A Brewing Water Chemistry Primer

[ajdelange]

I'm brewing a DIPA tomorrow and would like to work on the water for it. .... I have calcium chloride and gypsum on hand and already purchased 5 gallons of RO water. Can anyone help me figure out the best way to treat the water?

Simply follow the Primer.

The question is as to whether to use half a tsp of chloride and half of gypsum or just the chloride. I'm trying to imagine how Citra and sulfate would mix. I'm guessing they wouldn't but I'll be the first to admit that I don't like sulfate in most beers. You'll have to experiment with this aspect of it.

 

[ejyoung]

Simply follow the Primer.

The question is as to whether to use half a tsp of chloride and half of gypsum or just the chloride. I'm trying to imagine how Citra and sulfate would mix. I'm guessing they wouldn't but I'll be the first to admit that I don't like sulfate in most beers. You'll have to experiment with this aspect of it.

Cool, thank you. So I'd be alright using RO water and adding the chloride? So if I'm mashing with 6.5 gallons of water I'd add a little over a tsp?

And I read this primer after I got all my grain so I didn't get any of the sauermalz - is that going to be a problem? I've never used it before but I do like to constantly improve the process.

 

[DustBow]

Ok, one of the micros here in town is about 2 miles from my house and we are on the same water supply. I was talking to the owner a couple months back about the water and he mentioned the hi alkalinity and low calcium levels - up until then I was thinking we had good brewing water....

Anyway, he sent me the latest water report they had done - it's from Fall 2011 and he said the reports were always so consistent, they don't even do them any more. Now they just analyze alkalinity and calcium and they still always remain consistent.

Since reading the primer I have been using 6.5 gallons of RO water and 2 gallons of tap for my 5 gallon batches. I add back about 8 grams of calcium chloride and add gypsum for hoppy beers.

Here are the numbers from the report - should I change anything?
Thanks

PH before boiling: 7.89 S.U.
Alkalinity (total) as CaCO3: 125 ppm
Hardness (total) as CaCO3: 174 ppm
Carbonate hardness as CaCO3: 125 ppm
Non-Carbonate hardness as CaCO3: 49 ppm

TDS: 325 ppm

Calcium: 51.8 ppm
Magnesium: 10.8 ppm
Sodium: 27 ppm
Sulfate SO4: 80 ppm
Chloride: 39 ppm
Flouride: .9 ppm
Phosphate as PO4: .20 ppm
Silicon as Silicate SiO2: 4.1 ppm (8.8mg/L as Si)

Iron: none determined
Manganese: none determined

Thanks again for any input and suggestions

 

[ajdelange]

Yes, you should change things just to see if it makes the beer better or not. For example you might try 5 grams of calcium chloride in a brew and see what happens relative to what you get when you use the full 8 grams.

 

[DustBow]

Yeah, I understand tinkering with the amounts just for experimentation - I got the 8 grams simply from the numbers from the primer & following posts which break down to 1g per gallon treated.

I was just curious if there was anything that jumped out at you after seeing the actual water numbers. Good or bad.
Nothing like "hey, your water isn't too bad at all"
or "man, your water is pretty horrible, I would use even more RO dilution"

From my novice experience, I would look at the numbers and think "overall, nothing too bad in there, just a little low in cacium and you have high alkalinity to deal with"
Am I correct in that (simplistic) breakdown?

thanks again for all your help on this topic

 

[ajdelange]

"hey, your water isn't too bad at all".... just a little low in calcium and you have high alkalinity to deal with"
Am I correct in that (simplistic) breakdown?

That pretty much says it IMO.

 

[DustBow]

Thanks AJ, I appreciate it.

In order to brew "straight from the tap" with this water, I would have to add some calcium chloride and start using liquid lactic acid, correct? It would take too much acid malt to keep the Ph in check I assume...so have to go for straight lactic acid additions?

