FlyGuy
Well-Known Member
I am kind of thinking out loud here, but here's my issue: I no longer have a source for phosphoric acid (preferred choice of acid for adjusting mash/sparge water pH), and I refuse to pay what my LHBS wants for lactic acid. So I was wondering if one could use more common items in their place. What do you guys think about using the following:
1. Fresh lemon juice (citric acid). All natural, fairly concentrated, probably has little residual taste.
2. Coca-cola -- which has a lot of food-grade phosphoric acid in it, plus a bit of sugar and flavouring that probably would be OK in the darker ales I tend to brew.
3. Star San solution -- again, another source of food-grade phosphoric acid, but is supposedly tasteless (although there would be a small amount of detergent in it).
Honestly, I don't really worry about adjusting my pH much, but I do occasionally. (And yes, I know about Five Star 5.2 pH stabilizer -- it is just hard/expensive to order here in Alberta and I really don't need it when I find it so easy to adjust my own pH on the rare occasion that I need to. )
1. Fresh lemon juice (citric acid). All natural, fairly concentrated, probably has little residual taste.
2. Coca-cola -- which has a lot of food-grade phosphoric acid in it, plus a bit of sugar and flavouring that probably would be OK in the darker ales I tend to brew.
3. Star San solution -- again, another source of food-grade phosphoric acid, but is supposedly tasteless (although there would be a small amount of detergent in it).
Honestly, I don't really worry about adjusting my pH much, but I do occasionally. (And yes, I know about Five Star 5.2 pH stabilizer -- it is just hard/expensive to order here in Alberta and I really don't need it when I find it so easy to adjust my own pH on the rare occasion that I need to. )