Baltic Porter Water adjustment advise

[SalmoSalar]

I just recently found the water adjustment primer sticky and it has got me thinking of changing the way I've been doing water adjustments.

About a year ago I started doing water adjustments ala JP and info I listened to on Brew Strong. I'd like to think my beer improved.

The advise given in the primer is very interesting and I want to try it on my next batch; which was planned to be a Baltic Porter.

My starting water profile is:
Ca < 2 mg/l
Mg <2 mg/l
Na 14 mg/l
Cl2 13 mg/
SO4 ,10mg/l
Alkalinity as CaCo3 11mg/l

If I add 2.5 g mag sulf and 7 g chalk to the mash EZ water 2.0 tells me (With the grist bill and SRM of 27) I will have:
Ca 71 ppm
mg 10 ppm
Na 14 ppm
Cl2 13ppm
So4 43ppm
and a Mash ph of 5.20

The sulfate range is below the 50 -350 range recommended by EZ water, and is rated as very bitter. Does anyone have any comments or suggestions on this water mod for this style.

I haven't done too many dark beers. I brewed a brown ale recently, but did not use the primer guidelines: used the old info that I was going on. I haven't tasted it yet as it is carbonating right now. I usually brew Saisons and Belgian blonde, cream ale and occasional APA. I'm looking foward to using the primer guidelines on these styles and add less salts to my mash and brew kettle.

Thanks,
John Hughes

 

[ajdelange]

Don't add the chalk. The golden rule of brewing water treatment is "Don't add chalk to brewing water - add it to the mash but only if a mash pH reading made with a meter, not strips, comes in low".

It's unlikely that your mash pH will come in low unless you have a whole lot of dark malt. Even if it does, 7 grams (assuming 5 gal) is way too much. That much would result in high mash pH, poor mash performance, poor kettle performance and less than ideal fermentation. The result will be a lifeless, dull beer. Add only enough to control pH. It would be better to use pickling lime as it reacts faster and does not leave residual bicarbonate. Put some sodium bicarbonate in a glass of water, taste it and see if you want that flavor in your beer.

Follow the guidelines in the Primer. Use sulfate (gypsum) if you like it. I always recommending doing the beer once without sulfate and then again with.

Malt contains plenty of magnesium for cofactor requirements so you don't need to add any of that. Most brewers feel that it is flavor negative. OTOH there is a guy in California with a magnesium rich spring who claims that it is the secret to longevity, will put hair on a bald head, lead in your.... well never mind.

 

[SalmoSalar]

Thanks for the reply. It sounds like I need to get a pH meter as I have been using strips.

So, it sounds like your recommending to add 1 tsp of gypsum and 2 tsp CaCl2 and adjust ph with chalk if needed, and try a batch w/o gypsum as well.

It also sounds like you are recommending Mag sulf for bruises and sprains only. I have been adding at the rate of about 2g and 2.3 g to the mash and boil because EZ water puts Mg in the recommended range then, since my water has very little Mg

Thanks for the help!

John Hughes

 

[ajdelange]

Thanks for the reply. It sounds like I need to get a pH meter as I have been using strips.

I think it is one of the best brewing investments you can make.

So, it sounds like your recommending to add 1 tsp of gypsum and 2 tsp CaCl2 and adjust ph with chalk if needed, and try a batch w/o gypsum as well.

I know the way the primer is worded it's easy to conclude that 2 tsp calcium chloride is wanted but in fact one should be enough.

It also sounds like you are recommending Mag sulf for bruises and sprains only. I have been adding at the rate of about 2g and 2.3 g to the mash and boil because EZ water puts Mg in the recommended range then, since my water has very little Mg

A bit of magnesium supplementation probably wouldn't hurt but I'd approach it in the same way as the sulfate. Try the beer with and without and see if you taste a difference. If there is no detriment then you could continue to go with it for the benefit of the yeast (though there should be enough in the malt).

 

[SalmoSalar]

A bit of magnesium supplementation probably wouldn't hurt but I'd approach it in the same way as the sulfate. Try the beer with and without and see if you taste a difference. If there is no detriment then you could continue to go with it for the benefit of the yeast (though there should be enough in the malt).

I looked at a diet and nutrition website that I use, and looked up malted barley; it had nutritional information for "malted barley flour". It showed that a pound has 167.8mg Calcium, and 440mg magnesium. For an average mash of say 10 lbs and mash water addition of say 16L I calculated that you would have 104 mg/l Ca and 275mg/l Mg potentially available in the mash. Of course YBMV (your barley may vary) and since that information was based on what's available to humans as food consumed, what's available in the mash may be quite different.

So it looks like that there are probably plenty of minerals already in the mash that one should be judicious in the amount of salts they add to the mash.

 

[mabrungard]

Malt does supply Mg, but a few Journal articles do indicate that a minimum of 5 ppm does improve yeast flocculation. That is the reason I recommend that minimum level in Bru'n Water.

Brewers do need to know what their Mg level in their water is before assuming they need to add Mg. Magnesium becomes counterproductive at concentrations of about 30 ppm or more. So the 'window' for desirable Mg concentration in brewing water is small.