I really would need to get a nice Ph meter in order to go that route and dial things in.
It's on my list anyway, should be my next brewing investment.

 

[ajdelange]

Thanks AJ, I appreciate it.

In order to brew "straight from the tap" with this water, I would have to add some calcium chloride and start using liquid lactic acid, correct? It would take too much acid malt to keep the Ph in check I assume...so have to go for straight lactic acid additions?

You have 2.5 mEq/L alkalinity to deal with and if you chose to dispose of it by neutralization you will need about 2.3 mEq/L of acid. That's 4.2 grams of lactic acid per 5 gallons of water treated and whether it comes from 4 mL of 88% acid solution or 210 grams of acidulated malt is pretty immaterial. That's quite a bit of lactic and probably enough to be tasted. That's why disposing of a good part of the alkalinity by dilution with RO water is often preferred. If you don't want to do that you can neutralize with a less flavorful acid such as phosphoric.

 

[gbx]

I haven't done any of these in a while. I skipped a few batches but this one has a lot of crystal and I hadn't tested a grist like it. Today's brew was the Can You Brew It Hobgoblin clone recipe.

TF MO 9lb
Baird's C75 .75lb
Baird's Chocolate 3.25oz

I mashed in with only the Marisotter, added 1tsp of CaCl after pulling the 15min sample and added the dark grains after pulling the 30min sample. I forgot to test the strike water...I could test some tap water now but I don't feel like pulling out the meter and recalibrating. The mash was a 60min, 67C single infusion, 18L strike water (unadulterated ultra soft Vancouver water), 15L batch sparge.

Time, Temperature, Sample Temp, Sample pH, Brix
5min 67C 25C 5.7pH 8Brix
15min 67C 25C 5.7pH 9Brix
CaCl Addition
30min 67C 30C 5.6pH 12Brix
Crystal+Chocolate Malt Addition
45min 65C 30C 5.3pH 13Brix

1st Runnings 15L 30C 5.3pH 17Brix
2nd Running 15L 30C 5.5pH 4Brix
Combined 29.5L 30C 5.4pH 10.5Brix

As I haven't seen anything too crazy, I'll probably stop doing regular testing - it is annoying and time consuming. If i brew BCS's mild (17% crystal, black and chocolate) or the 60 /- (more than 30% specialty malts) I'll dig out the pH meter again. Until then, I'll just bump the calcium up with either some CaCl or gypsum depending on style.

 

[david72]

Hello ajdelange.

Have been using your acidification guide with some success, cheers.

One question and apologies if I missed it in previous pages.

I am going to brew a Munich Dunkel with all Light munich and a touch of carafa.

Would I omit the acid malt? I am assuming that 100% munich would acidify the mash more than lighter base malts.

Thanks

 

[ajdelange]

It is situations like this where a pH meter really shows its worth. Munich I is going to be more acidic than Pils but how much more? Depends on how dark the malt is and that depends on which maltster plus batch variations, seasonal variations etc. Carafa also is going to be quite acidic but just a touch for a little color shouldn't contribute that much acid. If I had to guess I think I'd try 1.5% sauermalz rather than 3%.

 

[DustBow]

You have 2.5 mEq/L alkalinity to deal with and if you chose to dispose of it by neutralization you will need about 2.3 mEq/L of acid. That's 4.2 grams of lactic acid per 5 gallons of water treated and whether it comes from 4 mL of 88% acid solution or 210 grams of acidulated malt is pretty immaterial. That's quite a bit of lactic and probably enough to be tasted. That's why disposing of a good part of the alkalinity by dilution with RO water is often preferred. If you don't want to do that you can neutralize with a less flavorful acid such as phosphoric.

Thanks again, AJ.

