soulfood, did you really mean just a few drops? id be interested to know how much water used total as well.

i just did my first brew with vinegar and i found it took a min. of 1 tablespoon per 1/2 gallon distilled h20 to achieve a 3.6 ph.

interesting enough is that the ph remained at 3.6 even after a second table spoon was added.
im not sure how this could be but i repeated it a second time and got the similar results except the ph dropped to 3.5 and flickered back and forth to 3.6.

I only went down to pH 5 as I checked on the first boil. With the following boils I just estimated the amount of vinegar based on the first boil and then didn't measure the pH. On my last boil I added a little more than previous.

I use tap water for my brews and the pH usually comes out around just over 7. I use around 10 drops per boil just so there was a hint of vinegar smell and then did 4 3 hour boils giving me 2 litres of liquid that was then reduced to 80ml, by which time I couldn't smell any vinegar.

would you consider using a full 1-2 tablespoons next brewing in the name of science ? it would be great to know if 3.6 ph makes a much larger increased in potency or if just a few drops like you did is adequate.

my brew still has a pretty definite vinegar smell. if i could lower the amount id like to.

You can add NaHCO3 to your final brew after using acid in order to neutralize the vinegar taste (it can actually make it taste almost as if there was no acid used whatsoever). The only thing is, if you go this route, you should drink all of the sediment in case the rise in pH causes the Harmalas to precipitate out of solution. This gives you the efficiency of an acid extraction and the taste of an acid-free extraction.

credit to Endlessness, Cosmic Lion, and anyone else who took part in the brain-storming behind this idea way back when...

BUMP! Thank you snozz for this amazing thread!

Thanks boog for the bump, surprised it's such an old thread. Good work Snozzster. Always good to have a decent reference thread.