Hello from Long Island, NY

[J0N]

I just started all grain brewing and have tons of questions. I'll post them in their proper location, but figured it was best to say hello first.

Hi, my name is J0N. I've been homebrewing for a little less than 2 years now and I'm an addict....

 

[Psycotte]

Hey Jon...New to this also. I am excited to keep finding more and more Long Islanders on here.

 

[Cyclman]

Welcome to the group, from CO. Lots of great info in the forum stickies and the wiki. Ask away, this is a super helpful group.

 

[Homercidal]

Welcome, J0N! Feel free to post your questions, there are lots of experienced people here to answer, but there are also tons of stickies and thousands of threads that probably already have the answer. I recommend the drop-down search option with Google at the top of the page. The default search isn't very good.

 

[J0N]

Thanks everyone. I've made sure to thoroughly search for answers to my questions before posting. I did post here though

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/water-chemistry-nassau-county-long-island-new-york-436550/

It is about water chemistry for my area. Psycotte - Do you treat your brewing water? If so, with what? I've been disappointed with my brews.

 

[Psycotte]

J0N:

My first brew I went with bottled spring water because I unscientifically know my tap water is not great. This was only my first brew and it's still in the fermentor so I'm unsure how it tatses....YET. In a couple of weeks I should have my answer. Once I learn more about basic brewing I'll hit the next level and start fine tuning the water and other factors.

 

[JohnSand]

Always glad to see fellow Islanders aboard. Welcome!

 

[MarcusKillion]

Hi from Kansas

 

[J0N]

Hello.

JohnSand - quick question: do you treat your brewing water? If so what is your process like? Thanks!

 

[Glynn]

Welcome abord from from an ex islander

 

[JohnSand]

Hello.

JohnSand - quick question: do you treat your brewing water? If so what is your process like? Thanks!

I don't. We have excellent tap water on LI. My only concern is chlorine. I spoke to an engineer from Suffolk County water who told me that the chlorine flashes
off at 80. It will evaporate fairly quickly at room temps.
I started with Mr Beer, their instructions specify putting half the water into the fermenter while boiling the rest. I believe that is to give time for the chlorine to evaporate. If I use top off water, I add it while the wort is hot. But even the few times I cooled it first, it still made beer.
I'm relatively new at this too, only started in January. I've made 18 batches, mostly 2 gallon, also 4, 5, and now 1 gallon. I started with hopped malt extracts, the simplest. I have also done all grain and steeping grains. Get a book on brewing, start simple, study and practice. Talk to other brewers if you can. Have fun.

 

[J0N]

Thanks Glynn - I may be saying something similar soon (I may relocate within a year or so). When you were living in long island did you treat your brewing water? I'm trying to work out some issues I've been having and I'm attributing them to my brewing water. Thanks!

 

[J0N]

Hi John, I've done several extract brews and a few all grain now. I've collected and boiled over 6 gallons and did not top off with any tap water. However, the water I used wasn't boiled prior to mashing or sparging. (mashed at 151 and sparged at 170). Would this still allow the chlorine to be released from the water or would I have to boil just the water alone?

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

Hello from huntington!!

Jon there is no need to treat your tap water because like john said, we actually have some of the best water in the area.
What i would do to strip the tap of chlorine and contamints is use an RV water filter on the end of a food grade hose.
This is the way i have been brewing for the past 2 years and havent had any problems with chlorophenols in the final brew

When you say your not satisfied with your beer can you explain what your tasting or what seems off about your brews?
Are you brewing kits or making your own recipe? What system do you have? AG or Extract?

