TheMerkle
Well-Known Member
I just wanted to post a quick bit about my experience venturing into custom water profiles. When I first started getting curious about it, many users made it seem like it would be very complicated, or expensive, or not worthwhile. I Just wanted to share with everyone that I believe it to be one of the biggest improvements I have made to my beer, and it couldn't be easier.
First off, the money. Admittedly you will need a few items but all are readily found and expensive, and maybe even already in your kitchen:
1.) Calcium Chloride - Avoid buying the ice melt from the hardware store. Even if they claim it to be "pure", it may not be food safe. Buy a pound (about half a lifetime supply) from the brew supply for about $5.
2.) Epsom Salt - Careful to avoid scented stuff, but otherwise free game at any grocery store or Walmart. Pennies a pound.
3.) Gypsum Salt - A bit less available then Epsom but it's common and it's cheap.
$.) A gram scale - $10 bucks will get you a nice one shipped from Amazon.
So, for under 20 bucks we've got all the supplies we will need. The last thing we need is pure Reverse Osmosis Deionized water, or RODI for short. Sounds fancy but grocery stores across the nation (Publix where I'm located) have machines (Glacier is the manufacturer in my case) out front that will load you up on this stuff for a few quarters per brewday.
Here is where it gets fun. The ions we are concerned with are Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfate, and Chloride primarily. In every case, a lack of the ion will detriment your beer, and a gross excess will harm it much more. Calcium and Magnesium aid in the health of the fermentation itself while Sulfate and Chlorides are flavor ions.
At the start of your brew day, if you'll just measure yourself out 2 grams of epsom, 3 grams of gypsum, and 4 grams of CaCl, (per 5 gallons of final batch size not per 5 gallons of RO water going in.) you will find yourself in a very healthy range of all four ions regardless of your initial premash volume. Also, you'll find yourself with a close balance between sulfates, which accentuate the hop flavor of a beer, and chlorides which help with bringing out malty flavors.
If you're brewing a style with a slight favor towards hops, add 2 more grams of gypsum. Much hoppier? 4 extra grams for a total of 6. Don't go over 6 per 5 gallons of batch size. Want a slight favor towards the malt character? 2 extra CaCl. Very malty? 4 extra CaCl for a total of 8 per 5 gallons of batch size.
It's that easy.
Now, I must admit that mash pH can complicate things a bit, but to be honest, if you're using RODI water and following these brewing salt baselines in an all grain batch, then without any extra effort at all, your mash pH will fall into an acceptable range for all but the very lightest and the very darkest of beers.
First off, the money. Admittedly you will need a few items but all are readily found and expensive, and maybe even already in your kitchen:
1.) Calcium Chloride - Avoid buying the ice melt from the hardware store. Even if they claim it to be "pure", it may not be food safe. Buy a pound (about half a lifetime supply) from the brew supply for about $5.
2.) Epsom Salt - Careful to avoid scented stuff, but otherwise free game at any grocery store or Walmart. Pennies a pound.
3.) Gypsum Salt - A bit less available then Epsom but it's common and it's cheap.
$.) A gram scale - $10 bucks will get you a nice one shipped from Amazon.
So, for under 20 bucks we've got all the supplies we will need. The last thing we need is pure Reverse Osmosis Deionized water, or RODI for short. Sounds fancy but grocery stores across the nation (Publix where I'm located) have machines (Glacier is the manufacturer in my case) out front that will load you up on this stuff for a few quarters per brewday.
Here is where it gets fun. The ions we are concerned with are Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfate, and Chloride primarily. In every case, a lack of the ion will detriment your beer, and a gross excess will harm it much more. Calcium and Magnesium aid in the health of the fermentation itself while Sulfate and Chlorides are flavor ions.
At the start of your brew day, if you'll just measure yourself out 2 grams of epsom, 3 grams of gypsum, and 4 grams of CaCl, (per 5 gallons of final batch size not per 5 gallons of RO water going in.) you will find yourself in a very healthy range of all four ions regardless of your initial premash volume. Also, you'll find yourself with a close balance between sulfates, which accentuate the hop flavor of a beer, and chlorides which help with bringing out malty flavors.
If you're brewing a style with a slight favor towards hops, add 2 more grams of gypsum. Much hoppier? 4 extra grams for a total of 6. Don't go over 6 per 5 gallons of batch size. Want a slight favor towards the malt character? 2 extra CaCl. Very malty? 4 extra CaCl for a total of 8 per 5 gallons of batch size.
It's that easy.
Now, I must admit that mash pH can complicate things a bit, but to be honest, if you're using RODI water and following these brewing salt baselines in an all grain batch, then without any extra effort at all, your mash pH will fall into an acceptable range for all but the very lightest and the very darkest of beers.