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: ajdelange

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.

Summer On My Mind

A lot of Hops

A freezer full of hops, sacks of malt,  empty carboys and a fresh culture of  ESB yeast sets up well for a "summer strength" American Pale Ale.  The goal? Aromatic, well balanced, light to medium bodied American style ale with serious pulling power.

The grist is simple; Pale Ale Malt, Flaked Barley and Crystal 40 to the tune of 1.050.  The plan is to mash just the Flaked Barley and Pale Ale Malt @ 150F for 60 minutes before adding the Crystal 40 during Vorlauf.

 

230 grams of aroma/late/dry hops (~1.5lb/bbl) will be divided:

• 20% (45g) Cascade @ 20 minutes remaining in boil
• 50% (115g) Simcoe/Galaxy @ Whirlpool (30 minutes)
• 30% (70g) Galaxy split between two carboys, 35g each.

I'll add an additional bittering hop, probably Columbus or Chinook @ 60 to hit 35 IBU's (Tinseth).  To better estimate the final bitterness, whirlpool hops are entered to my brewing software as a 5 minute addition. I have found this to be a reasonable estimation of their bitterness contribution.

To dial in my water profile, I'll treat the entire 60 litres of brewing liquor with lactic acid to a room temperature pH of 5.4.  Then add 2 tsp of Calcium Chloride, 3 tsp of Gypsum and a campden tablet.  This should yield an appropriate mash pH with a final Calcium concentration of ~ 100ppm.

LowTech Honey Ale v1

My wife rarely requests I brew, let alone brew her a certain recipe.  When she does, I listen.  After some R&R on the East Coast this past August, she took a liking to a certain Quebec brewery's Honey Ale.  She asked me to make one so even though it's not my favorite style, how could I say no?

Plan of attack:

• Lower OG (1.046) with Honey addition during Secondary fermentation boosting ABV to 5%
• Add a healthy amount of Crystal and Wheat malts to the mash for body and head retention.  The Crystal malt (CaraMunich I) will hopefully help retain some dextrins and prevent it from going too dry and thin.  Standard mash temperature of 62c/152.6F for 60 minutes.
• As noted, Honey added during secondary.  I top crop yeast from the primary and want to keep the strain as original as possible.  Don't want the yeast to be comfortable with anything other than maltose sugars
• I decided on WLP023 - Burton Ale which has been described as having a slight honey, clover character.  I plan to pitch @ 17c and hold @18c for 72hrs before allowing the beer to free rise and fully attenuate.
• I plan to brew on Saturday

LowTech Honey Ale v1

OG 1.046/ IBU ~20/ SRM ~ 8/ ~23L

80.0% OiO Domestic 2-Row
10.0% OiO Wheat Malt
10.0% Weyermann CaraMunich I

10g of Willamette @ 60 minutes
50g of Willamette @ whirlpool (IBU's calculated as a 15m addition)
500g Wild Blossom Honey during secondary

WLP023 - Burton Ale

Update Sept. 12th

YeastCalc.com

Since the yeast culture was getting long in the tooth (harvested June 24th, 2013), I've pitched the 75ml of compacted slurry to a stater.  At an estimated 10% viability, the original ~ 300B cells is likely down below 30B.  1.2L's should build this back to 190B or so.  Enough for 23L @ 1.046.

Update Sept. 14th

Brewed

Update Sept. 15th

Pitched BRY-97 @ 9am

Update Sept. 16th

Well, that didn't quite work out as planned!  So first off, the WLP023 failed to start.  LowTech IPA v4 had fully attenuated so I move it to secondary with dry hops and re-pitched the BRY-97 yeast to the Blonde Ale.

I missed my gravity (again, Grrr) and this one came out too strong @ 1.050'sih.  Probably a good thing about the WLP023 because I don't think I would have had enough yeast anyways.  I pitched 500ml of very thin slurry which accordingly to Mr. Malty might have even been too much.  I cooled the batch to 17c before pitching the yeast.  Temperature controller set for 18c.  In a couple more days I'll let it free rise and finish off before moving to secondary and adding the honey.

