Wondering has anyone used acidulated malt in your stouts, I usually pull a small port

[WiggStout1]

.

 

[masonsjax]

You don't say

 

[wonderbread23]

I use acidulated malt all the time in pale beers where I need drive the mash pH down. It doesn't make much sense in a dark beer unless you have water with freakishly high levels of residual alkalinity.

 

[WiggStout1]

Well in my case it's not for the ph it's more so trying to find a simpler cheaper way of souring a small portion of my stout to add back in the secondary for complexity of flavor, and that slight tart back hint known in the guiness beer

 

[WiggStout1]

I usually pull a portion out let it sour naturally, boil it and add to secondary, wondering would a portion of the acidulated malt in the grain bill give me the same effect?

 

[masonsjax]

I think you can do it that way, but you'd want to add it very late in the mash so you dont mess up the mash pH. Alternatively you could add some lactic acid to secondary, or do a short sour mash after you finish the regular mash.

 

[WiggStout1]

Never done a sour mash, any good info or forums on how and what size sour mash to do to create that slight tart effect.

 

[cluckk]

I make a small two gallon batch of wort that I sour with lacto and then can in pint jars. I store those and add one or two pints whenever a bit of acid is needed. Since it is canned I can add it anywhere in the process without worrying about infection. I usually add it about a week into fermentation.

 

[masonsjax]

When you finish your mash, stir in some cold water until you hit about 125F. Throw some plastic wrap on the surface of the mash to keep out oxygen, close the lid and put some blankets on it. Let it sit for a day or two until it tastes a little sour. You can pull samples from the valve if you have one. When you like the level of sour, sparge and boil like normal. Thats all there is to it.