I build my own water from scratch using ro and salts. Lately i have been having an issue with a heavy build up of Calcium oxalate in my bottles. Its a ***** to remove and was wondering what was causing it and how to stop it
Calcium oxalate in my bottles
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Two common causes come to mind.
1) Simple precipitation along with both cold break, or hop polyphenols.
2) Excessive foaming or churning while racking and bottling. This is by far the more common cause and is usually accompanied by reduced head retention or an inability to hold tight, small bubbles.
I'm recalling that pH can be a factor, but can't remember the range off the top of my head.
1) Simple precipitation along with both cold break, or hop polyphenols.
2) Excessive foaming or churning while racking and bottling. This is by far the more common cause and is usually accompanied by reduced head retention or an inability to hold tight, small bubbles.
I'm recalling that pH can be a factor, but can't remember the range off the top of my head.
Where does the oxalate come from? Is there oxalate in the grain?
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Calcium Oxalate is beer stone.
It's typically seen as a sheen or as flecks, depending on the cause and age of the beer. It's most often associated with beer lines and is seen as a haze. It can also build up to visible levels in bottles and kegs, but since most homebrewers are using sanitizers with an acid base (most often phosphoric) this usually isn't an issue.
I interpreted your question as seeing flecks, which is most often associated with colloidal stability in unfiltered beers. In other words, "floaties."
Malt handling during the mash can be one source of instability that can cause calcium oxalate precipitation. But, you'll usually have other issues like gummy mashes, starch haze or tannins when that's the root cause. One other common malt related cause is chill haze from insufficient cold break. In other words, not enough chilling, or a slow ramp down to pitching temperature. Cold break is caused by a very fast change in temperature, of course, and is aided by adding Irish Moss.
In foam related issues, the constituents that contribute to foamstand and retention are only going to work once. Hop isomers, polyphenols and small weight proteins all contribute to head formation and retention, but once used, they precipitate often forming flecks of calcium oxalate along the way. Eventually, this just sits on the bottom of the container and is lost within the trub, but the symptom is poor head retention.
The cures are pretty simple:
Proper amounts of Irish Moss.
Fast chilling from hot to pitching temperatures (i.e. a steep delta from hot to cold, not how long after finishing the boil).
Reduce churning and foaming while racking and bottling.
Keep your temperatures cool and stable, especially after fermentation (which I already assumed is your normal practice, so I didn't mention it).
It's typically seen as a sheen or as flecks, depending on the cause and age of the beer. It's most often associated with beer lines and is seen as a haze. It can also build up to visible levels in bottles and kegs, but since most homebrewers are using sanitizers with an acid base (most often phosphoric) this usually isn't an issue.
I interpreted your question as seeing flecks, which is most often associated with colloidal stability in unfiltered beers. In other words, "floaties."
Malt handling during the mash can be one source of instability that can cause calcium oxalate precipitation. But, you'll usually have other issues like gummy mashes, starch haze or tannins when that's the root cause. One other common malt related cause is chill haze from insufficient cold break. In other words, not enough chilling, or a slow ramp down to pitching temperature. Cold break is caused by a very fast change in temperature, of course, and is aided by adding Irish Moss.
In foam related issues, the constituents that contribute to foamstand and retention are only going to work once. Hop isomers, polyphenols and small weight proteins all contribute to head formation and retention, but once used, they precipitate often forming flecks of calcium oxalate along the way. Eventually, this just sits on the bottom of the container and is lost within the trub, but the symptom is poor head retention.
The cures are pretty simple:
Proper amounts of Irish Moss.
Fast chilling from hot to pitching temperatures (i.e. a steep delta from hot to cold, not how long after finishing the boil).
Reduce churning and foaming while racking and bottling.
Keep your temperatures cool and stable, especially after fermentation (which I already assumed is your normal practice, so I didn't mention it).
All grains (and most other plant matter) contains oxalates. They are a normal component of beer and there isn't much you can do about them except brew with water high enough in calcium to precipitate calcium oxalate as the salt before it has a chance to complex with protein and form beer stone. Beer stone is very hard to remove once it gets a leg up on you. Rinsing with a mixture of half and half dilute nitric and phosphoric acids will usually prevent it from getting a foot hold. Once it does the mixture changes to small but equal parts of nitric and phosphoric with an abundance of elbow grease.
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