choose my water additions for IPA

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BetterSense

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I haven't been happy with the quality of my hops bitterness. Its too sharp and not smooth. My hops utilization is low.

I'm going to bre a sierra nevada torpedo clone. I usually do all grain but this time I'm doing extract. This time I bought 8 gallons of RO water. I bought gypsum, calcium carbonate, and calcium chloridfe, along with epsom salt.

I read the brewing primer but since I'm brewing a extract beer I'm not sure if that changes anything. According to the brewing primer I should put in 1 tsp of calcium carbonate. What do you think?
 
BetterSense said:
I haven't been happy with the quality of my hops bitterness. Its too sharp and not smooth. My hops utilization is low.

I'm going to bre a sierra nevada torpedo clone. I usually do all grain but this time I'm doing extract. This time I bought 8 gallons of RO water. I bought gypsum, calcium carbonate, and calcium chloridfe, along with epsom salt.

I read the brewing primer but since I'm brewing a extract beer I'm not sure if that changes anything. According to the brewing primer I should put in 1 tsp of calcium carbonate. What do you think?
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You definitely never need epsom salt or calcium carbonate.

You could use a teaspoon of gypsum in the boil if you want to enhance hops bitterness.
 
The sharpness of hoppy beers can be accentuated with sulphate. I would work through the Bru 'n Water speadsheet and see how you might adjust. You probably don't need Calcium Carbonate unless you are getting into darker beers which have a more acidic grist. I occasionally use Epsom to bump my sulphate up a bit but you don't want to get the Mg too high...But I'm no expert, check out the Brewing Science forum for more about water than you will ever want to know :)
 
For this beer, I'm not mashing, so mash pH and so on aren't an issue. I suppose the only water parameters that matter relate to hops utilization.
 
Here is how to "Burtonize" 5 gallons of RO water:

Burton Pale Ale -- A toned-down, "idealized" profile. Enough sulphate to bring out the hops without overdoing it. Low alkalinity helps ensure proper mash pH. Model: Moshers 'Ideal Pale Ale". 1 gram baking soda, 1 gram canning salt, 3.5 grams Epsom salt, 9 grams gypsum. Ca=111, SO4=337, Mg=18, Na=35, Cl=32, CO3=38, Hardness=352, Alkalinity=31.
 

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