Berliner using acid malt?

[njviking]

Has anybody ever used copious amounts of acid malt to make a quick berliner? Seems it could be done but maybe tricky dialing in the mash ph?

I add a little acid malt to a lot of my recipes to get mash ph in acceptable range , but I have like 10 lbs of it laying around and want to use it up.

Thouhts..

 

[Vale71]

Unles you live in Reinheitsgebotland you can just add food grade lactic acid. It's easier to nail the dosage and it's also cheaper.

 

[RPh_Guy]

You can use acidulated malt to add sourness. If you do, add it at the end of the mash so it won't harm the pH during conversion.

However, It's really not a great idea. It won't taste like a Berliner created with Lacto.
Adding straight lactic acid isn't good either, from what I've heard.

 

[Vale71]

You can use acidulated malt to add sourness. If you do, add it at the end of the mash so it won't harm the pH during conversion.

Acidulated malt is a base malt and needs to be fully converted. Adding it at the end of the mash is not a good idea.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Acidulated malt is a base malt and needs to be fully converted. Adding it at the end of the mash is not a good idea.

You're right, I meant like add it for the last 30-60 minutes after mashing the rest for 30-60 minutes. This way the bulk of conversion takes place at normal pH.

Adding it at the beginning can just wreck the enzyme activity. I'm not sure adding it late in the mash will even help convert the acidulated malt.

But again, this is just a bad idea in my opinion.