I'm still trying to get my head totally wrapped around all this, so please bear with me on some questions:

- 210 grams would be 7.4oz of acid malt in the mash. Are you saying per 5 gallons of water used in the brew day? So roughly 7.4oz/5gallons (required ratio) X 8.5gallons (brew day water) for a total of 12.5 oz of acid malt needed in the mash? Do I really need enough acid malt to cover all 8.5 gallons water when only about half of that water will be mashing for 60 minutes, and the other half is simply a quick sparge/rinse addition of 5 minutes or so? It seems like you would be "over-treating" the mash water this way.

- I batch sparge - sometimes I do a double, sometimes a single. I've read many times on here not to worry about the Ph of the sparge runnings when batch sparging...."the sparge water can't raise the Ph enough if you hit proper mash ph"..."batch sparging is different than fly sparging in regards to PH due to overal contact time", etc...
I take it that you disagree with that? My water is alkaline enough that the sparge water should be treated just like the mash water? Even if all i'm doing is adding really hot water, stirring for a couple minutes and draning?

- Do the treatment ratios follow a linear scale? So right now I need 4ml or lactic acid or 210g of acid malt. If I dilute the water 50/50 with RO, then I only need 2ml and 105g per 5 gallons of water? Same for diluting 75/25 - divide your numbers by 4?

Thanks again for the help, I definitely understand the importance of targeting proper mash Ph, but I'm still a little confused on all the aspects.

 

[afr0byte]

Thanks again, AJ.

I'm still trying to get my head totally wrapped around all this, so please bear with me on some questions:

- 210 grams would be 7.4oz of acid malt in the mash. Are you saying per 5 gallons of water used in the brew day? So roughly 7.4oz/5gallons (required ratio) X 8.5gallons (brew day water) for a total of 12.5 oz of acid malt needed in the mash? Do I really need enough acid malt to cover all 8.5 gallons water when only about half of that water will be mashing for 60 minutes, and the other half is simply a quick sparge/rinse addition of 5 minutes or so? It seems like you would be "over-treating" the mash water this way.

- I batch sparge - sometimes I do a double, sometimes a single. I've read many times on here not to worry about the Ph of the sparge runnings when batch sparging...."the sparge water can't raise the Ph enough if you hit proper mash ph"..."batch sparging is different than fly sparging in regards to PH due to overal contact time", etc...
I take it that you disagree with that? My water is alkaline enough that the sparge water should be treated just like the mash water? Even if all i'm doing is adding really hot water, stirring for a couple minutes and draning?

#1 - No you'd only need 7.4 ounces.

#2 - You may not need to treat your sparge water to keep the pH down with batch sparging, but you may want to since you might find you like the taste better without that extra alkalinity.

 

[DustBow]

Thanks - I just thought of that. Adding back some calcium chloride (and possibly gypsum) to the sparge wouldn't necessarily be for PH control but for adding minerals (that my water lacks) which help produce different beer qualities and flavors. Correct?

 

[afr0byte]

Thanks - I just thought of that. Adding back some calcium chloride (and possibly gypsum) to the sparge wouldn't necessarily be for PH control but for adding minerals (that my water lacks) which help produce different beer qualities and flavors. Correct?

Correct, they wouldn't be for pH adjustment.

 

[DustBow]

OK, so from the perspective of the Primer - pretty much all the pH control/adjustment comes from the acid malt or lactic acid. The calcium chloride/gypsum is just there to "add back" the minerals you lose when diluting with RO water? (or in my case, the tap water calcium needs boosted regardless)

 

[afr0byte]

OK, so from the persepective of the Primer - pretty much all the pH control/adjustment comes from the acid malt or lactic acid. The calcium chloride/gypsum is just there to "add back" the minerals you lose by diluting with RO water?

That's a majority of the pH change yes. The calcium from the gypsum and calcium chloride that are added to the mash portion of the water will help lower the pH some too, though.

