This year I made the jump from extract to all grain. Though it's fun as my first trip to Las Vegas, I've only made one beer so far that was remotely drinkable out of about 6 or 7 batches.
I think my sanitation is good, I generally make yeast starters when required, and I've got a temperature controlled fermentation chamber (Chest Freezer with STC-1000.).
The only beer I made that was remotely drinkable was a super light ale with about 14 IBUs. I generally brew IPAs, but that's what I like to drink and I'd like to get this right.
So far I've figured out that our city's water uses chloramines after talking with other guys in our brew club. I also was asking around at the LHBS and one of the guys who works there made a call to someone at the water department and got me a water report!
I've been listening to the TBN's Brew Strong Water Chemistry parts 1-4, I'm halfway through Palmer's "How To Brew", and I've watched a few YouTube videos on water chemistry. (Most involve John Palmer to some capacity, some might think I'm Internet stalking the guy..)
After reading the report, applying my newly learned knowledge, and putting these values into EZ Water 3.0 and Palmer's spreadsheet, I'm thinking the water in my town is just about useless for all but the darkest stouts:
Here's the pertinent info:
Alkalinity: 267
Sulfate: 40
Calcium: 60
Magnesium: 18.8
Sodium: 40
Chloride: 24
Now alkalinity is just listed on this water report as "Alkalinity", not Bicarbonate or Alkalinity as CaCO3. I'm assuming it's the latter. Using Palmer's spreadsheet I have to dilute this 90-95% with distilled water to get into the SRM below 10. I'm wondering if there's a nonlinear calculation when you get to the extreme ends of the scale here.
In other words, I'm guessing it might be easier to build up distilled water than try and dilute and adjust my tap water.
Water chemistry is making my head spin. I know that Palmer states that water should be one of the last things you look at to adjust if your beers aren't coming out as desired, but I think this water is pretty far off the scale.
(BTW.. These water figures are for Joliet, IL, straight from the city. These values are for West of Larkin Ave. Values for East of Larkin are as follows, following the same order as above: 286, 164, 81.9, 60, 28.5, 41.1, 60)
I think my sanitation is good, I generally make yeast starters when required, and I've got a temperature controlled fermentation chamber (Chest Freezer with STC-1000.).
The only beer I made that was remotely drinkable was a super light ale with about 14 IBUs. I generally brew IPAs, but that's what I like to drink and I'd like to get this right.
So far I've figured out that our city's water uses chloramines after talking with other guys in our brew club. I also was asking around at the LHBS and one of the guys who works there made a call to someone at the water department and got me a water report!
I've been listening to the TBN's Brew Strong Water Chemistry parts 1-4, I'm halfway through Palmer's "How To Brew", and I've watched a few YouTube videos on water chemistry. (Most involve John Palmer to some capacity, some might think I'm Internet stalking the guy..)
After reading the report, applying my newly learned knowledge, and putting these values into EZ Water 3.0 and Palmer's spreadsheet, I'm thinking the water in my town is just about useless for all but the darkest stouts:
Here's the pertinent info:
Alkalinity: 267
Sulfate: 40
Calcium: 60
Magnesium: 18.8
Sodium: 40
Chloride: 24
Now alkalinity is just listed on this water report as "Alkalinity", not Bicarbonate or Alkalinity as CaCO3. I'm assuming it's the latter. Using Palmer's spreadsheet I have to dilute this 90-95% with distilled water to get into the SRM below 10. I'm wondering if there's a nonlinear calculation when you get to the extreme ends of the scale here.
In other words, I'm guessing it might be easier to build up distilled water than try and dilute and adjust my tap water.
Water chemistry is making my head spin. I know that Palmer states that water should be one of the last things you look at to adjust if your beers aren't coming out as desired, but I think this water is pretty far off the scale.
(BTW.. These water figures are for Joliet, IL, straight from the city. These values are for West of Larkin Ave. Values for East of Larkin are as follows, following the same order as above: 286, 164, 81.9, 60, 28.5, 41.1, 60)