ahoffman565
Well-Known Member
I had recently posted an issue I was having whereby and darker styles of beer I made had an "off' flavor to them. After some very helpful responses I was pointed in the direction of John Palmer's "How To Brew" - Chapter 15 where he discuss the minerals in water. I printed out the handy dandy nomograph and sure enough after plotting my water, I found out that it suits lighters ales WAY better than darker ones. However, when trying to figure out which minerals to add and in what amounts seems to be a bit of a challenge. I would appreciate any help that you can give.
First, let me begin with my water profile:
Calcium=147
Magnesium=6
Total Alkalinity as CaCO3=106
Sodium=27
Chloride=25
Sulfate=33
I then used these tools:
Online nomograph:
http://nomograph.babbrewers.com/
Recommended mineral levels:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html
I also used the Excel version of the nomograph available from Palmer's website.
To come up with my additions (assuming 4 gallons of mash water) I input these numbers:
2.4 grams of CaC03 (to raise RA)
5.4 grams of NaHCO3 (to raise RA)
.9 grams of CaCL2*2H20 (to get the Chloride to Sulfate Ratio to be "malty")
While this seems all well and good, can anyone tell me if this is even remotely correct? All of the values in the spreadsheet "look" acceptable - the RA has risen to 232 which puts the SRM between 24 and 29 (I was shooting for around 25). The Calcium seems high at 227 as well as the Alkalinity as CaCO3 (397).
Any thoughts or recommendations?
Also, has anyone had any experience in starting with distilled water and builiding a profile from scratch?
As always, thanks in advance!
Andrew
First, let me begin with my water profile:
Calcium=147
Magnesium=6
Total Alkalinity as CaCO3=106
Sodium=27
Chloride=25
Sulfate=33
I then used these tools:
Online nomograph:
http://nomograph.babbrewers.com/
Recommended mineral levels:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter15-1.html
I also used the Excel version of the nomograph available from Palmer's website.
To come up with my additions (assuming 4 gallons of mash water) I input these numbers:
2.4 grams of CaC03 (to raise RA)
5.4 grams of NaHCO3 (to raise RA)
.9 grams of CaCL2*2H20 (to get the Chloride to Sulfate Ratio to be "malty")
While this seems all well and good, can anyone tell me if this is even remotely correct? All of the values in the spreadsheet "look" acceptable - the RA has risen to 232 which puts the SRM between 24 and 29 (I was shooting for around 25). The Calcium seems high at 227 as well as the Alkalinity as CaCO3 (397).
Any thoughts or recommendations?
Also, has anyone had any experience in starting with distilled water and builiding a profile from scratch?
As always, thanks in advance!
Andrew