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Thursday, April 3, 2014

Acid Malt vs Lactic Acid Solution

The actual lactic acid content of Acidulated malt, is ~2% (by weight).

The rule of thumb is for each 45.5kg (100lb) of grain, 1% or 455g (1lb) Acid malt will drop mash pH 0.1.  The actual amount of lactic acid present on 455g of Acid malt would be 455g x 2% = 9.1g.

To use a 88% solution for a similar quantity of lactic acid, you would need (9.1g/.88) 10.34g of solution.  At a density of 1.21g/cc, 10.34g/1.21, amounts to 8.54ml/45.5kg

For beers without roasted malts, the HomeBrewTalk "water primer" recommends your grist include 2% Acid malt.

For 45.5kg of grain, 2*8.54ml = 17.08ml lactic acid solution or 0.38ml/kg.  At the recommended dosage, a typical 8.5kg grist would include  170g of Acid malt or about 3.25ml of lactic acid solution.

Source: 

Update:

Using the noted calculations, I mashed 8kg of Weyermann Pale Ale Malt and 0.5kg of Domestic Flaked Barley with 3.25ml of lactic acid.  The water:grist ratio was 1.3qt/lb.  Important note, my baseline city water is extremely soft.  Also, the CaC03 alkalinity is below 35ppm (~28).  It's great water to build on.  I treated the entire volume of hot liquor (50l) with 12 grams Gypsum and 8.4 grams of Calcium Chloride, the resulting mash pH was 5.6 @ room temperature.    An additional 2ml of lactic acid, total 5.25ml in the mash, resulted in the idea room temperature pH of 5.4.  I actually took a reading at mash temperature as well, hard on the meter I am told, the pH read 5.1-5.2.


Tuesday, April 1, 2014

100% Amarillo Pale Ale

100% Amarillo, hops @ 15 minutes or less
Fred Bonjour's Amarillo Pale Ale, I subbed Victory and Pacman yeast.  The Amarillo had a distinct funk at first, the orange tangerine notes have only started to come forward after a few weeks in the keg.