Castle Pilsen Acidified?

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kcbeersnob

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I've brewed 3 batches with Castle Pilsen and all three ended up with a low mash pH.

#1 and #2: Target pH: 5.30. Actual pH: 5.09 (59% Castle Pilsen)
#3: Target pH: 5.40. Actual pH: 5.16 (70% Castle Pilsen)

Seems like the malt is heavily acidified. Has anyone else had a similar experience with it?

I use Bru'n Water to predict pH. Actual pH normally ends up pretty much spot on.
 
A maltster has the capability to infuse some acid content to the malt, but who knows what they actually do. Pils malt in distilled water at our typical water to grist ratio should produce a pH in the 5.7 to 5.8 range. If it comes out much less than that, it does indicate that they have acidified the malt.

By the way, are you sure the water source quality hasn't changed? TDS check or alkalinity test?
 
Thanks for the reply Martin. I use 100% distilled. Predicted pH has been accurate for other batches I've brewed recently using Rahr 2-row (using color of 5°L) and Crisp MO.

Having played around with numbers in Brun'Water, it appears I'd need to assume a color of ~16°L to get a valid pH prediction.
 
Yesterday I used Castle Pils for the first time since starting this thread. To test my theory, I input 16°L as the assumed color on the Malt Acidification worksheet in Bru'n Water.

Target mash pH: 5.23
Measured mash pH: 5.26
 
While that is good info, I prefer to try and ferret out problems by looking at singular (or as small as possible components) in assessing those problems. Was that the only grain used in the mash and was the mashing water alkalinity known or verified? What I'm trying to convey is to use a distilled water mash with a single base malt to assess if it is more acidic than expected for that class of grain.

Thanks for the report!
 
While that is good info, I prefer to try and ferret out problems by looking at singular (or as small as possible components) in assessing those problems. Was that the only grain used in the mash and was the mashing water alkalinity known or verified? What I'm trying to convey is to use a distilled water mash with a single base malt to assess if it is more acidic than expected for that class of grain.

Thanks for the report!

More info in the thread below. I performed the distilled test you recommended, which confirmed it's acidified.

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/t/castle-pilsen-acidified/6115/12

The interesting bit from yesterday's brew is that the alternative color input I used in Bru'n Water seems to have been correct. Additionally, if I plug that number into Bru'n Water for all of the batches in which I've used this malt, the predicted mash pH corrects to almost perfectly match the measured pH.
 
Interesting! So Castle Pils is acidified too. As I've mentioned in the past, this is actually a good feature...in a way. All mashes need acid and its a bonus that this maltster provides it. The problem is that you wouldn't necessarily know that its acidified without performing that distilled water mash test on base malts. That sucks, but it may be the way of the world.
 
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