BYO advice

I've just been reading some of the brew wizard archived stuff on the Brew Your Own website.

It advises that brewing in soft water is generally better than hard or very hard water, although I believe it's more of an issue with all grain brews than extract. I checked out my water here and found that I am in a hard water area, but my water does taste fine on it's own. It advises that a half teaspoon of gypsum can be added to the water to make it softer. It also advises that a campden tablet can be added to remove chloramine.

Does anybody here do any of the above? Presumably these can just be added to the water as it's coming to a boil, before the extract addition...

Also, it talks about partial mash techniques. So far I have only completed extract and steep recipes. It sounded like it was saying I would simply need to add some 2-row, for example, to my steeping grains, which would then turn my steep into a mini mash - is this correct?

Cheers

Gypsum makes water harder.

Total your steeping grains & use about the same amount of 2-row. Mash at 152F for an hour. That's all there is to it.

My opinion on brewing water, shared by others here..... If it's good enough to drink from the tap, it's good enough to brew with. You might want to be concerned with water styles only if you are trying to re-create an AG version of a beer where water profile really does matter, like certain pilsners.

For partial mashing, this may answer some of your questions.

The addition of gypsum will make your water harder by adding calcium. I would not recommend adding any salts for extract brewing. If you are brewing good tasting beer with your tap water, stick to that. Otherwise, I would switch to DI (or distilled or RO) water.

Yes, a mini mash is putting your grain with some type of malt that has excess enzymes that will convert the starches to sugar. This is done by maintaining a specific temperature for about an hour. I think there is a write-up in the Wiki about the specific techniques people use.

EDIT:
McKBrew even linked the Wiki, he is better than me:cross:

I have moderately soft water (Portland, OR) that is working fine for nearly all my brews, but I harden it with gypsum for making IPA(traditionally brewed with hard water) I do add a crushed campden tablet to each 5 gallons of cold brewing water about 20 minutes before brewing to remove chorine.

Thanks chaps.

That was some quick advice :rockin:

Looks like I misread the gypsum part. Mashing is basically steeping then, but sugars are converted during the process. I need to steep the 2 row with the other grains though to ensure this happens, right?

Presumably I would have to reduce some of the extract I ad if I'm gonna be adding fermentables to the wort.

Thanks for the link, I will do some more reading.

Cheers

Here's a great article in BYO on artial Mashing

http://***********/feature/1536.html

Don't take everything the wizard says as gospels...he's occasionally come up with advice that makes you go WTF!

Adam's Apples said:

Thanks chaps.

That was some quick advice :rockin:

Looks like I misread the gypsum part. Mashing is basically steeping then, but sugars are converted during the process. I need to steep the 2 row with the other grains though to ensure this happens, right?

Presumably I would have to reduce some of the extract I ad if I'm gonna be adding fermentables to the wort.

Thanks for the link, I will do some more reading.

Cheers

Click to expand...

With partial mashing you are correct in assuming that you would reduce some of the base extract and replacing with grain. You can find a number of partial mash recipes in this forum or on the internet. You can also use a software program to calculate what amount of grain and extract would be needed to reach a specific gravity.

Revvy said:

...Don't take everything the wizard says as gospels...he's occasionally come up with advice that makes you go WTF!

Click to expand...

Funny you mention that, I just finished reading his Answers book and for the most part it's gold, but every once in a while I had a 'huh' moment.

McKBrew said:

My opinion on brewing water, shared by others here..... If it's good enough to drink from the tap, it's good enough to brew with. You might want to be concerned with water styles only if you are trying to re-create an AG version of a beer where water profile really does matter, like certain pilsners.

Click to expand...

I am of the same opinion especially if you're not extremely worried about exact adherance to style. I feel like your brew water is part of what makes your beer YOUR beer.

whether its sticking to tap, or always adjusting RO water to a specific profile...its really what you want to make of it. you can really geek out on the chemistry of beer making, keep it simple, or sit in the gray area like I think most people do.

You might want to try using pH 5.2 if you end up doing PM or AG, especially on lighter beers that want real soft water.