YLAY and PH

[PalCabral]

Hiya distillers.

I have noticed in recent Yellow Label Angel Yeast ferments that my PH drops down to 3.5 after the initial 2-3 days of activity. I realized I have been neglecting YLAY ferments, focusing only on giving it the right temperature in the distillery, but after trouble-shooting why 1) I was not getting enough ABV from the fermentation and 2) why my low wines turned cloudy so early in the run, I have realized that these things are related to low fementation PH. Since YLAY is a package, I have erroneously assumed that YLAY also comes with PH buffer but if it does, it's clearly not enough.

Has anyone using YLAY encountered similar fermentation behaviour? Are you using water adjustment minerals and PH buffers on top of using what's ever inside the YLAY package?

In traditionally mashed batches, I usually use crushed mussel shells as PH buffer, which works well. My ferments always stay above a PH of 4. As a brewer I used to adjust my water profile with CaCO3 (calcium carbonate) for fermentations but I stopped that when I started using the shells instead for washes aimed at distilling.