We should have a big brew off soon with all these islanders in here!!
Cheers

 

[J0N]

I have done a bit of everything. I started with some extraxt kits and moved to all grain using my own recipes. The off flavors I have had are usually an odd sweetness. Not bubblegum or juicy fruit type flavors. But the sweetness ages out after a month or two of conditioning. I think my issues may be related to fermentation temperature. I have pitched the yeast too hot in the past and I do not have anything to maintain proper temperatures other than a temperature controlled basement. I was also concerned about the water I use, assuming my mash ph was off or I didnt have the right mineral composition. I have also kept a few gallons of starsan for possibly too long though my ph meter read very, very low so it should have been okay. I plan on brewing another batch using brewtarget for assistance and recording every detail. Oh, and I dont have a wort chiller, so I have left my warm wort in a glass carboy inside a big plastic container filled with ice and water over night to cool. I had a rubber stopper on it to make sure nothing got into the wort, but I am not sure if that was a bad idea.

Basically I do not have all of the equipment I need to brew as efficiently as I should, so I am not sure where I may be going wrong.

Also, you should check out the water conversation I have been having in another forum regarding nassau county water. It seems there are several things that I should be concered with when brewing with long island water.

 

[Glynn]

Thanks Glynn - I may be saying something similar soon (I may relocate within a year or so). When you were living in long island did you treat your brewing water? I'm trying to work out some issues I've been having and I'm attributing them to my brewing water. Thanks!

I was born and raised in Smithtown but i haven't been there since 81. I started brew here in Illinois around 93/94

 

[J0N]

Glynn - I grew up in Smithtown too and now live in Hicksville. I am in Smithtown right now visiting family. Funny.

 

[Johnnyhitch1]

I have done a bit of everything. I started with some extraxt kits and moved to all grain using my own recipes. The off flavors I have had are usually an odd sweetness. Not bubblegum or juicy fruit type flavors. But the sweetness ages out after a month or two of conditioning. I think my issues may be related to fermentation temperature. I have pitched the yeast too hot in the past and I do not have anything to maintain proper temperatures other than a temperature controlled basement. I was also concerned about the water I use, assuming my mash ph was off or I didnt have the right mineral composition. I have also kept a few gallons of starsan for possibly too long though my ph meter read very, very low so it should have been okay. I plan on brewing another batch using brewtarget for assistance and recording every detail. Oh, and I dont have a wort chiller, so I have left my warm wort in a glass carboy inside a big plastic container filled with ice and water over night to cool. I had a rubber stopper on it to make sure nothing got into the wort, but I am not sure if that was a bad idea.

Basically I do not have all of the equipment I need to brew as efficiently as I should, so I am not sure where I may be going wrong.

Also, you should check out the water conversation I have been having in another forum regarding nassau county water. It seems there are several things that I should be concered with when brewing with long island water.

That malty sweetness could just be "green" flavors, how long do you primary for?
Also cooling the wort down as fast as possible is what will give you clearer beers by dropping out more protien (cold break)
I havent messed with water chemistry yet and it could be what put my beers into the next level but right now im very happy with how my batches have been coming out and all i simply do is filter thru a RV water filter.

Making sure you have the right equiqment is a big first step, its hard to complete a job when you dont have he right tools, the same should apply for brewing! Once i got a chiller i did notice a big jump in my final product.

 

[J0N]

A wort chiller will be my next purchase. I also primary from 2 to 4 weeks then bottle or keg for another 2 weeks or so. Ive noticed it usually takes another month or two for my beers to obtain a balanced profile.

 

[JohnSand]

When you boil the water it will lose all chlorine. An RV filter certainly can't hurt, though I don't know if it removes minerals helpful to fermentation. But Hitch likes his results. Bigger beers take longer to condition. I was just sharing some Centennial Blonde (4.5%abv) tonight, only five weeks old, but a big hit. I also shared a Maris Otter/Cascade SMaSH (about 8%) that was four months old, also a hit. But it took ten weeks to be good.

 

[petey_c]

I've never had a brew problem that I could directly attribute to LI water, but I've also never made beer with bottled water. I got a look at the report from SCWA and didn't see anything too scary, except for all the chemicals they do test for (dilantin?, Carbamazepine? (an anti-convulsant), ibuprofen??). Maybe next batch I'll try Deer Park water. Pete

 

[MarcusKillion]

they test for pharmaceuticals because people flush them down the toilet and so they make their way to the rivers ......

