what's your step by step process for brewing?

If you wouldn't mind please enlighten me.
What steps do you go through to create your water profile?
What is your step by step process for mashing your grains?
Finally do you have any tips for using the march pump ?

My water is alkaline, with a very high bicarb level, so I usually dilute 50/50 with reverse osmosis water from the store- those big "water machines". I usually use a couple of grams of calcium chloride in the mash also.

I crush fairly fine, and usually use 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain in my mash. I usually fly sparge, but sometimes if I'm in a hurry I'll batch sparge.

For my pump, I just always make sure that the "receiving end" of the tubing is low to start and that there is liquid on the output side so I can flood the pump before turning it on. It always works just fine for me that way!

How do you know when the mash is done and to begin sparging? Iodine test? Gravity reading? Can iodine based Sanitizer work for an iodine test?

The last time I built my water from distilled water. I used the excel work sheet to determine how much of each salt to add.
My well water is 7Ph exactly. But it is hardened to 6 grains. We just added a softening system but I'm waiting until the brine wash recharges the resin in the tanks so I can get an accurate water report. Because the salt used in the resin charge can leave remnants in the water. I want to get a good view of my water profile.

Yooper said:

My water is alkaline, with a very high bicarb level, so I usually dilute 50/50 with reverse osmosis water from the store- those big "water machines". I usually use a couple of grams of calcium chloride in the mash also.

I crush fairly fine, and usually use 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain in my mash. I usually fly sparge, but sometimes if I'm in a hurry I'll batch sparge.

For my pump, I just always make sure that the "receiving end" of the tubing is low to start and that there is liquid on the output side so I can flood the pump before turning it on. It always works just fine for me that way!

Click to expand...

Thanks. How much water do you heat up for the sparge?
How do you know when the mash is done and to begin sparging? Iodine test? Gravity reading?
Can iodine based Sanitizer work for an iodine test?

fermenate said:

How do you know when the mash is done and to begin sparging? Iodine test? Gravity reading? Can iodine based Sanitizer work for an iodine test?

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I mash for however long the mash schedule calls for, usually just an hour. If there is any question about whether conversion is complete I do an iodine test before sparging. Never had an incomplete conversion, but sometimes it's nice to have the peace of mind. I would think iodine based sanitizers would work for a conversion test, but I'm not really sure. It would be really easy to check though, just try it right after mashing in, and then again after the mash.

fermenate said:

The last time I built my water from distilled water. I used the excel work sheet to determine how much of each salt to add.
My well water is 7Ph exactly. But it is hardened to 6 grains. We just added a softening system but I'm waiting until the brine wash recharges the resin in the tanks so I can get an accurate water report. Because the salt used in the resin charge can leave remnants in the water. I want to get a good view of my water profile.

Click to expand...

I don't think you want to use water that's been run through a "softening system". The way those systems work is essentially exchanging a lot of the "hard" ions for either sodium or potassium chloride depending on the type of system. This usually leaves massive amounts of sodium or potassium in the water, rendering the water unsuitable for brewing. Filtering can remove some of the hardness, but often not as much as desired. Depending on the type of hardness, you might be able to precipitate a lot of the unwanted ions out of solution by boiling it. For brewing lighter brews with hard water, dilution with distilled or RO water is probably your best bet.

Thanks.
I guess I will know what the sodium content is when I get the tests run.
Until then I will use spring or distilled built up with salts.

This is JMO, but if you haven't already sent off the "softened" water for testing, don't bother. I can almost guarantee it will have way too much sodium (or potassium). Instead, send off some unsoftened water, and you can use that as a base and dilute/build as needed for various styles.

