Lactic acid measuring and amount

Hello everyone,
I've been brewing for awhile now using Bru'n Water, RO water and brewing salts to get the right PH. I've been thinminv about using some lactic acid to adjust the mash PH if the predicted PH is off. How do you go about measuring it out? And how do you know how much to add when the mash is under way....example..predicted PH=5.4, Actual PH=5.5. How do you know how much to add? Also at what level are you going to start tasting the lactic?

I bought these graded pipettes to measure it out:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005Z4QVMW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

If I am at a PH of 5.6-5.8 I will add a couple ml and recheck until I am in range. This is for 20-25lbs of grain (I do 12 gallon batches). I use the EZ Water Calculator spreadsheat to give me an idea of how much lactic. It is usually pretty close.

I don't taste any lactic in my beers. The sparge water must take almost 10mls in order to bring it down below 6. Still no acidic taste.

What PH meter do you have?

I should also note that I plan on starting to use Phosphoric acid in my sparge to ensure that my lighter styles don't get impacted by the lactic. Phosphoric is said to be tasteless.

+1 for phosphoric. Lactate comes through loud and clear for me in lighter beers.

I use one of these. Comes with baby tylenol, or a lot of places sell them separately:

TyTanium said:

...
I use one of these. Comes with baby tylenol, or a lot of places sell them separately:

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^^This. My vet gave me a 1 mL version a few years ago for dosing our cats. Works perfect.

Where are you guys even finding phosphoric acid? Over the years I've asked more than one LHBS and they typically look at me like I'm crazy. Regardless, I'm satisfied with lactic acid.

Duda Diesel

http://www.dudadiesel.com/

SpeedYellow said:

^^This. My vet gave me a 1 mL version a few years ago for dosing our cats. Works perfect.

Where are you guys even finding phosphoric acid? Over the years I've asked more than one LHBS and they typically look at me like I'm crazy. Regardless, I'm satisfied with lactic acid.

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Morebeer - Just ordered a couple bottles.

I have also gotten the same reaction at my LHBS.

double post

Thanks!

The medicine syringe mentioned above is good. Another option is a graduated medicine dropper that is typically sold in the infant care area. Those are typically graduated in fine enough units to measure out the doses we typically deal with.

Ok....so I understand the different options now for measuring lactic acid. Let's say Bru'n water has predicted a ph of 5.4 and I measure a ph of 5.5 after about ten min.
Are you saying I should go under that profile I have in Bru'n water for that recipe and and see how much lactic acid it takes to lower the ph by.1?

pfowl01 said:

Ok....so I understand the different options now for measuring lactic acid. Let's say Bru'n water has predicted a ph of 5.4 and I measure a ph of 5.5 after about ten min.
Are you saying I should go under that profile I have in Bru'n water for that recipe and and see how much lactic acid it takes to lower the ph by.1?

Click to expand...

In order to avoid overdosing the acid, using the software to estimate what that additional acid dose should be, is wise. Yes, you can use the tool that way.

Ok great.....thank you everyone!