Beer Mash pH dialing in
So I'm confused because brewfather is telling me I need outrageously more lactic acid than my testing is indicating. My recent brew of a 10 gallon batch of hazy ipa I only used 1 ml of .88 lactic acid to bring the water down from around 6.8 to 5.2 before dough in. Mash pH raised to around 5.45 after about 15 minutes of mashing. I had 8ml of lactic acid in my recipe in brewfather I created. Brewfather said the 8ml would bring it down to 5.27pH. I use reverse osmosis water, and lots of salts as it's a hazy ipa. I used 18.6g calcium chloride, 6.6g gypsum, 6.4g Epsom salt, and 2.6g canning salt. There are also tons of oats and wheat adjuncts which I read raise the ph whereas barely malted lowers it. It's my first time with a pH meter but I calibrated it and tested the water. I literally filled and dumped my strike water at first because I thought something must be wrong and because I followed advice from online for that first batch of strike water to sneak up on the pH slowly to make sure... so I added 4ml and it brought the pH down to 4 point something...I can't remember exactly the number but WAY too low...and the recipe called for 8ml!!! Keep in mind this IS a 10 gallon batch with 11g of strike water but STILL!? Does this sound wacked? I've been just following recipes using usually 4-8ml of lactic acid for 10g batches and they've all tasted fine without testing pH. One beer I thought didn't have much hop bitterness and I thought maybe it was too much lactic acid.