My water is fairly soft, and the water company publishes a typical analysis on the web. Although the analysis does vary a bit throughout the year, it isn't enough to worry about. Because I don't have too much of anything in the water, and I can achieve a good mash pH with some simple salt additions, I don't need to dilute with bottled water when brewing what I almost always brew (pale ales).
I then use EZ water calculator http://www.ezwatercalculator.com/ to adjust the Ca, Cl, and SO4 ion concentrations to where I want them. According to the calculator, this always predicts a mash pH that is within range, and each time I have checked it with the pH meter, it has been OK. The only difficulty for me is to determine what concentrations of Ca, Cl, and SO4 I want. I spent years trying to figure this out before buying Pale Ales by Terry Foster, in which he gave some recommendations for various varieties of pale ales, and I have been following his recommendations ever since with good results.
For mashing, I start by pre-heating the MLT with hot water from the tap.
I then measure out the amount of mash water that I need, and start bringing it up to strike temperature in the kettle.
For most beers, I use 1 US qt water per lb grain, partly because this is traditional for English Pale Ales, and partly because it keeps the math simple. Using this mash thickness with English pale malt makes a very big difference to the character of the beer compared to using 1.25 qt per lb.
Having got the strike water heating, I go to the basement and grind my grains. Then I use EZ water calculator to calculate the amount of water salts to use for the mash, and weigh them out.
When the strike water is a few degrees over what Promash tells me I need, I drain the warming water from the MLT and add the strike water. I then wait till the strike water cools to the required temperature. (This usually takes 5 - 10 minutes).
Then I dump the grains and salts into the MLT and stir like crazy for about 5 minutes to break up the dough balls and thoroughly mix the grains with the water, check the temperature, and put the lid on the MLT. I then leave the mash alone for the next 90 minutes. (I usually mash at 150F, and have found that I don't always get full conversion in 60 minutes at that temperature with English base malts.)
During the mash, I heat up my sparge and mash out water, and measure out the water treatment salts for the boil. (I fly sparge, and find that a mash out increases my efficiency by about 10% with no detrimental effects).
At the end of the 90 minutes, I add the boiling mash out water, stir like crazy again, and wait for another 15 minutes before starting the sparge.
Can't help with march pumps, I use gravity.

Hope this helps,

-a.

Thanks. I like to read other brewers routine habbits.
I am encouraging you all to give your two cents.

JuanMoore said:

This is JMO, but if you haven't already sent off the "softened" water for testing, don't bother. I can almost guarantee it will have way too much sodium (or potassium). Instead, send off some unsoftened water, and you can use that as a base and dilute/build as needed for various styles.

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I would like to know the actual Na+ content of my well water. I realize some sodium is left behind due to the ion exchange. Our water had a perfect Ph of 7 and 6 grains of hardness 102 or 107 TDS. It might only add 6ppm is Na+
A little sodium brings out flavor.
Who else is curious about my water now?

fermenate said:

I would like to know the actual Na+ content of my well water. I realize some sodium is left behind due to the ion exchange. Our water had a perfect Ph of 7 and 6 grains of hardness 102 or 107 TDS. It might only add 6ppm is Na+
A little sodium brings out flavor.
Who else is curious about my water now?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure that you're following what I'm trying to tell you. When using a water softener (aka ion exchange system), the "hardness" is essentially exchanged for the sodium, hence the term "ion exchange". It's not an exactly equal one for one exchange, but pretty close to it. This means that if your water softener "removes" 90 ppm of hard minerals, it will be replaced with about 90 ppm of sodium. A little sodium does bring out flavor, but a lot makes for nasty beer. This is why I suggest you don't even bother using/testing the water after it's been through the ion exchange system. Just test the water straight out of the well, and then dilute/add brewing salts as needed to acheive desired water profiles.

JuanMoore said:

I'm not sure that you're following what I'm trying to tell you. When using a water softener (aka ion exchange system), the "hardness" is essentially exchanged for the sodium, hence the term "ion exchange". It's not an exactly equal one for one exchange, but pretty close to it. This means that if your water softener "removes" 90 ppm of hard minerals, it will be replaced with about 90 ppm of sodium. A little sodium does bring out flavor, but a lot makes for nasty beer. This is why I suggest you don't even bother using/testing the water after it's been through the ion exchange system. Just test the water straight out of the well, and then dilute/add brewing salts as needed to acheive desired water profiles.

