Any reason to add lactic acid at this point?

[jwalker1140]

I blew it. I forgot to add 2.5 ml lactic to my brew water. Now the beer (a Mirror Pond clone) is being dry hopped and will be kegged in about 4 days. My target pH was 5.45 (room temp) and my spreadsheet estimates it should be 5.67 without the lactic.



Is there any reason to add it now? Flavor reasons? Is it too late to affect head retention? This was one of the bugaboos I really struggled with before I started making water adjustments. (Anecdotally, and possibly indicative of nothing, my krausen during ferment was almost non-existent, maybe half an inch.)



Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[m00ps]

Im guessing the lactic acid was supposed ot be added during the mash for pH reasons?

If so, really no point in adding it now. Ive added lactic acid specifically for a tart/sour character and it turned out like I wanted but Im guessing thats not what you are going for

 

[mabrungard]

It's major utility has been lost, but there might be a desirable effect on flavor. So I would do a test in your glass. Add a comparable amount to the glass of beer to see if the flavor improves. If it does, add the prescribed amount to the batch.

 

[jwalker1140]

Thanks for the replies. I'll do a bench trial to see what adding lactic does to the flavor.

 

[BigTuna]

You're fine to add the acid now. It can only stand to drive down your ph so that you achieve the desired result. I add acid blend (in the boil) to most IPA's that I brew as way to give the beer a bit more bite. It works well.

 

[ajdelange]

Let's not confuse the man. If his intent was to establish good mash pH, as clearly it was, then he is not fine to add it now. The damage that has been done as a consequence of high mash pH cannot be undone (we hope that damage was not too much and it shouldn't be at pH 5.7 though the beer would be better had it been 5.45 as intended). It is OK to add it now as the tartness of lactic acid is often a pleasant addition to beer.

 

[BigTuna]

Let's not confuse the man. If his intent was to establish good mash pH, as clearly it was, then he is not fine to add it now.

Agreed and I also see how my response was a bit confusing. I was simply trying to to make the point that - If the intent was to lower the PH, post mash, then it is fine to add now. Perhaps I should have read the original post better.

 

[jwalker1140]

To confirm, yes, my intent in adding lactic to my mash/sparge water was to establish good mash pH. That ship has sailed so the reason for my question was to determine what, if any, benefit there would be in adding the lactic just before kegging. From the replies, it seems like flavor is the only potential benefit.