Malt vinegar in stout

[Peregris]

I was planning on making a stout pretty soon and I saw that one way to sour a stout a little bit, like Guinness does, is to add some malt vinegar instead of lactic acid.

Has anyone ever done this? How much for 5 gallons? And when does one add it - to the boil, to the primary, to the "secondary", or to the bottle bucket?

 

[gallagherman]

This is interesting. vinegar is acetic acid, which tastes like... well vinegar, so I don't know if that would be a replacement for lactic acid. Where did you hear of this? I pretty certain there would be some taste differences.

 

[k1v1116]

dont use vinegar, odds are is still has acetobacter that will happily turn the rest of your hard earned alcohol into vinegar as well.

 

[ericd]

yeah just use lactic acid

 

[Peregris]

Okay, that settles that.

I haven't used lactic acid before, either, so I have the same questions - basically, how much and when.

Thanks for the replies.