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+juan

Yooper said:

My water is alkaline, with a very high bicarb level, so I usually dilute 50/50 with reverse osmosis water from the store- those big "water machines". I usually use a couple of grams of calcium chloride in the mash also.

I crush fairly fine, and usually use 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain in my mash. I usually fly sparge, but sometimes if I'm in a hurry I'll batch sparge.

For my pump, I just always make sure that the "receiving end" of the tubing is low to start and that there is liquid on the output side so I can flood the pump before turning it on. It always works just fine for me that way!

Click to expand...

Hey Yoop, seeing as you're not TOI far away from me, but your water profile sounds similar... are you on well or municipal water? And if the latter... do you know the source?

My water comes straight from the Great Lakes - Lake Ontario, to be precise - and it is very alkaline, and very hard. It sucks, but making good beer here requires buying DI water for pretty much everything.

I hear ya Juan.
I may be wrong and I really do appreciate your advice.
I am going to get the water tested anyway just for my own information.
Check back later for a. I told ya so. Lol.

It won't hurt to know, and I wish you luck. If you have really low sodium and sulfate levels to start with, you might end up with useable water even after running it through the softener. The other problem you'll run into though is that the ion exchange process will remove all of the calcium you need for brewing, which you'll want to add back to ensure proper enzyme activity.

You might find this useful:

John Palmer: "How To Brew" said:

Sodium (Na+1)
Atomic Weight = 22.9
Equivalent Weight = 22.9
Brewing Range = 0-150 ppm.
Sodium can occur in very high levels, particularly if you use a salt-based (i.e. ion exchange) water softener at home. In general, you should never use softened water for mashing. You probably needed the calcium it replaced and you definitely don't need the high sodium levels. At levels of 70 - 150 ppm it rounds out the beer flavors, accentuating the sweetness of the malt. But above 200 ppm the beer will start to taste salty. The combination of sodium with a high concentration of sulfate ions will generate a very harsh bitterness. Therefore keep at least one or the other as low as possible, preferably the sodium.

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Great news!
MY Na+ is 51ppm
pH 7.9
Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Est, ppm 130
Electrical Conductivity, mmho/cm 0.22
Cations / Anions, me/L 2.3 / 2.2
ppm
Sodium, Na 51
Potassium, K < 1
Calcium, Ca < 1
Magnesium, Mg < 1
Total Hardness, CaCO3 3
Nitrate, NO3-N < 0.1 (SAFE)
Sulfate, SO4-S 2
Chloride, Cl 8
Carbonate, CO3 < 1
Bicarbonate, HCO3 109
Total Alkalinity, CaCO3 89
Fluoride, F 0.15
Total Iron, Fe < 0.01

I don't do much to my water, just add some 5.2 Stabilizer to the Mash. It helps my Efficiency and Hop Utilization, but I know a lot of people say it is crap, so I made a couple batches without it. We'll see what happens when they are ready to drink. My waters pH is about 5.7 or so, and is pretty soft, but I need to get it tested one of these days.

For the Mash, I just preheat my while I crush my grains. Then I check the temp of the water, and adjust if necessary. I used to mash at 1.5 qts/lb but recently changed to 1.25 qts/lb because I wanted a little more sparge water to work with.I dough in when the water is about 12 degrees higher than my target mash temp. Once I dough in I stir the crap out of it, put the lid on, cover it with a blanket and then go screw around for about an hour. I double batch sparge, so when I start my first vorlauf, i get my sparge water heating, then by the time I'm done with my first runnings my water is usually at about 190* and I'm ready for my first sparge. I measure what I get for first runnings then subtract that from my target volume, cut that in half and that gives me my two sparge amounts. Each time I sparge, I stir the hell out it and let it set for 10 mins to let the grain bed settle, Vorlauf about a gallon and drain. Then boil away.

I don't use a pump(yet) so I can't advise you on that.