Alesmith Li'l Devil with Lactic Acid

[edarizona]

Holy schnike! Sampled this today at the Alesmith taster bar an was really impressed. I really enjoy the Li'l Devil, but the lacto spin impressed me all i can say is that it was guuhd. Anyone have experience using lactic acid in their brews? I used Acidulated malt in a saison and I'm really enjoying the results as the bottles age.

[mabrungard]

That applicability of acid malt or lactic acid in your brewing should primarily be dependent on your brewing water. If the water has high alkalinity, then its quite possible that the acid addition will be very welcome. If the alkalinity is low, then it could be possible to overwhelm the beer with an overly acidic pH.

Find out what Alesmith's water is like and then investigate your water. You might be able to figure out how applicable or how much acid you might want to include in your recipes.

[maxwell]

I've used lactic acid a couple of times to 'fix' sour beers that didn't get as sour as I liked. It's better than nothing, but definitely still a shortcut to achieve sourness that you can get other ways. If you decide to sour a beer this way, add acid slowly, mix completely, and taste often. You can go from barely perceptible to sour patch kids very very quickly.

[Ozwald]

I've used lactic acid a couple of times to 'fix' sour beers that didn't get as sour as I liked. It's better than nothing, but definitely still a shortcut to achieve sourness that you can get other ways. If you decide to sour a beer this way, add acid slowly, mix completely, and taste often. You can go from barely perceptible to sour patch kids very very quickly.

Kind of like microwaving a steak.