Water profile for US Pale Ale

Hi all,

I am brewing a American Pale Ale and find the Bitterness is a little harsh without adjusting the water.
I have gone through all of the factors (hop variety, boil time etc) and the last thing I want to go over is the water profile.
It has all base malt with wheat, but no caramel malts.

I bumped up the Caclium to above 50 as recomended for a good ferment.
I am not to sure whether more/less sulphate will be a good idea to make the bitterness a little cleaner.

Any ideas?


Existing Water (Adjusted water)
Calcium 3.0 (55.4)
Magnesium 2.0 (2.0)
Sodium 10.0 (10.0)
Sulfate 8.0 (75.0)
Chloride 10.0 (53.4)
Bicarbonate 2.0 (2.0)
Total Hardness 16 (147)
Alkalinity 2 (2)
RA -2 (-39)
SO4/Cl Ratio 0.8 (1.4)


Thanks,
Roo

awarnock01 said:

Hi all,

I am brewing a American Pale Ale and find the Bitterness is a little harsh without adjusting the water.
I have gone through all of the factors (hop variety, boil time etc) and the last thing I want to go over is the water profile.
It has all base malt with wheat, but no caramel malts.

I bumped up the Caclium to above 50 as recomended for a good ferment.
I am not to sure whether more/less sulphate will be a good idea to make the bitterness a little cleaner.

Any ideas?

Existing Water (Adjusted water)
Calcium 3.0 (55.4)
Magnesium 2.0 (2.0)
Sodium 10.0 (10.0)
Sulfate 8.0 (75.0)
Chloride 10.0 (53.4)
Bicarbonate 2.0 (2.0)
Total Hardness 16 (147)
Alkalinity 2 (2)
RA -2 (-39)
SO4/Cl Ratio 0.8 (1.4)

Thanks,
Roo

Click to expand...

I would up that sulfate level a lot, like to about 250 ppm. A little more calcium would not hurt either. I like Martin B's profile for pale ale on Bruunwater. I am also jealous of your existing water. You could build almost any water w/out distiller or ro water.

That water profile shouldn't lend itself to harsh bitterness, what that's a result of is usually a high bicarbonate concentration. I like Martin B's pale ale profile as well, except I've stopped trying to reach the bicarbonate concentration he prescribes. My bicarbonate is at 62 ppm, and I've found that just number matching all the other ions (except for calcium which obviously falls a little short since I'm not adding any carbonate) really lets the hops shine through. The spreadsheet is free to download, and I'd say it helps immensely with water adjustments (Bru'n Water, that is)

phenry said:

That water profile shouldn't lend itself to harsh bitterness, what that's a result of is usually a high bicarbonate concentration. I like Martin B's pale ale profile as well, except I've stopped trying to reach the bicarbonate concentration he prescribes. My bicarbonate is at 62 ppm, and I've found that just number matching all the other ions (except for calcium which obviously falls a little short since I'm not adding any carbonate) really lets the hops shine through. The spreadsheet is free to download, and I'd say it helps immensely with water adjustments (Bru'n Water, that is)

Click to expand...

You found that problem with the bicarbonate values! Yes, they are too high for the typical grist and color ratings for those beers and I've already revised those color-based profiles to provide a better starting guess for the bicarbonate concentration.

The bicarbonate concentration is stated as being a 'first guess' and that the brewer should ignore that value and let the requirements of the mash tell them what the proper bicarb concentration should be. But, that first guess should be closer! Those revised water profiles will be issued in the next version.

Enjoy!