Adding Lactic Acid to Saison - When and how much?

Sorry that I haven't contributed much to these forums other than ask questions.... BUT...Haven t seen the answer to this question anywhere else..

I am doing a AG Saison with wyest 3711, typical grain bill of belg pils, aromatic, wheat, etc...

I want to have an acidic/refreshing bite.

I bought 88% lactic acid to accomplish this as I am not going to make a sour starter etc...

Questions:

1) Do I add this in the primary or secondary?

2) How much to add? I was thinking about 5-6 ml

3) Can I wait until bottling time, pull out some beer to try some different concentration, then add to taste and bottle without causing any problems?

Cheers and thanks for the advice.

Oaklandgourmand said:

3) Can I wait until bottling time, pull out some beer to try some different concentration, then add to taste and bottle without causing any problems?

Cheers and thanks for the advice.

Click to expand...

This is your best option.

How much sourness are you looking for? If it's just a touch you might use 1/8 to 1/4 ounce in 5 gallons. If it's berliner sour then you would use the whole bottle. I'm generally opposed to adding that much acidity with the food-grade acid though. I always notice a caramel/toffee-like off flavor when I use large amounts (more than 10mL/gallon). If you just want a hint of tartness though, you'll only be using 10-20mL/5 gallons, and you should be fine.

Another way to add some crisp tartness is with carbonation. CO2 produces carbonic acid in the beer. I'd carbonate a saison to 4 volumes. But I use a keg. If your bottling, you'd need some very strong bottles or you could end up with exploding bottle bombs.

Another idea is the sour blend. It's a powder used in wine making to add acidity. You could probably add it at bottling. I was thinking of using it to brighten up this cherry beer I made.

Thanks for the advice.

I am planning on bottling, so the heavy carb option is not really viable.

I was thinking a subtle addition of maybe 5 ml for a 5 gallon batch.

My question with doing it at bottling time is would this affect the carbination process since the ph has been altered?

Sour mash a couple pounds of grain. Mash it in a pot on the stove, when it gets to your mash temp, cover and let it sit until it's around 120F. Then toss a small handfull of raw grain in it, cover it up again and put it somewhere real warm for a couple of days. Heat it up to a boil and add it the last 15 minutes of the main mash. I did that with my saison and it worked amazingly well. Nice cleanly sour lacto fermentation.