 

[Glynn]

Glynn - I grew up in Smithtown too and now live in Hicksville. I am in Smithtown right now visiting family. Funny.

You want to know what really funny. i was born in hickville and move to smithtown.

 

[eric19312]

Hi Jon,

I'm in Port Jeff. Our tap water is very close to RO. There is just nothing in it. For extract brewers I think you can do nothing, maybe add a tsp of gypsum in hoppy beers. I am brewing all grain and add salts to every recipe. Some gypsum, some calcium chloride, and a bit of Epsom. Different mix based on target water. I like the water profile targets on the brewers friend calculator... Hoppy yellow, balanced, etc.

The beers I'm brewing today are a black ipa and a pumpkin ale that will get spiced rum and oak later. The black ipa got 8 grams gypsum, 2 grams Epsom, and 1 gram calcium chloride. The pumpkin got 3 grams gypsum, 1 gram Epsom, 1 gram kosher table salt, 2 grams calcium chloride.

 

[J0N]

Thanks for the help everyone.

Eric19312 ... That's god to know. I have been comparing our water profile to that of places like London and Munich and noticed the same thing. We have very low levels of almost all minerals. Question though, what do you use to remove your chlorine? Campden tablets?

Glynn... I just purchased the house down the street from you. Lol. J/K

 

[eric19312]

I have been comparing our water profile to that of places like London and Munich and noticed the same thing.

Actually this is why I like the Brewer's Friend recommendations. Matching the city profiles ends up with much larger salt additions that seem to be overkill. Less is more...

Question though, what do you use to remove your chlorine? Campden tablets?

We don't have chloramines in Port Jeff, occasional low levels of chlorine. I initially used the carbon filter on my fridge--long time to get 20 gallons of water I need for 2 batch brew-day--but talked to local brewery and friend from water company and have concluded it is fine right out of the tap so that is what I use now. All the water I use ends up being heated beyond the point any chlorine would flash off. If I was doing a partial boil extract process and adding cold water at end of boil I'd probably get at least that topping up water from the fridge.



Here is a link to my water quality report...
http://65.36.213.246/dwqr2013/pdfs/Distribution Area 14.pdf

see the section on disinfectants at the end. Pretty clean water...we are lucky.

 

[emperor008]

Maybe someone can answer this. I've made three separate pumpkin beers over the years and as I keep checking recipes I've noticed many call for the adding of pumpkin to mash or full 60 minute boil. I made two batches in that method and they tasted awful (like when I made a cherry wheat and boiled the cherries for way too long!). I'm planning on making a butternut squash beer and the recipe calls for adding it while wort is starting to boil and then removing it for the rest of the boil. I'm worried that boiling the fruit (pumpkin) for the full 60 will lead to another disaster like I had before with the cherry. My pumpkins that came out good all were boiled at the end for like 8-10 minutes. Any one else concerned about the 60 min boil for pumpkin?

 

[JohnSand]

Hi Emperor, welcome aboard! Are you on Long Island too?
I haven't done any fruit beers, so I just don't know. If you don't find an answer on this thread, try the "Beginner's Brewing" or "General Beer" sections. Good luck!

 

[eric19312]

Maybe someone can answer this. I've made three separate pumpkin beers over the years and as I keep checking recipes I've noticed many call for the adding of pumpkin to mash or full 60 minute boil. I made two batches in that method and they tasted awful (like when I made a cherry wheat and boiled the cherries for way too long!). I'm planning on making a butternut squash beer and the recipe calls for adding it while wort is starting to boil and then removing it for the rest of the boil. I'm worried that boiling the fruit (pumpkin) for the full 60 will lead to another disaster like I had before with the cherry. My pumpkins that came out good all were boiled at the end for like 8-10 minutes. Any one else concerned about the 60 min boil for pumpkin?

I've done 1 pumpkin beer. Put purée into the mash. Came out very good with two 29 oz cans. I've got another going using fresh cheese pumpkins locally grown. Two biggish pumpkins, roasted and mashed, about 8 lbs purée. Again in the mash. Wort tasted very good, have to see how it turns out.