Type of water for a double IPA?

Hey,

Just wondering which type of water (distilled, purified, tap, spring, drinking) would work best with a double IPA.

Thanks,
Brady

I know this is in the wrong section but my mobile app is wiggin out and I won't be near a pc for a while.

betelgeuse4721 said:

Hey,

Just wondering which type of water (distilled, purified, tap, spring, drinking) would work best with a double IPA.

Thanks,
Brady

Click to expand...

Spring water seems to work well in all my brews

You will want a water with a medium level off hardness, roughly an alkalinity of less than 65 ppm. I personally have to cut my tap water by 80% with R.O.O water to mellow out the chalky consistence of the hops on the back side. My out of the tap alkalinity is 210 ppm. Local spring water should get you where you need to be.

You definitely want a pretty high SO4 concentration. Bru'n Water suggests 300 ppm of SO4 in their Pale Ale profile. I use that one for all my APAs, IPAs, and IIPAs, and they all turn out quite well from what I can tell.

Agree. Obviously, it depends on your water profile. Ours in Chicago is pretty balanced in terms of hardness, which makes it easy for me to adjust for any style not requiring soft water.

I usually do 8 grams of gypsum in an IPA/IIPA. I do 4 grams of gypsum for hoppy APAs, reds, etc.

BeerSmith's got a nice calculator - I just did the calcs upfront at the beginning and now I make the additions by adding different water profiles to my recipe. I'm sure you can find equally valuable resources online too.

Is 4 grams about a tsp?

Yep. Do you know the chemistry of your water?

I dont use my tap,but i have no idea the chemistry of the spring water i use.I just add a little of cl2/gypsum to it for pales,ip'as.I do use filtered r/o city water refilled from the store and add them in in modest amounts also. my mash ph is usually around 5.2, those test strips are kinda lame to read though.