 

[ajdelange]

- 210 grams would be 7.4oz of acid malt in the mash. Are you saying per 5 gallons of water used in the brew day? So roughly 7.4oz/5gallons (required ratio) X 8.5gallons (brew day water) for a total of 12.5 oz of acid malt needed in the mash? Do I really need enough acid malt to cover all 8.5 gallons water when only about half of that water will be mashing for 60 minutes, and the other half is simply a quick sparge/rinse addition of 5 minutes or so? It seems like you would be "over-treating" the mash water this way.

There are various ways of doing things. I find it much simpler to treat all the water the same way and I'd venture that this is what most breweries have always done. If you have particular reasons why you want to treat the sparge water, makeup water, infusion water separately then by all means do so.

Alkalinity is bad not only in the mash tun but elsewhere in the brewing process too. You want the wort finishing the boil at pH 5.2 or lower. If you add in untreated (alkaline) water you are adding bicarbonate and this will tend to pull the kettle pH up. If you sparge with alkaline water you will bring the kettle pH up though the mash pH might never top the much feared 6.

Also note that the acid amounts that I specified were enough to overcome the alkalinity (buffering capacity) of the water. The malt has buffering capacity of its own. The recommendation of sauermalz at 1% of grist per 0.1 pH of desired pH drop is based on mashing with distilled water. To mash with alkaline water requires enough acid to 'neutralize' the bicarbonate (covert it to carbon dioxide gas). The water is equivalent to RO of distilled water WRT alkalinity at this point. So you would then need additional acid in the amount required to bring a distilled water mash to the desired pH.

My water is alkaline enough that the sparge water should be treated just like the mash water? Even if all i'm doing is adding really hot water, stirring for a couple minutes and draining?

The bicarbonate in the sparge water will neutralize acids released in the mash and/or acids you have added thus pushing pH in the wrong direction.

Do the treatment ratios follow a linear scale? So right now I need 4ml or lactic acid or 210g of acid malt. If I dilute the water 50/50 with RO, then I only need 2ml and 105g per 5 gallons of water? Same for diluting 75/25 - divide your numbers by 4?

Yes, to good approximation and certainly to working accuracy.

Thanks again for the help, I definitely understand the importance of targeting proper mash Ph, but I'm still a little confused on all the aspects.

I've been at it 25 years and it still confuses me sometimes.

 

[mabrungard]

Alkalinity is bad not only in the mash tun but elsewhere in the brewing process too. You want the wort finishing the boil at pH 5.2 or lower. If you add in untreated (alkaline) water you are adding bicarbonate and this will tend to pull the kettle pH up. If you sparge with alkaline water you will bring the kettle pH up though the mash pH might never top the much feared 6.

AJ makes a good point about the importance of ending up with an appropriately low pH in the overall wort following the runoff and at the end of the boil. That is yet another reason to acidify sparging water if that water has significant alkalinity.

I'll go on to qualify AJ's first sentence above. Excessive alkalinity is bad in the mash. An appropriate level in the mash can help create better beer.

 

[bob1852]

I'll go on to qualify AJ's first sentence above. Excessive alkalinity is bad in the mash. An appropriate level in the mash can help create better beer.

How is excessive/appropriate being defined here?

My tap water has 177ppm CaCO3; and without dilution, trying to get my pH down with gypsum is getting my sulfates pretty high.

Am I better off diluting to cut the alkalinity prior to any other adjustments?

 

[kenlenard]

Guys: I wanted to bounce another thing off of you. AJ, earlier in this thread you mentioned that using soft water (RO or distilled) with very few additions seemed to be giving you the best beer (I'm paraphrasing and feel free to put me back on track if I've mispoken). In the December 2011 issue of BYO, there are some recipes for award winning lagers. In one (a Helles), the brewer scored a 46. The beer was pilsner malt, Munich and melanoidin, Herbsrucker hops and 833 Southern German Lager yeast. What got me was what he did with his water. He used all RO water and added 3g of gypsum, 9g of CaCl and 9g of chalk (calcium carbonate) to the mash (3.5 gals of water). The sparge was all RO with no additions except to get the pH right with lactic acid. His final numbers seem to be in line (RA of -26, pH would be acceptable for beers in the 3-8 SRM range, Cl:SO4 ratio was 2.59 [very malty but still reasonable] and his Ca was 223, Cl 143, SO4 55 and alkalinity was 146). My point is that the additions seem extreme to me especially when reading how you seem to be using softer water with fewer additions. Thoughts?

