Acidulated Grain

[bobbyshambo21]

So I have been having problems with hitting my OG. After posting my issues here, as well as talking with some employees of NB, I have started to move towards adjusting mash PH. I have ruled out the crush, my instruments, etc.. so the next thing to try varying is mash PH because I think my PH's have been high. The only batch I nailed my OG on was a stout- Higher roasted malts, higher acidity- possibly brought my PH into the correct range. I just bought a PH meter and some acidulated grain. I have a concern that my PH may be too high for even this to work, but I'm not sure. From what I've read, the rule of thumb is 1% of grain bill = .1 PH and that to avoid a sour flavor from the acidulated malt to stay under 10% of my total grain bill. What if I need to adjust for more than 1.0 PH? What other approaches can I take? Also, my plan was to dough in, stir like crazy and check the PH at room temp. ASAP so as to add the acidulated malt before too much conversion happens. I'm looking for suggestions regarding this process as I have never done it before... brewing tomorrow morning so any info would help!

Sorry for the epically long post. Thanks in advance!

 

[masskrug]

Do you have a water report?
https://producers.wardlab.com/BrewersKitOrder.aspx

Have you plugged that information into EZ Water Calculator?
http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/

I use 4 g of gypsum and 4 oz of acidulated malt (2%-4% of grain bill) to get me in range.

Where are you located? there is a water report map in my signature, if you live near one of these sites.

 

[billl]

If you plan to measure as you go, you may as well buy some acid. It's really hard to adjust acidulated malt on the fly.

 

[bobbyshambo21]

I don't have a water report. I guess I'll be needing one. I know that my water is crazy hard. 15 grains per gallon and that the ph is 7.75. That's all I have though... I live in Shoreview, MN a suburb of the Twin Cities.

Billl- Should I just get lactic acid or what? I'm new to making these kind of adjustments...

 

[duboman]

Read the water primer stickie at the top of the science forum and get a report for your water

Sent from my SM-T310 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[ajdelange]

The first thing you can do is 'mash' a pound of your base malt with a quart and a half of your warmed water. pH should be 5.6 - 5.8. If it is higher than this then you do indeed have very alkaline water. You can check this by taking a liter of the water and adding 10% phosphoric acid to it until the pH reaches 4.5 or so. Your alkalinity is about 50/10.7 times the number of mL you used.