Acid Malt ???

[DSMbrewer]

I am looking at a Saison recipe that calls for Acid malt and i have never brewed with it. What is it's purpose, flavor, an color profile? curious as to if there is a replacement malt for this in a recipe also? Thanks for your help in advance.....

 

[boo boo]

Well I use it to adjust acitity in pilseners without resorting to using salts, but I have read that it is also used to sour a beer a little.

 

[SumnerH]

Acidulated malt aka acid malt gives sourness.

Find here, among other places:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/weyermann-acidulated-1.html
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...d=117&osCsid=a4c58375eb74e2f6eb28f0192382d6d5

It is a shortcut itself (in lieu of sour mashing, bugging, or adding soured beer to the boil), there's not really a great sub for it.

 

[Freezeblade]

I love acid malt, adding about 2% to every beer I do now, brings down the pH so I don't have to adjust the water on lighter beers, ups my efficiency.

 

[Oldsock]

Acidulated malt aka acid malt gives sourness.

Find here, among other places:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/weyermann-acidulated-1.html
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...d=117&osCsid=a4c58375eb74e2f6eb28f0192382d6d5

It is a shortcut itself (in lieu of sour mashing, bugging, or adding soured beer to the boil), there's not really a great sub for it.

The problem is that it is really hard to get noticeable acidity without dropping the mash pH too low for the enzymes to work. It does work to adjust mash pH, but I wouldn’t add it blindly based on a recipe since it will depend on your water. For a hint of sourness I think you’re better off dosing with food grade lactic acid in the fermenter.

 

[SumnerH]

The problem is that it is really hard to get noticeable acidity without dropping the mash pH too low for the enzymes to work. It does work to adjust mash pH, but I wouldn’t add it blindly based on a recipe since it will depend on your water. For a hint of sourness I think you’re better off dosing with food grade lactic acid in the fermenter.

I mostly agree, except for things where you want very low levels of sourness (just a hint in the aftertaste). I've used it somewhat successfully in a stout to give a bit of the very-lightly-soured Guinness-style aftertaste; it's a totally lazy "just add a couple oz of this" method. It's not the same as adding some soured beer to the boil, but it's easy and works okay.

I wouldn't use it for anything approaching a sour beer.