Berliner Weisse Quick and Dirty Berliner

[MNSmitty]

Nevermind. In my brain I thought the lactic acid was a powder. if I ever get a free moment I will try this out...

 

[tkeel92]

Anyone brewed this recently? Just curious as to what amount of 88% lactic acid everyone has been using

 

[emedin0417]

I just made this a month or so ago, and I used 75 ml for a 5 gallon batch. Came out pretty good, although I think I'd increase it slightly more next time.

 

[bruhaha]

I recently got introduced to Gose styled sours that have a hint of salt and coriander. I read how to make one but don't have time just yet.

Do you think I put drop of lactic acid in a dry Hefeweizen I made and have something that is a bit tart? I know its not the real deal, but maybe it will be drinkable. Anyone try this?

 

[jamina1]

Quick question with this -- adding lactic acid to your fermentation -- does this mean you can no longer use that fermenter for "normal" beers or is this somehow different?

 

[ptownbmac]

No, adding lactic acid to your beer won't infect your equipment. If you're adding live bacteria to produce lactic acid (i.e. Lactobacillus or pediococcus) then that's when you need to have separate sour and clean post boil equipment, or be amazing at sanitation.

 

[bruhaha]

Quick question with this -- adding lactic acid to your fermentation -- does this mean you can no longer use that fermenter for "normal" beers or is this somehow different?

I adjust my mash ph with lactic every brew date and that is perfectly safe. Lactic acid and lacto bacillus souring is two different animals. Lactic acid additions after fermentation is a quick and dirty tart addition. I did it right in the pint glass with a graduated dropper.

 

[bruwa]

Souring------------------------
The best guidance I could find on souring lead me to believe the ideal concentration for lactic acid on average Berliners should be .38% (that's 71.92grams lactic acid in 5 gallons) I reduced mine to .34% (64.24grams in 5 gallons) and was happy with it. I've seen estimates as high as .45% but I didn't want to overdo it on the first run.

So what I did because I couldn't get lactic acid in powder form was use 73ml of 88% Lactic acid from my LHBS.

Now for the math:
This gave me (73ml*.88)=64.24g lactic acid

in 5 gallons +73ml H2O. (18927ml + 73ml) = 19000ml

64.24g/19000ml=.338% lactic acid. rounded = .34%

A teacher once told me you don't understand anything until you can explain it with numbers so there you have it. Again that's .338% NOT 33.8%, it doesn't sound like much but it is.

Hi
thanks for the info about the lactic acid concentration needed.

From your post I understand that you need 64.24g of the 88% solution of lactic acid to reach a concentration of 0.34% in 19000ml of beer.

I wanted to replicate your math - and got different numbers:
(assumption: 100ml of lactic acid solution = 100g)
> 0.38% lactic acid = 0.38g/100g = 3.8g/1000g
> a 88% solution of lactic acid = 88g lactic acid/100g solution
> for 1g of lactic acid you need 1.14g of the 88% solution (100/88=1.14)
> for 3.8g of lactic acid you need 4.33g of the 88% solution (3.8*1.14=4.33)
> for 19000ml you need 82.3g of the 88% solution (3.8*1.14*19) - instead of 73g

For 19000ml of 0.34% you need 73.64g of the 88% solution (3.4*1.14*19) - instead of 64.24g.

Am I missing something?