[Jayborracho]

Hi all, a question that I’ve been intrigued about, I see a lot of Pilsner recipes on the HBA and other websites and I’ve been curious that some of them never state how they get their mash ph into proper range, I know of acid malt, acid rests and salt additions but most recipes I see only talk about triple decoctions or maybe that with some minimal chloride additions, am I missing something? As far as I know and have read TD don’t drop the ph down far enough even with the 50ppm of chloride,or is there another technique I haven’t heard of, cheers and thanks

[dmtaylor]

Great opening question -- welcome to the forum!

Many use acid malt, lactic acid, and/or phosphoric acid.  Lactic is probably most common, phosphoric is "best" in my opinion as it is the most neutral in flavor but not as natural or Reinheitsgebot as lactic.

[Jayborracho]

Great opening question -- welcome to the forum!

Many use acid malt, lactic acid, and/or phosphoric acid.  Lactic is probably most common, phosphoric is "best" in my opinion as it is the most neutral in flavor but not as natural or Reinheitsgebot as lactic.

Ah I think I understand now, so the reason why the process in which it is lowered is omitted usually Is because it’s up to (me) the brewer to use whichever way I see fit In the same way that clone recipes don’t provide water additions because everyone’s water varies?

And thanks for the welcome! Long time lurker, don’t know why it took me so long to become a member lol

[ynotbrusum]

Yes, you can use an online calculator to get that aspect (see Brunwater or similar), but you need to have your water tested to get your starting point in all of this. Cheers!

[lupulus]

Almost all German breweries use a biological acid mix, almost all lactic acid. They call it sauergut. Rest of Germans use acid malt. 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Jayborracho]

Thanks fellas, appreciate the helpful insight.

[mabrungard]

Another consideration is that when brewing with pils malt, there is higher likelihood that the wort will contain elevated SMM content and that needs to be converted to DMS and expelled from the wort during the boil. Conducting your mash and boil at around 5.4 is a good way to enhance the conversion and dispersion of DMS from your wort. More than likely, a pilsner mash is going to need a little accessory acid source to get the mash pH down to the 5.4 range.

But that might leave your post-boil wort pH a bit too high for desirable beer flavor. Some brewers that target the mash/boil pH of 5.4, add a secondary acid addition at the end of the boil to make sure the pre-fermentation wort pH is somewhere around 5 to 5.2. For many, that means adding saurergut to the kettle at the end of boil.

This is just an example that pH has multiple targets during the course of a brew.

[Jayborracho]

Another consideration is that when brewing with pils malt, there is higher likelihood that the wort will contain elevated SMM content and that needs to be converted to DMS and expelled from the wort during the boil. Conducting your mash and boil at around 5.4 is a good way to enhance the conversion and dispersion of DMS from your wort. More than likely, a pilsner mash is going to need a little accessory acid source to get the mash pH down to the 5.4 range.

But that might leave your post-boil wort pH a bit too high for desirable beer flavor. Some brewers that target the mash/boil pH of 5.4, add a secondary acid addition at the end of the boil to make sure the pre-fermentation wort pH is somewhere around 5 to 5.2. For many, that means adding saurergut to the kettle at the end of boil.

This is just an example that pH has multiple targets during the course of a brew.

Oh okay will read more into post boil ph and such, what exactly is sauergut? Is it the same as lactic acid or acid malt?

[ynotbrusum]

Sauergut is a wort that is soured and held for addition to mash, boil, or fermenting beer to adjust pH of the solution.