Hello:
I’m a big fan of Crux Fermentation Project’s Impasse, a wonderful farmhouse ale/saison brewed with open fermentation and some acidulated malt. This beer has a nice, light sourness.
Is this mostly due to the use of acidulated malt? Do any of you have experience with using this malt in a saison or farmhouse ale to produce a light sourness instead of adding brett? If you have done this, what proportion of the total grain bill should I be considering?
I recently brewed a saison with the pH adjusted to 5.2, using 8.6% Acid malt. I found it to add a nice tartness.
Brett doesn’t really add sourness in my experience.
I use acid malt for a Guinness clone that I make. I really like it a lot. good luck. :cheers:
What % ?
What % ?[/quote]
Yea, I thought it was just chocolate syrup and bog water.
I’ve read that Guinness uses a small percentage of sour mash in the recipe, but I don’t know any details.
I’ve used sour malt for pH adjustment, but not for flavoring. It might be difficult to do so without throwing the pH of the mash out. Perhaps add it at the end of the mash after the conversion is done?
I heard a pod cast from the brewing network with societe brewing where they use latic acid in the mash for ph then in the kettle for flavoring. The said they do the kettle adjustment by taste no ph measurement involved.
Thank you, everyone that has commented.
Apologies for misstating about Brett. My mind was thinking Lactobacillus but my fingers typed Brett.
I have also asked this question to some of the guys in my local homebrewing club. One gentleman with considerable experience recommended 16-20% acidulated malt for a saison to achieve a light sourness.
If you use 16-20% acid malt, I don’t think you would be able to describe the sourness as “light”. When I’ve used acid malt for pH adjustment, it is in the range of 1-2%.
If you use 16-20% acid malt, I don’t think you would be able to describe the sourness as “light”. When I’ve used acid malt for pH adjustment, it is in the range of 1-2%.[/quote]
I plan on using 2% to adjust the pH in my mash for an upcoming Hefeweizen. Comes out to roughly a quarter of a pound, so I doubt I will get any flavor from it.
In answer to your question. I use 2.5 percent acid malt in my guinness clone. Very tasty with just a hint of the sour that the real stuff has. 8)
Here’s a Gose I was looking to brew that uses aciduated malt for the sour/tart flavor. According to this, you should mash for 60mn, so your conversions are done, then add it and let is mash for another 45mn. I haven’t tried it yet but this beer is next on my list. You can also add lactic acid when bottling/kegging. Below is another interesting write up about adding lactic acid and the flavors it produced. Personally, I think adding lactic acid before bottling/kegging would be easier to control the end result you’re looking for since you can adjust to your taste.
http://byo.com/hops/item/2349-gose http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/my-first-gose-478942/