I have extremely soft water where I live. It's essentially the exact same profile as Pilsen, Czech Republic. I plan to make a Bohemian Pilsner and have a malt bill of 90% Pilsner, 5% Light Munich, and 5% Carafoam.
According to the Bru'n Water spreadsheet (which has been 100% accurate for all my past batches) the pH of the mash would come in at 5.8 so I need to lower it. My first thought was to use 0.5ml lactic acid to lower the 5.5 gallons of mash water to pH 5.3.
My second though was to use 8oz acid malt. Since acid malt is pilsner malt treated with lactic acid, I can swap 8oz of the normal pilsner grain for 8oz of the acid malt, and not change my recipe formulation: 90% Pilsner (85% normal, and 5% acid malt), 5% Munich, and 5% carapils. Both methods get the pH to 5.3, and I match the Pilsen water profile exactly (as far as the graph is concerned anyway... )
My only question is whether acid malt, as opposed to a direct acid addition, will change the flavor of the beer in any way. Is one method approved over the other?
According to the Bru'n Water spreadsheet (which has been 100% accurate for all my past batches) the pH of the mash would come in at 5.8 so I need to lower it. My first thought was to use 0.5ml lactic acid to lower the 5.5 gallons of mash water to pH 5.3.
My second though was to use 8oz acid malt. Since acid malt is pilsner malt treated with lactic acid, I can swap 8oz of the normal pilsner grain for 8oz of the acid malt, and not change my recipe formulation: 90% Pilsner (85% normal, and 5% acid malt), 5% Munich, and 5% carapils. Both methods get the pH to 5.3, and I match the Pilsen water profile exactly (as far as the graph is concerned anyway... )
My only question is whether acid malt, as opposed to a direct acid addition, will change the flavor of the beer in any way. Is one method approved over the other?