 

[bumstigedy]

I have been brewing with distilled water bought from the grocery store with minimal salt additions since the lager lecture/tasting AJ did at the BURP meeting earlier this year. Tasting the difference between AJ's beers brewed this way and Mad Fox's brewed with Washington Aqueduct water convinced me to do this.

Last brew I took it to an extreme. Brewed an American Brown ale, 26 SRM, and went with distilled water plus minimal salts route. I added the dark grains (chocolate and C120) during the last 15 minutes of the mash. My logic was that conversion would be pretty much over by then so if the mash pH dropped the impact on the conversion would be minimal. I'm also thinking that the reduced time the dark grains spent at high temperatures will result in a smoother tasting beer; we'll see in about a month.

Interesting thing is that I monitored pH throughout the mash with test strips and the pH didn't change after I added the dark grains. It could be that the test strips just don't have the accuracy to detect that small of a change.

 

[ajdelange]

... BYO, there are some recipes for award winning lagers. In one (a Helles), the brewer scored a 46. The beer was pilsner malt, Munich and melanoidin, Herbsrucker hops and 833 Southern German Lager yeast. What got me was what he did with his water. He used all RO water and added 3g of gypsum, 9g of CaCl and 9g of chalk (calcium carbonate) to the mash (3.5 gals of water)... Ca was 223, Cl 143, SO4 55 and alkalinity was 146). ... Thoughts?

My first thought is that the indicated additions and the calculated ion concentrations are way out of whack. Just the calcium chloride (depending on what form he added) and gypsum in 3.5 gal of RO water would result in chloride of 434 mg/L and sulfate of 126 with calcium at 298. Adding the chalk would increase the calcium to as much as 576 if enough acid were added or present (not likely) to dissolve it all. The potential alkalinity in that much chalk is 640 ppm as CaCO3. So clearly someone doesn't know what he is talking about or is having us on or something of the sort. Everyone who knows anything about brewing water knows that Helles came into existence when the Munich brewers figured out how to soften the water and that Helles is a soft water - delicate beer. You do not make Helles by adding a ton of minerals to soft water. Based on everything I know a beer made as described here would be awful. That level of sulfate would be ruinous with the proper noble hops for a Helles. That level of chloride would produce a 'pasty' taste to the beer and that level of alkalinity would prevent malt enzymes from doing their jobs.

So I suspect the whole thing is someone's idea of a joke. Or that the judging panel was really incompetent. Of course I haven't tasted the beer. I think I know what it would taste like but I wouldn't really know until I actually did.

 

[ajdelange]

How is excessive/appropriate being defined here?

Excessive would be defined as any level that resulted in a mash pH outside of the desired range or that pulled kettle pH high or that allowed runoff pH to go too high.

My tap water has 177ppm CaCO3; and without dilution, trying to get my pH down with gypsum is getting my sulfates pretty high.

Yes, calcium is not very effective at offsetting alkalinity as it takes 3.5 equivalents of calcium to 'neutralize' 1 equivalent of alkalinity.

Am I better off diluting to cut the alkalinity prior to any other adjustments?

That's the basic idea behind the Primer. Dilute enough to get the alkalinity under control then adjust the other ions to compensate for the fact that they got diluted too.

 

[bob1852]

Thanks AJ, as always.

When is the book coming out?

 

[ajdelange]

The only word I have is that it is postponed for about a year. It was originally hoped that it would be ready for the AHA conference this year.

