i am useing citric acid to ph my mash to 5.4 -5.2 but find a tang to my beer.?will lactic acid lower ph and not add that tang

Comment by Samuel Loader on January 13, 2017 at 7:24am

what temperature are you measuring your pH at ? if you are measuring the pH at above room temperature you could be seeing a deviation in the actual pH by up to 0.5 and could therefore be over acidifying the mash.

are you also using citric acid crystals directly into the mash? if so then you might be also over acidifying the beer because the crystals take time to dissolve and may not dissolve very well in the mash due to low water high sugar content, therefore you may get the correct reading but if you add more water/ over time the pH may drop further. therefore i would recommend making a 10% solution of citric acid and acidifying the mash this way.

lactic, citric or sulfuric will all give the same 'tang' if used in excess

Even as a chemist personally I prefer to use acidulated malt where the rule of thumb, using 1% of acidulated malt in the grist will lower the pH of the finished beer by 0.1.

Comment by michael james reece on January 13, 2017 at 7:32am

sounds perfect.i am adding it to my strike water at 20 deg C.and my sparge water.but i only have a cheep PH meter.

Comment by michael james reece on January 13, 2017 at 7:39am

could it be because i have to bring the ph down from 8.1 to 5.2 i also use two o.5 micron water filters ? 

Comment by Samuel Loader on January 13, 2017 at 7:56am

so your water pH is 8.1 before you add your grains and you are adjusting the the water before adding the grist. the two 0.5 micron filters wouldn't affect the pH of the water. do you have the water profile for your area, is it high in calcium carbonate ? what type of beers are you typically doing have you tried any dark beers without making water adjustments and how did this turn out?

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