Finally, I had some extra time and decided to brew a batch of Porter.


Update Sept. 17th

High Krausen last evening, 36hrs from pitch.  Temperatures hitting 18c.
As of 4pm this evening, the Krausen has started to fall (55hrs from pitch), increased the controller temperature to 20c.

Update Sept 22nd

FG measuring 1.012 @ 68F, moved to ambient.

Update Sept 24th

FG measured 1.010 @ 68F, primary moved to freezer set for 4c (9 days since pitch)

Update Oct. 10th

This one has been sitting in the keg for a couple of weeks, still seems to have a permanent haze.  There's a flavour I am detecting that I don't quite care for, sorta belgian?  Not sure, needs more time.

Christmas in June... Hops!

Just received my semi-annual supply of hops!

 

• 1lb Simcoe
• 1lb Citra
• 1lb Amarillo
• 1lb Centennial
• 1lb Columbus
• 1lb Challenger
• 1lb EKG
• 1lb Bramling Cross
• 2lb Styrian Goldings
• 2lb Target
• 3lb Cascade

...  I've got some brewing to do!  Yeah HOPS!

New Malts! Amber, Brown and Pale Chocolate

I've received some unique malts, Amber, Brown and Pale Chocolate, all Thomas Fawcett & Sons.  I am really anxious to put them to use.  Here's what the Maltser has to say...

Amber	90 - 110	Bitters - Pale Mild
Brown	110 - 140	Milds and Darker Bitters
Pale Chocolate	500 - 600	Dark Milds - Stouts Small quantities used for flavour and colour enhancement on dark beers

Not a heck of a lot to go on.  I turn to OBK for a more info...

Amber Malt

Colour test.  Amber Left, Brown Right.

Amber Malt. This is a very rounded, biscuit like malt. Warm, pleasant, toffee, biscuit, bready notes with subtle coffee undertones. Great addition to red ales, Belgian ales, porters, IPA's, etc.

Brown

Brown Malt. Adds a mild roastiness flavour and bitterness to a beer. Great for use in many English ales, brown ales, porters, milds, stouts.

Pale Chocolate

Pale Chocolate Malt. A milder roasted grain than the typical chocolate malt. Adds colour and smooth chocolate, coffee, and nutty flavours to your beer. Great for use in milds, porters, stouts, brown ales, barleywines.

...  Looks like I'll have some Porters, Milds and Stouts in the upcoming rotation!  With summer fast approaching, I am not sure I want to have so many dark beers on tap, I may need to work in an IPA and a Red as well.

First order of business, Dark(ish) Mild.  Here's what the recipe is looking like.

OG 1.036 / IBU 13 / SRM ~20 / ~41L

69.0% Maris Otter - Muntons

08.6% Crystal 240 (90L) - Muntons

08.6% Flaked Barley

05.2% Amber Malt - Thomas Fawcett

05.2% Pale Chocolate Malt - Thomas Fawcett

03.4% Carafa II Sp - Weyermann

4.8 AAU of Willamette @ 45 min

3.9 AAU of Styrian Goldings @ 12 min  

WLP022 Essex Ale yeast

I really want to play on the bready/biscuit flavours from the Amber and Maris Otter malts and incorporate some nutty chocolate without going roasty (ie. Pale vs standard Chocolate  Carafa vs Black Malt).  The yeast should do well to further develop bready flavours.

Flavorful British style yeast. Drier finish than many British ale yeast. Produces slightly fruity and bready character.   

While my intent is a malt driven ale, the hop selection should bring a subtle spice and earthiness to the party.

I'll use a medium-high mash temperature, perhaps somewhere in the 153-154F range since there is quite a bit of unfermentables in the purposed grist.  The WLP022 is a decent attenuator, if I can get it to finish somewhere in the 1.012-1.013 range (~3% ABV), I think that would work really nicely.  

The hop schedule isn't completely locked in, I may decide to move the Goldings closer to flame-out which would mean a slight increase to the bittering addition or perhaps an additional charge somewhere in the middle of the boil.