[McNuggets]

I want to split a 10 gallon AG witbier, with and without acidulated malt. It would seem to me the best way to do this would be to mash 4-5 oz of acidulated malt separate from the main mash, and then lauter/boil/cool and add to one carboy. Sounds simple enough, but will this work? And does anybody have any tips on how to do this?

Also, has anybody ever tried kumquats in a witbier instead of orange peel?

This post has been edited by McNuggets: 08 February 2010 - 01:55 PM

[boo boo]

Why bother that when you can just use some latic acid to adjust for either pH
or I guess in your case to make it more tart?

[Deerslyr]

boo boo, on 08 February 2010 - 02:45 PM, said:

Why bother that when you can just use some latic acid to adjust for either pH
or I guess in your case to make it more tart?

I'm guessing he wants to acheive this with a measured amount of malt.

[McNuggets]

Yeah, I'm looking for flavour, not pH adjustment. I have phosphoric acid if I need to do pH. I'd rather use malt than lactic acid for sourness.

[MtnBrewer]

McNuggets, on 09 February 2010 - 04:34 AM, said:

Yeah, I'm looking for flavour, not pH adjustment. I have phosphoric acid if I need to do pH. I'd rather use malt than lactic acid for sourness.

So what type of acid do you suppose makes acidulated malt acidulated?

[McNuggets]

It's lactic, but my understanding is that adding the acid is more one-dimensional than using the malt.

[zymological]

what is acidulated malt?

I've also heard of people letting part of their wort get lactoed up, boiling, and then adding back into primary. Is this to accomplish the same thing?

[McNuggets]

Quote

Weyermann Acidulated Malt is produced by using lactic acid, which is generated by on grain natural occurring lactic bacteria.

Yeah, letting the wort sour up and adding back later does work, but it's lees predictable. This beer is for a competition, and I'd rather use the malt than a bottle of acid.

[ncbeerbrewer]

zymological, on 10 February 2010 - 07:09 AM, said:

what is acidulated malt?

I've also heard of people letting part of their wort get lactoed up, boiling, and then adding back into primary. Is this to accomplish the same thing?

My link

[Sidney Porter]

McNuggets, on 10 February 2010 - 07:04 AM, said:

It's lactic, but my understanding is that adding the acid is more one-dimensional than using the malt.

McNuggets, on 10 February 2010 - 07:21 AM, said:

Yeah, letting the wort sour up and adding back later does work, but it's lees predictable. This beer is for a competition, and I'd rather use the malt than a bottle of acid.

I think that you might be confusing two different processes. All malt contains lactobacillious traditionally a berliner weisse is made with either a sour mash where the mash is allowed to sour prior to boiling or by not boiling the wort. It is said that this will give you a better complexity but as you said less perdictable

Acid malt has additional lactic acid added, it was used by the Germans to lower the pH because it was allowed within the german purity law. In my experience it doesn't really give a more complex flavor profile than just adding the acid. The complexity in the first example comes from the lacto multiplying this isn't happening with a normal mash using acid malt. I also think that you will need to add quite a bit 15%ish to get much flavor, at that point you could be screwing up you water depending on where you started.

If you are looking for complex flavor I recommend adding acid at packaging where you can dial it in. So that the lacto is not 1 deminsional pick up a bottle of acid blend in the wine making section. Acid blend is a powder that you mix with water (it is acetic, lactic, and citric (i think)acids). Have 2 dishes one of that lactic acid and another of the acid blend. Start dosing 2 oz samples until you get the complexity you are looking for. You could also buy the 3 acids separately but I have found that starting with the blend and adding the lactic acid works well.

[McNuggets]

I thought acid malt was acidified by a natural process.

[Sidney Porter]

McNuggets, on 10 February 2010 - 03:22 PM, said:

I thought acid malt was acidified by a natural process.

You are probably correct since it needs to comply to the purity laws. But to me it doesn't give the same flavor profile as a sour mash. I have used 3-5% in a hefe w/o a noticable impact to the flavor. I think you are going to need to use quite a bit to get the beer tart / sour and I don't think that you will get a real complex lacto flavor. This isn't really the purpose of the acid malt.

[McNuggets]

I don't really need a complex lacto flavour. I need a slight tartness with a natural process.