Lowering PH without Citric Acid

[BosDistiller]

Hi all. The starting PH of my water is very high (in the nines). I'm doing fairly large mashes with wheat. The wheat makes it difficult to lower the PH. It can be done, but it requires a lot of citric acid. The citrus is carrying over to the spirit. Do you know of any methods for lowering the PH besides citric? Thanks.

[Usge]

Use backset to lower your ph. (leftovers in your pot from a stripping run, which is depleted of alc and is sour/acidic). Mix it with your mash water. You can also try "5.2" (available at most homebrew shops). One tablespoon per 5 gals will auto adjust the ph of your water (wherever it is..low, or high) to around 5.2 (I usually get around 5.5). I haven't noticed any residual taste/flavors from it.

[Dnderhead]

if getting a sour taste I whould not thank it was citric acid.
citric acid does not vaporize at distilling temperature.
if you boil citric acid/water the solution gits stronger ,much like salt.
citric acid vaporizes at 1800F? at witch point it brakes down.

[BosDistiller]

Thanks. The taste carrying over was lemony. It was subtle. Maybe its in my head.

[Dnderhead]

try a different acid or even citric acid from "canning supplies" you might be be carrying over the flavor but not the acid.