 

[kenlenard]

My first thought is that the indicated additions and the calculated ion concentrations are way out of whack. Just the calcium chloride (depending on what form he added) and gypsum in 3.5 gal of RO water would result in chloride of 434 mg/L and sulfate of 126 with calcium at 298. Adding the chalk would increase the calcium to as much as 576 if enough acid were added or present (not likely) to dissolve it all. The potential alkalinity in that much chalk is 640 ppm as CaCO3. So clearly someone doesn't know what he is talking about or is having us on or something of the sort. Everyone who knows anything about brewing water knows that Helles came into existence when the Munich brewers figured out how to soften the water and that Helles is a soft water - delicate beer. You do not make Helles by adding a ton of minerals to soft water. Based on everything I know a beer made as described here would be awful. That level of sulfate would be ruinous with the proper noble hops for a Helles. That level of chloride would produce a 'pasty' taste to the beer and that level of alkalinity would prevent malt enzymes from doing their jobs.

So I suspect the whole thing is someone's idea of a joke. Or that the judging panel was really incompetent. Of course I haven't tasted the beer. I think I know what it would taste like but I wouldn't really know until I actually did.

I was thinking along the same lines when I first read the recipe and what the brewer did with the water. If this were something I found on a forum someplace, I would have just shook my head and moved on. But this was a published recipe in BYO with the idea that this was an award-winning beer. Btw, those numbers I posted were overall numbers that *I* entered into EZ_Water just to see what all of those additions came to and I assumed 8 gallons of water total (3.5 gallons mash, 4.5 gallons sparge). You're right that the mash numbers would've been way higher. I was talking with some other brewers who had mentioned that Helles came about to compete with the popularity of Czech Pilsner but that German brewers couldn't figure out how to make it with their water so they just hopped it lower. Bicarbonate levels in Munich are higher so maybe the brewer was attempting to boost the all-RO water to get closer to Munich. I appreciate the response & cheers to you.

 

[ajdelange]

I was talking with some other brewers who had mentioned that Helles came about to compete with the popularity of Czech Pilsner but that German brewers couldn't figure out how to make it with their water so they just hopped it lower. Bicarbonate levels in Munich are higher so maybe the brewer was attempting to boost the all-RO water to get closer to Munich.

The first thing you would do in brewing a Helles with Munich water is remove the bicarbonate (alkalinity). This could potentially be done by no more complex a process than heating the water in an HLT prior to mashing. It that wasn't sufficient then lime treatment could be used (and would be preferable from the energy consumption standpoint) to get the alkalinity down to around 50 ppm as CaCO3.

Cheers.

 

[kenlenard]

The first thing you would do in brewing a Helles with Munich water is remove the bicarbonate (alkalinity). This could potentially be done by no more complex a process than heating the water in an HLT prior to mashing. It that wasn't sufficient then lime treatment could be used (and would be preferable from the energy consumption standpoint) to get the alkalinity down to around 50 ppm as CaCO3.

Cheers.

Yep. If I've learned anything it's that pale-colored beers are better with lower bicarbonate and sulfate levels. Cheers.

 

[sivdrinks]

I'm appreciative of this thread but am still a bit overwhelmed by it. I'm confused by the baseline. Some of the styles listed after it include baseline additions and some don't. I believe the IPA says to double the gypsum but there is none in the baseline. Should I use the Hefe style for wheat also?

 

[emjay]

AJ (and Yoop, I guess)... there's one part of your guide that is bound to confuse some people.

Baseline: Add 1 tsp of calcium chloride dihydrate (what your LHBS sells) to each 5 gallons of water treated. Add 2% sauermalz to the grist.

Deviate from the baseline as follows:

For soft water beers (i.e Pils, Helles). Use half the baseline amount of calcium chloride and increase the sauermalz to 3%

For beers that use roast malt (Stout, porter): Skip the sauermalz.

For British beers: Add 1 tsp gypsum as well as 1 tsp calcium chloride

For very minerally beers (Export, Burton ale): Double the calcium chloride and the gypsum.

