Mk010101
Well-Known Member
A little background: started brewing in 2006 and went from the Mr. Beer, to extract, to partial mashes and now all-grain. Never said I would do all-grain, but that is beside the point. Love how that always happens.
I digress. in 2007 I brewed up my first PM oatmeal stout. I also happened to dip a pH strip into the mash midway through and it came out purple. Thus, the pH was too high, but I had nothing to fix it and so just went with it. The beer turned out great...for 2 weeks. Then the harshness of the hops came through and made it undrinkable. First (and only...whew) batch we had to dump. I attributed it to the high pH and the hardness of my water. From what I understood then was that high bicarbonates will make hops very bitter and harsh.
Ever since then, I would get my water for darker beers from the mountains 70mi away. The water was not hard at all and it came from a spring. Mountain spring water...can't get any better, right? Turns out, any and all dark beers I make with this turn out beautifully. Now if only I could get a pipeline installed. My kids are getting tired of being tied to the top of the van so that I have room to haul the water home. Only kidding, so don't call the police.
Recently, I decided to go from just making beer to trying to understand the process a bit more and tweak everything a bit to try to improve my results. I would also not like to have to store the mountain water as it takes up a lot of space. I sent in my water last week to Ward and below are the results:
pH : 7.7
TDS : 553
Na : 25
K : 1
Ca : 117
Mg : 37
Total Hardness : CaCO3 : 447
Nitrate : 1.0
Sulfate : 83
Chloride : 32
Carbonate : CO3 : <1
BiCarbonate : HCO3 : 259
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 : 213
From this I calculated Residual Alkalinity as 107 and Cloride / Sulfate ratio as 0.13 --- DID I DO THESE RIGHT??
Anyway, here is where the confusion comes in. Nothing in my water surprises me but years ago I was under the impression that my water, dilured 50% with RO water is best suited for light beers and not diluted it is suited for nothing.
But, after reading and re-reading sticky's, Kai's website, etc. it seems my water (not diluted) is suited for dark beers and perhaps would need a little lactic acid in the mash to bring down the pH. AM I READING THIS CORRECT?
I messed with EZ-water 3 spreadsheet and I punched in the recipe I did in 2007 and it calculated a pH near 5.5, so that seemed good, but in reality the pH was too high based on the pH strips and the outcome. Was it pH that made my beer turn harsh? Was it Bicarbonates? Am I asking the same thing?!?
Unfortunately, I am more confused than ever now. So, anyone willing to hold my hand here to give me a clue as to where to turn now (and answer my questions above) I will be grateful.
I digress. in 2007 I brewed up my first PM oatmeal stout. I also happened to dip a pH strip into the mash midway through and it came out purple. Thus, the pH was too high, but I had nothing to fix it and so just went with it. The beer turned out great...for 2 weeks. Then the harshness of the hops came through and made it undrinkable. First (and only...whew) batch we had to dump. I attributed it to the high pH and the hardness of my water. From what I understood then was that high bicarbonates will make hops very bitter and harsh.
Ever since then, I would get my water for darker beers from the mountains 70mi away. The water was not hard at all and it came from a spring. Mountain spring water...can't get any better, right? Turns out, any and all dark beers I make with this turn out beautifully. Now if only I could get a pipeline installed. My kids are getting tired of being tied to the top of the van so that I have room to haul the water home. Only kidding, so don't call the police.
Recently, I decided to go from just making beer to trying to understand the process a bit more and tweak everything a bit to try to improve my results. I would also not like to have to store the mountain water as it takes up a lot of space. I sent in my water last week to Ward and below are the results:
pH : 7.7
TDS : 553
Na : 25
K : 1
Ca : 117
Mg : 37
Total Hardness : CaCO3 : 447
Nitrate : 1.0
Sulfate : 83
Chloride : 32
Carbonate : CO3 : <1
BiCarbonate : HCO3 : 259
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 : 213
From this I calculated Residual Alkalinity as 107 and Cloride / Sulfate ratio as 0.13 --- DID I DO THESE RIGHT??
Anyway, here is where the confusion comes in. Nothing in my water surprises me but years ago I was under the impression that my water, dilured 50% with RO water is best suited for light beers and not diluted it is suited for nothing.
But, after reading and re-reading sticky's, Kai's website, etc. it seems my water (not diluted) is suited for dark beers and perhaps would need a little lactic acid in the mash to bring down the pH. AM I READING THIS CORRECT?
I messed with EZ-water 3 spreadsheet and I punched in the recipe I did in 2007 and it calculated a pH near 5.5, so that seemed good, but in reality the pH was too high based on the pH strips and the outcome. Was it pH that made my beer turn harsh? Was it Bicarbonates? Am I asking the same thing?!?
Unfortunately, I am more confused than ever now. So, anyone willing to hold my hand here to give me a clue as to where to turn now (and answer my questions above) I will be grateful.