13,590
edits
Changes
added Mark Horsley image because Richard said it was supposed to be here
===How to Pre-Acidify===
[[File:Mark Horsley Foam.jpg|thumb|300px|[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1145033525524860/ Photo provided by Mark Horsley. Left is a 5.30 pH wort and the right is a 4.75pH wort. Both were kettle soured with ''L. delbrueckii''. Both reached 3.30 pH post ferment with finishing gravity of 1.7 Plato.]]]
After the production of the wort, but before pitching the culture of ''Lactobacillus'', some brewers like to slightly lower the pH of the wort with food grade lactic acid (available at homebrew stores) or phosphoric acid before adding the ''Lactobacillus''. Acidifying the wort before pitching ''Lactobacillus'' has several benefits, such as discouraging unwanted microbes that may have accidentally been introduced into the wort, and helping to prevent [[Lactobacillus#Foam_Degradation|''Lactobacillus'' from degrading foam proteins]]. The idea is to get the wort down to a pH of 4.0 - 4.4 before adding ''Lactobacillus''.