For all your baseline deviations, it's written in terms of how to adjust the baseline (which makes sense, since you said "deviate from the baseline as follows"). Except the part for British beers, which is written in absolute terms. It reads like people should adjust 5 gallons of RO water with 2tsp calcium chloride (adding 1 to 1), when I know you just mean 1tsp, because you've said so yourself before.

Just thought it may be helpful to consider making it a bit more clear.

 

[RDWHAHB]

AJ (and Yoop, I guess)... there's one part of your guide that is bound to confuse some people.



For all your baseline deviations, it's written in terms of how to adjust the baseline (which makes sense, since you said "deviate from the baseline as follows"). Except the part for British beers, which is written in absolute terms. It reads like people should adjust 5 gallons of RO water with 2tsp calcium chloride (adding 1 to 1), when I know you just mean 1tsp, because you've said so yourself before.

Just thought it may be helpful to consider making it a bit more clear.

With that change and listing more styles in the 1st post there would be a lot fewer questions.

 

[flabyboy]

I basically just use RO water with a little bit of spring water mixed in. I usually add a very small amount of lactic acid (<1 cc) to both my mash and sparge water. I always add my dark roasted grains and crystal malts during mashout. I add a tsp of calcium chloride to my mash with malty beers or 1 tsp gypsum for a hop forward beer. I have enjoyed my results so far

 

[sivdrinks]

I'm still not clear on the baseline deviations. Could someone clear it up and maybe list more beer styles? IPA, wheat, Belgians?

 

[emjay]

I'm still not clear on the baseline deviations. Could someone clear it up and maybe list more beer styles? IPA, wheat, Belgians?

IPA: 1tsp calcium chloride, possibly 1tsp gypsum (to accent hop bitterness)

Wheat, Belgians (possible exception of Saison): 1tsp calcium chloride, possibly 2tsp for Belgian (to further emphasize maltiness)

Once you know what calcium chloride and gypsum do, it's pretty easy to determine it for yourself.

 

[ajdelange]

It's probably time to do a bit of a re-write. I'll look into it when I get back from Seattle.

 

[flabyboy]

IPA: 1tsp calcium chloride, possibly 1tsp gypsum (to accent hop bitterness)

Wheat, Belgians (possible exception of Saison): 1tsp calcium chloride, possibly 2tsp for Belgian (to further emphasize maltiness)

Once you know what calcium chloride and gypsum do, it's pretty easy to determine it for yourself.

I would think the gypsum would be more important than the calcium chloride for the IPA style

 

[nyer]

It's probably time to do a bit of a re-write. I'll look into it when I get back from Seattle.

I just wanted to thank you for this thread. I started using distilled water and the water adjustments from here because my well water sucked so bad. Since then I have brewed an IPA, ESB, apricot wheat and the real triple hopped miller light.
The IPA was ok but I screwed up and mashed to high so it ended up sweet. The ESB and apricot wheat turned out great and are the first beers I have brewed that don't have a strange off taste that I noticed before (most people never noticed it but it drove me crazy). The ML is in secondary so it will be a while.

 

[ajdelange]

I would think the gypsum would be more important than the calcium chloride for the IPA style

Yes, one might think that but I always recommend starting with calcium chloride and adding calcium sulfate or replacing some of the calcium chloride with calcium sulfate because the effects of sulfate aren't pleasing in many peoples' opinion while at the same time others like them. You need to find out which type drinker you are. Put differently, it is entirely possible that you might like a high chloride IPA better than a high sulfate one. OTOH you might find such a beer insipid.

 

[Larso]

I'm brewing a wit using 35 litres (biab) of Bottled water for a 20 litre brew with this profile here



can anyone tell me how I should treat it please? I've got calcium chloride , calcium sulphate, crs and dls. Sorry for askin you's to do the work but I'm puttin on the mash tonight an I've a busy day ahead

Thanks

L