Acid addition, DI water

Kinda a noob question. Want to start working with DI water for a base. Never done it. I BIAB 5 gal batches full boil no sparge. I used the pale ale profile from Bru'n Water and not surprisingly my mash pH is high probably from the full volume mash.

My question is do I just add either lactate or acid malt to get the pH down? I know you have to be careful how much you use to prevent flavors. When I add lactate to the water it reduces the bicarb (buffering, yes I know). Does the amount of bicarb matter for flavor or is it just there for buffering?

I've attached some pics of the profile for your convenience.

Thanks.

 

Answer to the first question, yes you can add either one to reduce the PH of your mash.

I just started a month ago in adding Acid malt to bring my ph down while using Bru'n water profile. It had my mash at 5.2 when all said and done. I used a ph meter from a buddy of mine and came out with 5.2 ph. I also used RO water and added minerals back.

Good question on the Bicarbonates, this one I don't really know I haven't read too much into bicarbonates but im sure someone here has.

 

Your pH is high because you are apparently adding bicarbonate to the water via chalk. You never do that unless you are using so much dark malt (a source of acid) and/or unless you have so much calcium that the acid it conributes pulls mash pH too low and you never do it with chalk.

Neither. If you don't add any bicarbonate then you don't need any acid to neutralize it.

It is, in a natural water, there because mother nature puts it there (carbonic acid dissolves limestone). If you are brewing with DI water there is absolutely no reason to put it there unless you have one of the cases I described above. In any event at mash and especially eventually kettle and beer pH most of any bicarbonate in the water will have been converted to CO2 and driven off so it is not a significant contributor to flavor. Your beer won't taste bad because you didn't add any. The carbonation process causes some to be present in finished beer.

 

Thanks, this is exactly what I needed to know. Only reason I added bicarb is because I was trying to mirror the pale ale profile.