. I purchased the phosphoric acid just in case I check my pH and the mash still needs more adjustment. Better safe than sorry. My HBS owner was discouraging me from using acidulated malt and was pushing 5.2 Stabilizer instead. I have heard conflicting reviews on 5.2, not the least of which is that it simply doesn't work, and decided against it. He advised me not to use over 3% of acidulated malt because it would give me some funky flavors. I hope the acidulated malt will do the trick and no acid adjustment is necessary. Thanks for the reponses.

If your water is low in minerals you shouldn't need more than 2 or 3% sauermalz. I've never exceeded 3% and never noticed anything other than positive flavor effects (not sourness). But I too would be nervous if I had to use more than 3%.

5.2 on the other hand I have never gotten to work in the lab (based on what I see in the lab I wouldn't use it in the brewery). I've seen lots of recommendations for it of the "I use 5.2 and make great beer" and "I hit 5.2 pH every time" (only to find out they are using strips) but I have never seen anyone who owns and knows how to use a pH meter endorse it.